Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
“se les estaba pasando la mano”
English translation:
they were overdoing it / they were going too far
Spanish term
Canada
“se les estaba pasando la mano”
| 4 +5 | they were overdoing it / they were going too far |
Charles Davis
|
| 4 +3 | "the situation was getting out of hand" |
Robert Carter
|
| 4 +3 | "they'd gone too far" |
Giovanni Rengifo
|
Non-PRO (2): Phoenix III, Rosa Paredes
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
they were overdoing it / they were going too far
It's listed as a Chilean usage:
"pasársele la mano (exagerar; ir demasiado lejos)"
Dictionary of Chilean Slang
https://books.google.es/books?id=UwVYtrmBIEYC&pg=PT454&lpg=P...
But it's also used in Peru in that sense, as Martha Hildebrandt explains here, citing Vargas Llosa as an example:
http://elcomercio.pe/opinion/habla-culta/martha-hildebrandt-...
And here people from various countries, including Argentina and Mexico, confirm that it means "propasarse":
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/se-paso-la-mano.71572...
This text is about Venezuela, but it seems to be used in the same sense there. Here's an example:
"Por esos días ejerce funciones de recaudador de rentas Juan Manuel Iturbe a quien suele pasársele la mano a la hora del rigor y los castigos, y es contra esa situación en particular, que humilla y enardece a los labradores, que Chirino se levanta en armas."
http://comunicacionsocialenlahistoria.blogspot.com.es/2011/0...
What it means here is that the government realised that they'd gone too far and been too severe; it had backfired on them.
| Thank you Charles |
Mexico
Translating full-time since 1998
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: Spanish to English
"the situation was getting out of hand"
| agree |
Ana Florencia Fernandez
13 mins
|
|
Thanks, Ana.
|
|
| agree |
franglish
29 mins
|
|
Thanks, franglish.
|
|
| neutral |
Charles Davis
: Do you have any evidence for this meaning, Robert? It would normally be "se les iba de las manos".
36 mins
|
|
Funny, I actually posted "they had gone too far" at first, then removed it, but yes you're right, overdoing it/being too severe is more accurate.
|
|
| agree |
Camila Rivera
1 hr
|
|
Thanks, Camila.
|
Colombia
Traductores Oficiales Cali
Native in: Spanish 
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish, German to Spanish, and 2 more.
"they'd gone too far"
Just a couple of ideas.
| agree |
Charles Davis
: I didn't notice your answer before posting, Giovanni. That's what it means, yes.
9 mins
|
|
We were probably preparing our answers at the same time, but your answer is much more thorough than mine (definition, explanation, and links). That's what took you longer. Well done!
|
|
| agree |
Carol Gullidge
: you were first!
1 hr
|
| agree |
Muriel Vasconcellos
4 hrs
|
Something went wrong...