Mandar a paseo

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/man·ˈdaɾ a pa·ˈse·o/

To send someone for a walk.

Frequency

ConversationVery common

JournalismOccasional

LiteraryRare

AcademicVery rare

In English

to tell someone to get lost; **to tell someone to get lost**; **to tell someone to go away**; **to send someone packing**; **to tell someone to take a hike**; **to tell someone to shove off**; **to scrap something**; **to give up on something**; **to abandon something**; **to throw something out**

Meaning

Mandar a paseo means to tell someone to go away, to tell someone to get lost, or to dismiss someone.

Examples

¡Mándalo a paseo!

Tell him to get lost!

Estoy harto de sus quejas; que se vaya a paseo.

I'm sick of his complaints; he can get lost.

Me dijo que me fuera a paseo.

He told me to take a hike.

Al final mandamos el proyecto a paseo.

In the end, we scrapped the project.

Si no quieren colaborar, mando todo a paseo.

If they don't want to cooperate, I'm giving up on the whole thing.

It can also mean to abandon or reject something, especially when the speaker has become annoyed or frustrated.

Common constructions include:

Mandar a alguien a paseo.

→ To tell someone to get lost.

Mandar algo a paseo.

→ To give up on something / to scrap something.

Used when

are annoyed with someone
want someone to leave them alone
reject someone's demands
dismiss someone's opinion or behaviour
abandon a plan or project
express frustration or exasperation

Origin

The expression is based on the literal idea of sending someone away for a walk.

Instead of using a direct or offensive command such as "go away", Spanish developed a number of humorous or euphemistic destinations:

a paseo

The apparent politeness of the destination contrasts with the speaker's real intention: "go away and leave me alone."

The expression therefore became a conventional colloquial dismissal.

Cultural note

Mandar a paseo can be used with people:

Lo mandó a paseo.

→ She told him to get lost.

But it can also be used with ideas, plans or projects:

Mandó la dieta a paseo.

→ He gave up on the diet.

Mandaron el proyecto a paseo.

→ They scrapped the project.

In this second use, it usually expresses frustration or abandonment rather than literally dismissing a person.

Did you know?

Spanish has an entire family of expressions that dismiss someone by sending them to an apparently harmless place:

Mandar a paseo.

Mandar a la porra.

Mandar al cuerno.

Mandar a freír espárragos.

The destinations are often humorous precisely because they avoid saying directly what the speaker really means:

"Déjame en paz y vete."

This gives the expressions a characteristic Spanish mixture of irritation, humour and indirectness.

For English speakers

English has a particularly good equivalent in:

to tell someone to take a hike

This has the same humorous idea of sending someone away for a walk.

For example:

¡Vete a paseo!

→ Take a hike!

However, in ordinary modern English, get lost is probably the most natural translation.