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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

y sabe las de Kiko y Caco

English translation:

knows every trick in the book

Added to glossary by Robert Forstag
Jan 31, 2016 23:49
8 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

y sabe las de Kiko y Caco

Spanish to English Other Journalism From article in weekly newspaper *Hildebrandt en sus trece*
The article details how one of the candidates in the current Peruvian presidential elections, César Acuña, seems to have fraudulently obtained an Engineering degree from a Peruvian university:

Hay que decirlo. Acuña es un peruano a carta cabal según los cánones impuestos por el fujimorismo desde hace 26 años. No tiene principios, es exitoso, es capaz de todo, chorrea millones, apenas puede leer un texto escrito y sabe las de Kiko y Caco. ¡Es el emprendedor emblemático! !Es el busto de la modernidad entendida desde Gamarra!

I am assuming that the phrase in question means something along the lines of "and he don't know jack shit!" but I would appreciate knowledgeable construals as well as an explanation of the cultural reference.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +7 knows every trick in the book
3 +1 but he can read your palm / cards / future / tealeaves
2 and he knows it all / knows everything about it
References
It's from a book

Discussion

Helena Chavarria Feb 1, 2016:
I immediately thought of Cervantes' 'Rinconete y Cortadillo', but I'm afraid I can't think of a similar pair of characters in English literature.
Charles Davis Feb 1, 2016:
Here's an English version of an interesting essay by Bravo-Villasante on "The History of Juvenile Literature in Chile", dating from 1967. It discusses Montenegro:
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED025496.pdf
Charles Davis Feb 1, 2016:
Traditional Actually it seems that Montenegro's stories in Mi tío Ventura are literary treatments of traditional folk tales, according to Manuel Peña Muñoz, Historia de la literatura infantil chilena (Santiago de Chile: Andrés Bello, 1982), pp. 33–34.
http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/mc0011016.pdf

Carmen Bravo-Villasante, the doyenne of studies on Spanish children's literature, includes Montenegro in her Historia y antología de la literatura infantil iberoamericana, vol. I
https://books.google.es/books?id=VLjYAAAAIAAJ&focus=searchwi...
Charles Davis Feb 1, 2016:
Origin I believe it originally comes from "Travesuras de Quico y Caco", one of the stories in Ernesto Montenegro's Cuentos de mi tío Ventura, a classic of Chilean children's literature, first published (I believe) in 1931. The stories are apparently original, though presented as traditional. The comic book version mentioned in one of Helena's references is presumably later and reflects the popularity of this particular story. It begins as follows:

"Había una vez un ladrón muy habilidoso, al que lo conocían por Quico. Sus amigotes le trajeron el cuento de que en el reino vecino andaba un roto que se tenía por mejor que él para lo ajeno, y lo llamaban por mal nombre Caco."
https://books.google.es/books?id=vcZckAFY1pAC&pg=PA101#v=one...
Charles Davis Feb 1, 2016:
las de Kiko/Quico y Caco On the spelling: note that Vargas Llosa himself, who used "sabes las de Kiko y Caco" in 2006 in Las travesuras, had written "Éste sabe las de Quico y Caco" in an earlier work, La ciudad y los perros (1962):
https://books.google.es/books?id=0DTSAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA179&lpg=P...
Charles Davis Feb 1, 2016:
In case anyone didn't know "Caco" is a colloquial word for "thief" (derived from the cattle-stealing giant Cacus, killed by Hercules).
Andy Watkinson Feb 1, 2016:
FYI WRF.
Saber las de Kiko y Caco. El saber engañar es un arte. Así nos dice Vargas Llosa en su historia de una niña mala. La niña mala protagonista de esta historia se las ingenia para engañar a cuanto sujeto se le cruzaba en el camino con la única finalidad de conseguir su más caro anhelo: ser una mujer con mucho dinero
Muriel Vasconcellos Feb 1, 2016:
Thinks he knows it all That's what the context suggests to me - not quite the same as your interpretation. It would help to understand the meaning of "las de Quico and Caco" as it relates to your text.

Proposed translations

+7
1 hr
Selected

knows every trick in the book

I think this is what this expression would be equivalent to in English. See also "sabe las de Quico y Caco".

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-02-01 01:19:36 GMT)
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The expression is also used here: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/universidad_iberoam...
"Dos mozos secretearon con picardía; y otro dijo a media voz:
-¡Si el viejo sabe..., las de Quico y Caco...! No quiere hacer sombra...
Y en aquel momento apareció don Gaspar frotándose las manos, y agarrando una botella para servir, dijo con marcada alegría:
-Un abre ganitas, caballeros."
Peer comment(s):
agree Danik 2014
24 mins
Thank you, Danik.
agree Charles Davis : Seems just right to me
5 hrs
Thank you, Charles.
agree neilmac
6 hrs
Thank you, Neil.
agree Cecilia Gowar
9 hrs
Thank you, Cecilia.
agree Yvonne Gallagher
11 hrs
Thank you, Gallagy.
agree Lucy Breen
12 hrs
Thank you, Lucy.
agree Helena Chavarria : I like your suggestion!
13 hrs
Thank you, Helena!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you Adoración. Thanks also to everyone else who responded and commented, and especially to Charles for his valuable references and insights."
43 mins

and he knows it all / knows everything about it

This is a guess, as I'm out of my depth, but I've looked at several contexts on the Internet. Some tend to be more flattering and others not so much - it doesn't appear to be consistently pejorative.

In your case, and maybe in other contexts, it might be being used in the ironic sense (i.e., 'he thinks he knows it all').

Examples:

elmen.pe › Política
Translate this page
Feb 25, 2015 - ... EN CUALQUIER TERRENO. POR Q LAS TENEMOS TODAS Y **EL SOLDADO PERUVIANO SE LAS SABE LAS DE QUICO Y CACO**

https://es.scribd.com/.../Dandole-Pena-a-La-Tristeza-A...
Translate this page
Aug 17, 2013 - ... **se sabe las de Quico y Caco al lado de París también al grano** – concluyó don Fermín Antonio–: A mí La Voz de Lima me suena muy bien.

www.fmcosta.com/.../422-se-recibiu-de-entrenador-pa...
Translate this page
Aug 28, 2014 - Es asistente de la reserva de la U. **Ningún chamaco lo va a pasear, porque se sabe las de quico y caco**. Vale Me voy, soy fuga. fuente: trome.

Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

but he can read your palm / cards / future / tealeaves

Just an idea here. Given the references Helena and Andy have provided, it sounds like this is a veiled way of saying that he's a conman or grifter. Perhaps it might therefore be appropriate to use something like a refence to mediums or snake-oil salesmen, and, following on from the barely-literate reference, you could go with something like this:
"...he barely knows how to read or write, but he can read your palm..." the implicit idea being that he'll cheat you out of your money by selling you something he knows he can't deliver.
Peer comment(s):
agree Andy Watkinson : I think "conman" says it all.
1 hr
Thank you, Andy.
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

6 mins
Reference:

It's from a book

It's from a book by Mario Vargas Llosa, 'Las travesuras de la niña mala'.

https://books.google.es/books?id=lSuzAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT156&lpg=P...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2016-02-01 00:02:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

LAS DE KIKO Y KAKO
Hace más de treinta años toda la vecindad del "Chavo del 8" estuvo en Chile e hizo una presentación en el Estadio Nacional. Uno de los más queridos fue Kiko, el personaje que durante años ha interpretado Carlos Villagrán. Hoy, el actor se despide de su personaje en un circo pobre, pero honrado, y León fue hasta allá para conocer a uno de los ídolos de muchos ex niños.

http://www.lanacion.cl/las-de-kiko-y-kako/noticias/2010-09-2...

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Note added at 14 mins (2016-02-01 00:04:28 GMT)
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PASAR LAS DE QUICO Y CACO: Quico y Caco eran los nombres de dos muchachos aventureros de unas antiguas tiras cómicas. Ellos pasaban por graves apuros e increíbles peripecias, pero de una forma u otra sobrevivían.

http://www.lacuarta.com/canal/articuloDiccionario/71_4515.ht...

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Note added at 16 mins (2016-02-01 00:06:15 GMT)
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It appears it comes from Chile. Vargas Llosa might have used the expression and changed the spelling.

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Note added at 18 mins (2016-02-01 00:08:16 GMT)
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According to this it means, 'Pasar grandes penurias y dificultades' and is similar to 'Pasar las de Cain'.

https://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/pasar_las_de_Quico_y_Caco

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Note added at 27 mins (2016-02-01 00:17:46 GMT)
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It would appear that Quico and Caco is used in Chile to refer to born survivors, but I'm afraid I'm not sure of the meaning in Peru.

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Note added at 36 mins (2016-02-01 00:26:48 GMT)
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Quico, un simpático y audaz ladronzuelo, pariente directo del Lazarillo de Tormes, de Pedro Urdemeles, o de aquélla singular pareja “Quico y Caco”, cuyas historias contaban lass abuelas, busca robar el tesoro del Mariscal. Secundado por el viejo ladrón Tapia, deberá enfrentar con ingenio y picardía a los milicos y al ciego consejero, devotos de la poderosa familia real.

http://www.infonews.com/nota/44738

I think they survived thanks to their dishonesty!
Note from asker:
Thanks, but I strongly suspect that the expression did not *originate* in said book. :)
Although your reference suggests that my surmise is off base, and that the meaning instead is intended to denote the cunning of the referent.
H, so perhaps it means something like " know how to get through anything/are natural-born survivors.
"
Something went wrong...
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