The term cantamañanas literally translates as ‘tomorrow singer’, but in Spanish it describes someone who is a fantasizer and irresponsible, and whose word shouldn’t be taken seriously.
A suitable translation in English would be a bullshitter.
The noun cantamañanas remains the same regardless of the person’s gender or if it’s singular or plural.
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Mañana can mean ‘morning’ or ‘tomorrow’ in Spanish, and in this case the word cantamañanas refers to tomorrow.
It’s not an offensive word but if you call someone cantamañanas directly to their face they may not appreciate it.
Foreigners in Spain often comment that Spanish workers are happy to put off tasks to mañana, mañana (tomorrow, tomorrow), so in a sense cantamañanas could be used to describe anyone (not just Spanish) who constantly gives excuses for not doing something.
Interestingly, the expression didn’t come about as a way of describing a historical character who would sing in the mornings, nor a cockerel for that matter.
Rather it was born during the Golden Age in Spain (16th and 17th centuries) as an allusion to people fleeing any sort of responsibility, leaving unfinished jobs and work for the next day.
If they were asked when they’d do a certain chore, they’d assert ¡Mañana! (Tomorrow), even though they really had no intention of carrying it out.
So when someone asked a cantamañanas if they’d done something and they responded by saying they’d do it some other time, the person would reply ¡Ya cantó mañana! (They sang ‘tomorrow’ again!).
And that’s how the term cantamañanas originated. Who comes to mind when you think of un/a cantamañanas?
There are other ways to call bullshit in Spanish, which The Local Spain has covered here.
Examples:
Julia es una cantamañanas, lleva sin hacer nada toda la semana.
Julia is a bullshitter, she’s done nothing all week.
Los comerciales son unos cantamañanas, no me fiaría de lo que dicen.
Sales people are bullshitters, I wouldn’t trust what they say.
