Echar tierra al asunto

/e·ˈt͡ʃaɾ ˈtje·ra al a·ˈsun·to/

To throw earth over the matter.

Frequency

ConversationCommon

JournalismCommon

LiteraryOccasional

AcademicRare

In English

to bury the matter; **to bury the matter**; **to let sleeping dogs lie**; **to draw a line under it**; **to put it behind you**; **to sweep it under the rug** (when implying concealment)

Meaning

Echar tierra al asunto means to bury the matter, to let the matter rest, to draw a line under it, to put it behind you, or to sweep it under the rug (depending on the context).

Examples

Lo mejor es echar tierra al asunto.

It's best to put the matter behind us.

Después de tantos años, decidieron echar tierra al asunto.

After so many years, they decided to let it rest.

Intentaron echar tierra al asunto para evitar más polémica.

They tried to sweep the whole matter under the rug to avoid further controversy.

No sirve de nada seguir hablando; echemos tierra al asunto.

There's no point discussing it any longer—let's draw a line under it.

The expression can have either a positive or a negative meaning:

Positive: to forgive, move on and stop reopening an old conflict.
Negative: to cover something up or avoid dealing with an uncomfortable issue.

The context determines which interpretation is intended.

Used when

a family argument comes to an end
people agree to forget a disagreement
a scandal is intentionally forgotten
someone wants to avoid reopening old wounds
an organisation prefers not to investigate a problem further

Origin

The expression comes from the literal act of covering something with earth.

In everyday life, earth hides what lies beneath it, whether a buried object, a hole or a grave.

This powerful image naturally became a metaphor for making an unpleasant matter disappear from public attention or from conversation.

Cultural note

The expression is intentionally ambiguous.

Sometimes it expresses wisdom:

"Let's forgive each other and move on."

At other times it expresses criticism:

"They're trying to hide what really happened."

The surrounding context almost always reveals which meaning is intended.

Did you know?

Spanish has several expressions for ending or forgetting conflicts:

Echar tierra al asunto → to put the matter behind you.
Pasar página → to turn the page.
Hacer borrón y cuenta nueva → to make a fresh start.
Correr un tupido velo → to draw a veil over something (often implying deliberate concealment).

Among them, echar tierra al asunto is the most flexible because it can describe either healthy reconciliation or an attempt to bury an uncomfortable truth, depending entirely on the context.

For English speakers

Do not translate the expression literally.

English speakers would not normally say:

Let's throw earth over the matter.

Instead, use expressions such as:

Let's put it behind us.
Let's draw a line under it.
Let's let the matter rest.
They're sweeping it under the rug.

Choose the translation according to whether the speaker means reconciliation or concealment.