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Quick Answer
Dar el gatazo means to look good enough at a glance in Mexican Spanish - to pass the eye test without surviving closer inspection. It is used about clothes, cars, apartments and résumés - warm about a thing, faintly backhanded about a person. Dar gato por liebre is the older, harsher relative.
- Dar el gatazo means to look good enough at a glance - to pass the eye test without surviving inspection.
- It is used about clothes, cars, résumés, apartments and people, and it is affectionate about things - a shade backhanded about a person.
- Dar gato por liebre - passing a cat off as a hare - is the much older relative, and it is a real accusation.
What it means
Something looks the part from a distance. Not fake exactly, and not good exactly - adequate to the moment, which is often all that is required.
It is said about your own things as freely as about anybody else's, and that is what keeps it warm. Compré uno barato pero da el gatazo is a small satisfaction rather than a confession.
Literal meaning
Gatazo is gato with -azo. That ending is not only an augmentative in Spanish - it also builds blow-nouns like portazo and manotazo, and in idiom it makes the showy, oversized version of a thing. So gatazo is not literally a large animal, and reading it that way manufactures a mystery that is not there.
The phrase itself is well recorded as a mexicanismo. What is not settled is its relationship to the older expression.
That older one is dar gato por liebre - to give a cat instead of a hare - a long-attested Spanish expression for swindling somebody. The usual explanation is that a skinned cat and a skinned hare are hard to tell apart at a market stall: traditional, plausible, and not something lexicography has settled. The family resemblance to dar el gatazo is obvious; the direct line is an assumption.
The difference in force is worth keeping. Dar gato por liebre is fraud. Dar el gatazo is a jacket that looks fine from across the room, and nobody has been cheated.
The forms of dar el gatazo you'll hear
- da el gatazoit looks the partThe present, and the commonest shape. Usually said with a bit of satisfaction.
- no da el gatazoit doesn't even look rightThe negative. A lower bar than chafa, and still the politer of the two things to say.
- para dar el gatazojust for appearancesThe purpose version. Lo rentamos nada más para dar el gatazo.
- dio el gatazoit passedAfter the fact. The occasion happened and the thing survived it.
- todavía da el gatazostill got itAbout a person, usually about age. The friendliest way the phrase gets used about a human being.
- dar gato por liebreto swindle somebodyThe older relative, and a real accusation. Not the same phrase and not the same claim.
How Mexicans use it
Clothes are the classic. A suit, a bag, a pair of shoes bought cheaply and doing the job - and the verdict is delivered with a certain pride rather than an apology.
It extends to anything judged on appearance under time pressure: a résumé that gets the interview, an apartment that photographs better than it lives, a car that looks fine until you drive it.
About people the commonest use is age. Todavía da el gatazo - said about somebody still looking good for their years - is probably where you will hear it most about a human being.
But about a person it is damning with faint praise, not a compliment. The shape it usually takes is no es guapa pero da el gatazo, and said to somebody about themselves it lands lukewarm at best. Warm about your own jacket, faintly backhanded about a face.
The negative fails a lower bar. No da el gatazo means it does not even manage the glance - though chafa is still the ruder thing to say, because it insults the object rather than reporting an impression.
Examples
- Está barato pero da el gatazo.It's cheap but it looks the part.
- Con ese saco das el gatazo.That blazer will get you through.
- El depa no da el gatazo ni en fotos.The apartment doesn't even look good in photos.
- Lo rentamos nada más para dar el gatazo.We rented it just for appearances.
- Todavía da el gatazo, ¿eh?Still got it, right?
How dar el gatazo looks in a group chat
- oye ¿el vestido del tianguis se ve muy barato?hey, does the market dress look really cheap?
- para nada, da el gatazo. de lejos ni se notanot at all, it looks the part. you can't tell from a distance
- ok me lo llevo entonces 😅ok i'm taking it then
Mini dialogue
Common mistake
Hearing it as an accusation. Nobody is being defrauded. If deception is what you mean, dar gato por liebre is the phrase, and it is a genuinely serious thing to say about a seller.
Using it where chafa belongs. Chafa judges the thing itself; dar el gatazo judges only how it survives a look. A phone can be deeply chafa and still da el gatazo, and Mexicans keep the two verdicts apart.
Don't sound gringo
the phrase for good enough at a distance. it draws the line between what survives a glance and what survives inspection.
A cheap suit that da el gatazo gets you through the wedding. A rented car looks the part in the photos. A résumé gets you the interview and nothing more.
It is not an accusation of fraud. It is closer to an affectionate assessment, and Mexicans use it about their own things constantly.
Half of getting by anywhere is knowing which of the two you actually need.
Where you'll hear it
- A jacket from the tianguis that looks like the other jackets from across a room
- A room straightened up on exactly one side, for exactly one camera angle
- Shoes that will not survive the walk home but will survive the interview
- A cake bought on the way, presented as if the afternoon had gone differently
FAQ
What does dar el gatazo mean?
To look good enough at a glance - to pass the eye test without surviving closer inspection. It is used about clothes, cars, apartments and résumés.
Is dar el gatazo an accusation?
No. It is affectionate, and Mexicans use it about their own things constantly. If you mean somebody was actually cheated, that is dar gato por liebre.
What is the difference between dar el gatazo and chafa?
Timing, and rudeness. Chafa is the verdict after inspection - badly made - and it is the harsher word, because it condemns the object. Dar el gatazo only reports how something survives a look. Both can be true at once.
What is dar gato por liebre?
The much older relative - to pass a cat off as a hare, meaning to swindle somebody. It is a real accusation, unlike dar el gatazo.
Where does the cat come from?
Not settled. The -azo here makes the showy version of a noun rather than a big animal, and the obvious relative is dar gato por liebre - but that link is an assumption, and the market-stall story behind it is traditional rather than documented.
Can you say it about a person?
Yes, and it is faint praise rather than a compliment. No es guapa pero da el gatazo is the usual shape. Todavía da el gatazo, about somebody looking good for their age, is the friendliest version.
What does no da el gatazo mean?
It does not even manage the glance. It fails a lower bar than chafa - but chafa is still the ruder thing to say out loud.
dar el gatazo vs chafa, corriente and pasar de panzazo
dar el gatazovschafa
Chafa is the verdict after inspection - badly made, disappointing. Dar el gatazo is the verdict before it. A chafa thing can absolutely dar el gatazo, and often that is the whole point of buying it. Chafa is also the ruder of the two: it condemns the object, where no da el gatazo only reports an impression.dar el gatazovscorriente
Cheap-looking, tacky - the word that sits right beside chafa in every Mexican head. Corriente is about how something reads; chafa is about how it was made.Page coming soondar el gatazovspasar de panzazo
To scrape by. The closest relative for clearing a bar and nothing more - though that one is about performance, usually an exam, rather than appearance.Page coming soondar el gatazovschueco
Chueco is not legitimate - stolen, irregular. Dar el gatazo says nothing about where a thing came from, only about how it looks from six feet away.dar el gatazovsdar gato por liebre
The much older relative: to pass a cat off as a hare, meaning to swindle somebody. Dar el gatazo is softer - nobody is being defrauded, the thing simply looks the part.Page coming soondar el gatazovsgata
Unrelated, and worth knowing before you guess. Gata in Mexico is a classist slur for a domestic worker. Gatazo has nothing to do with it.Page coming soondar el gatazovspirata
Counterfeit - a fake of a specific brand. Something pirata usually does dar el gatazo, which is exactly what it is for, but the words describe different halves of that.Page coming soon
Related words
Test yourself
Tap an answer.
Your friend says their cheap jacket 'da el gatazo.' What do they mean?
Which phrase means somebody actually got cheated?
The one thing
dar el gatazo is looking good enough at a glance without surviving inspection. warm about your own jacket, faint praise about a person. dar gato por liebre is the older, harsher relative.
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