# I could murder a coffee



## Mustermisstler

Hello everybody,

Could anybody tell me what means the following english expression:

"I could murder a coffee"  

"Mataría por un café" would be the spanish translation?


Thanks


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## Tellico

I really REALLY want a coffee.

Estoy desesperado por un cafe?

It's almost Friday 5pm here.  I could murder a beer (or two).


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## Fernita

"¡Me muero por (tomar) un café!".

Es otra opción.


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## Crisbeato

" Me muero por un café"

=>Ser muy aficionada a algo o desearlo vehementemente. U. t. c. prnl. _Se muere __POR el cuadro_.(DRAE)


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## mardiz

ummmmm.... no. It means exactly what it says: "I could murder a coffee." For example: I see a coffee. I get very very very angry. I say, "Hey, coffee! I'm going to KILL you!!!" and then I murder it by pouring it on the floor and running out of the café shop to avoid the police. That's what it means.

On the other hand, "I could murder for a cup of coffee." means "Me muero por un café."

PS - I'm just having a little fun. ; )


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## Jeromed

mardiz said:


> ummmmm.... no. It means exactly what it says: "I could murder a coffee." For example: I see a coffee. I get very very very angry. I say, "Hey, coffee! I'm going to KILL you!!!" and then I murder it by pouring it on the floor and running out of the café shop to avoid the police. That's what it means.
> 
> On the other hand, "I could murder for a cup of coffee." means "Me muero por un café."
> 
> PS - I'm just having a little fun. ; )


 
So I see!
I agree with you.  _I could murder a coffee_ is not the same as _I could murder for a coffee._


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## Exxcentrica

Jeromed said:


> So I see!
> I agree with you. _I could murder a coffee_ is not the same as _I could murder for a coffee._


 
That´s what I thought. Really, in the sentence the "for" is missing, or is it???

cheers


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## Jeromed

It's missing if you want to say _Podría matar por un café._


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## gotitadeleche

> "I could murder a coffee"



I never heard this expression. I agree with mardiz, literally it means to kill a coffee.


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## EmilyD

Odd, when I've heard that kind of expression, I understood it to mean:

I could *consume swiftly and completely* a whatever/edible.

??  

_Nomi

I have heard: __ "...kill/murder for a /an X..." and understood it as wanting something intensely....
_


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## Fernita

mardiz said:


> ummmmm.... no. It means exactly what it says: "I could murder a coffee." For example: I see a coffee. I get very very very angry. I say, "Hey, coffee! I'm going to KILL you!!!" and then I murder it by pouring it on the floor and running out of the café shop to avoid the police. That's what it means.
> 
> On the other hand, "I could murder for a cup of coffee." means "Me muero por un café."
> 
> PS - I'm just having a little fun. ; )


Hi, mardiz!
I had added the preposition "for" but then, as you may see, I deleted my post because the native speakers answered without saying anything about a missing preposition. And so I thought it was kind of a colloquial way to say it and that I was wrong. So, thank you for your explanation.


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## güeragirl

Como les parece, "I would kill for a cup of coffee." A mí suena más natural que "murder."


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## gotitadeleche

güeragirl said:


> Como les parece, "I would kill for a cup of coffee." A mí suena más natural que "murder."



I agree!!!


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## mardiz

I agree with Jeromed, the intent of the statement is:

_Podría matar por un café_

I've been ready to finish work for a while and I found the original statement very funny... I imagined going into a coffee shop to murder a cup of coffee. *)*


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## alexacohen

The only option left to us is to ask the would-be coffee-killer if there was a preposition missing from her/his post.


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## Exxcentrica

gotitadeleche said:


> I never heard this expression. I agree with mardiz, literally it means to kill a coffee.


Good, then we mght want to eleborate on that one: Te mataré café.
Te podré matar, café.

I suppose the "for" was simply missing.

cheers


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## ter_

Quizás sea una diferencia entre el inglés británico/irlandés (veo que Mustermisstler está en Irlanda) y el inglés americano porque por este lado del charco se suele decir sin el "for". 

I could murder *for *a coffee = Tengo tantas ganas de un café que podría matar a alguien sólo para tomarme uno (obviamente no se dice literalmente).

I could murder a coffee = Me muero por un café.

Al menos así lo veo yo.


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## galesa

I agree, I always say "I could murder a cup of coffee", but reading this thread it does sound funny!


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## alexacohen

ter_ said:


> I could murder a coffee = _Me muero por un café_.


Wouldn't that be "I'm dying for a coffee?"


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## galesa

both are expressions used to say that you are desperate for a coffee


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## alexacohen

> Originally posted by *galesa*
> both are expressions used to say that you are desperate for a coffee


No problem with the meaning, Galesa, but I don't agree with the translation. 

I could murder for a coffee = Me muero por un café Podría matar por un café.

"I would kill for a cup of coffee." = Mataría por un café.

"I'm dying for a coffee" = Me muero por un café.

Both expressions exist in Spanish, so why change them?

(I'm sorry; maybe the preposition can be omitted in BrE, but I'd rather keep it. It does sound weird without it. To me).


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## ben72227

I've never seen 'murder a coffee'

BUT, I have heard people say "I'm about to destroy these nachos" or something like that.

But I think in this case, they were saying "I could *kill* for a cup of coffee"


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## Moritzchen

_I could murder a coffee_, yes. Perhaps not very common but understandable. Sometimes, when I get back home and I'm very tired, I say "I'm going to kill the bed", or "I'm going to destroy the bed".


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## ter_

alexacohen said:


> I could murder for a coffee = Me muero por un café Podría matar por un café.
> 
> "I would kill for a cup of coffee." = Mataría por un café.
> 
> "I'm dying for a coffee" = Me muero por un café.


I agree with your translations, alexa. 



Moritzchen said:


> _I could murder a coffee_, yes. Perhaps not very common but understandable. Sometimes, when I get back home and I'm very tired, I say "I'm going to kill the bed", or "I'm going to destroy the bed".


Those two sentences sound weird to me! But "I could murder a coffee/a cup of tea/a pint (of beer)" are very common in the British Isles. I guess it's like saying you are so desperate for a [whatever] that you could actually murder it (rather than murder *for *it). I personally would never say "I could murder for...", but it seems that without the preposition it sounds weird to Americans (and non-natives).


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## mardiz

Stop the presses!!! The grammar "I could murder a coffee" is real! It is British, it is informal AND most imporantly... it is documented. 

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/I+could+murder

states: 

*I could murder something.* _(British, informal)_ 
something that you say when you want a particular kind of food or drink very much. _I'm starving. I could murder a curry._ 

You are not saying that you can murder for a particular item. It means that you crave a food or drink so much that you will murder it as you eat or drink it....


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## ter_

mardiz said:


> Stop the presses!!! The grammar "I could murder a coffee" is real!


No need to stop the press, a certain British forero was already saying the same thing!


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## mardiz

ter, touche on the murder.

By the way, stop the presses works as well as stop the press. google shows many examples... but please let's not get into that in this post :O)


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## ter_

Maybe it's another British/American difference because no one here says "stop the press*es*".


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## englishfreak

This is slightly weird, but I remember reading this post (looking for "murder of crows" whatever that was) and then suddenly the other day some said "I could murder a cheese melt". My jaw actually dropped, like in cartoons. So I asked, and she told me she meant she felt like eating a cheese melt, and that she had heard the expression before and in her opinion the "murder" part just meant to "finish", to "eat up", and she just meant that she felt she could do with a cheese melt, but it didn't imply she was dying for it. I don't know. What d'you think about that? (After all, neither of us were precisely grammar analysts or anything...)


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## *L*

mataria por un cafe sería i could murder for a coffee...
pero lo que dices es: podria asesinar a un café...lo cual suena bastante extraño


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## englishfreak

Yes, I know, someone said something similar in the first posts, but that version was apparently forgotten at some point. I was just curious. It might be something local, or my friend might have picked it up from someone and misunderstood it or something. I just thought it was pretty funny, given this discussion, to actually come across the actual saying.


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## A Limey from Blighty

The internet is a wonderful thing. Invented by the British of course. As an Englishman I felt it necessary to contribute to this threat. 'I could murder a cup of coffee' it correct English, but *'I could murder a cup a Char'* is far more English. Superficially it may seem to be a cliché, but us Brits will love you for it. Kind Regards Richard


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## indoctus

Nunca he oido esta expresión. Me imagino que es un sustituto para "I would die for some coffee".


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## Un Adorador

When we had a drink that we were sharing with someone and we left the last portion to the other person to finish we would say,"*Kill it*." That way they knew they could drink it all without a problem. So I guess that must have morphed into *murder*.


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## Magazine

Hi Lymey, a very warm welcome to the forum...I love your expression 




A Limey from Blighty said:


> *'I could murder a cup a Char'*



I wouldn't mind knowing though what it means


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## sarah_

Char es té


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## Cerros de Úbeda

Fernita said:


> "¡Me muero por (tomar) un café!".
> 
> Es otra opción.



Yes. I think this is the right idea.

'I would murder a coffee' is just an informal, figurative expression, synonymous with  'I'm dying for a coffee' / 'I could murder for a coffee', as Mardiz's quote from The Free Dictionary demonstrates; All three mean the same, more or less;

- Me muero por (tomar) un café'
(Y sinónimos)
- Estoy deseando (tomar) un café
- Estoy desesperado por (tomar) un café
- Estoy muerto / que me muero por un café
- Mataría / Podría matar por un café

The first two response posts got it right, then it all went awol from there.

It's the same mental image used in many other expressions, as in the expression 'To kill time', or the one mentioned above 'To kill the last of a drink', 'You killed it!' (meaning 'You nailed it!'), 'A killer app', etc.

It's just a question of not getting it so literally...


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## German_lover

güeragirl said:


> Como les parece, "I would kill for a cup of coffee." A mí suena más natural que "murder."


Agreed. Never heard murder in this context


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## Magazine

sarah_ said:


> Char es té


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