spot of bother | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Aslightproblem; asmallpredicament.Synonyms:seeThesaurus:difficult situationI had aspot of botherwith a sticky key on my keyboard.1933March,Marguerite Steen, “Strange Guest”, inGeo[rge] Newnes, editor,The Strand Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, volume LXXXV, London: George Newnes, Ltd.,[…],→OCLC,page271:As Gerald was aware, aspot of bother, a revival of the divorce fixation, had wafted Lydia temporarily on a visit to an aunt in Westmorland.1969, Alex Bowlby, “Orlando”, inRecollections of Rifleman Bowlby: Italy, 1944, London:Leo Cooper, published1989,→ISBN,→OCLC,page183:'Hullo, Charles,' he drawled. 'I'm afraid we've run into aspot of bother.' / Aspot of bother, I thought. Christ!1979,C[harles] P[ercy] Snow, chapter 43, inA Coat of Varnish, London:Macmillan,→ISBN; republished Kelly Bray, Cornwall: House of Stratus,2000,→ISBN,page331:Loseby was telling them that he was in aspot of bother. That's what he called it. But somehow he always managed to get out ofspots of bother. Or someone got him out.2005,Simon Stephens,On the Shore of the Wide World, London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama,Bloomsbury Publishing,→ISBN, part 4,page119:Charlie[…]I heard about yourspot of bother. /AlexSpot of bother? /CharlieYour dad told us. I was sorry to hear that. /AlexIt was hardly aspot of bother, Grandad. My best mate's gonna get sent to prison for burning a house down.2008, Nick Trout, “12:54 p.m.: Extreme Makeover”, inTell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon, New York, N.Y.:Broadway Books,→ISBN,pages227–228:"Your topic, dear boy, your topic. 'Plastic Surgery in Small Animals.' I think you're in for a …"—she appeared to be searching for just the right turn of phrase and then added—"aspot of bother." / "Aspot of bother," I repeated. /[…]/ What concerned me was her use of the phrase "a spot of bother." "A spot of bother" is one of many great British understatements.[…]It is almost certain that during the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066 whenKing Haroldtook a direct hit fromWilliam the Conqueror's forces with an arrow to the eye, he turned to his knights and confessed that he was in a "spot of bother."2016, Siobhán MacDonald, “Mannix: October”, inTwisted River(Penguin Mystery), New York, N.Y.:Penguin Books,→ISBN,page84:Being in aspot of botherwith the Bolgers was rather like saying he'd had a brush with the Taliban or a minor skirmish with al-Qaida. The Bolgers didn't dospots of bother. They did mayhem. Revenge beatings, drive-by shootings, and in the last few months scalped a guy they felt had slighted them.

Examples:

EN: I'm sorry to tell you, the transport ran into a spot of bother, and they're all at the bottom of the Java sea.
ES: Me temo que los transportes han tenido problemas. De hecho, se han ido a pique.
EN: A spot of bother going on inside.
ES: Un problemilla ahí dentro.
EN: I heard that Otsuta has been in a spot of bother
ES: Me he enterado de que Otsuta ha estado metida en un pequeño aprieto.
EN: I asked you to come over because there's a spot of bother.
ES: Le pedí que viniera porque hay algo de preocupación.
EN: - lf we make too much of this spot of bother, we may damage our relations with the public, generally, and also with the governors of Ranley School.
ES: Si le damos a esto demasiada importancia podríamos dañar nuestras relaciones con el público en general
EN: - Oh, I say there. Having a spot of bother?
ES: - Hola. ¿Tienes algún problema?
EN: We had a spot of bother with one of them.
ES: Tuvimos un problemilla con uno de esos.
EN: Had a spot of bother with the natives.
ES: Un indígena me ha atacado.
EN: Recently, though, I've had a spot of bother.
ES: Aunque recientemente he tenido algunos problemas.
EN: We had a spot of bother here.
ES: Hemos tenido un poco de molestia aquí.
EN: Oh, he says you've got a spot of bother in your...
ES: Dijo que teníais un fallo en vuestro, eh...
EN: What a splendid place you've got here. Are you having a spot of bother?
ES: Qué sitio tan espléndido tienes aquí. ¿Te molesta algo?
EN: What's up, Harold? You got a spot of bother? No, no.
ES: - Pareces preocupado.
EN: Little spot of bother in there, could you give me a hand?
ES: Tengo un pequeño problema allí dentro, ¿Podría usted ayudarme?
EN: I've had a spot of bother.
ES: No sé si lo sabías, pero tuve un problema.

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