What is the meaning of the Spanish term "comerse el coco"?

 

Margarita Sanz Jenkinson, knows Spanish

Answered Aug 20, 2020

(Excuse some of my spelling)

We hardly use this exptession here in Mexico, “Comerse el coco”.

You have seen a Coconut? It is round, hairy. Not to pretty. “El Coco” in Mexico, besides meaning Coconut, it also means some kind of a monster that scares children. “ Si no te portas bien, te va a comer el Coco”= If you dont go to sleep the “Coco” will come and eat you.

Literary the meaning is: “To eat the Coconut”.

The meaning you want to know “Comerse el coco”, applies to a person that is obessed about something or someone and has to find a solution to solve the problem that has derived from the situation. Maybe the expression: “To eat your brains out” , can apply. It is the closest translation that I can find in english to this expression and I will use it in the examples below. It means something that is turning very difficult to resolve or to say: “Me estoy comiendo el coco por culpa de ese examen”= I am “eating my brains out”, because of that exam”.