I came across this comment in a blog:
“una bocada que no había dios que hincara el diente”.
I understand that the sandwich was hard to chew.
Would a good English translation be something like, “There isn’t a god who could dent it with his teeth” or perhaps “Even God couldn’t sink His teeth into it”?
That’s correct. The second version, in particular, would be closer to the original meaning. In general, a common colloquial expression is “no hay dios que…” (+ subjunctive), literally “No God could…” in the sense that “there’s no way…”, and which adds a touch of blasphemy, typical of the Spanish style of swearing.
On the other hand, are you sure it says “una bocada”? I would expect “un bocata”, which is slang for “un bocadillo” = a sandwich. If so, I’m rather sure that was written by someone from Spain because both “bocata” and “no hay dios” are very usual slang expressions around here.
The exact sentence IMO would be:
“Un bocata que no había dios que le hincara el diente”
Yes, it was bocata. My mistake. And yes this is a blog post from a person from Spain. Thanks a lot. I was hoping you’d be monitoring this thread!
Also, there was a “le”. I wrote it from memory and hesitated about putting in the “le”. I should have gone back and checked.
(edited)
definetely the second one, it is more closer to the translation, you have to remember that slang doesn´t have a translation
Gracias