Wednesday 31 December 2014

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #73

Ainda estar de pé - To still be on [its] feet


When someone asks you if the plans you’ve made are “still on its feet” they’re asking you if it’s still on, if you’re still planning on going.


I suppose the idea is that you’re asking if the plan’s still “ready to go” in a way (rather than sitting down…?)


Thursday 18 December 2014

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #72

Não tem santo nem capeta que faça ela/ele mudar de ideia - There’s no saint nor devil that than make her/him change [their] mind


Tuesday 16 December 2014

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #70

Televisão de cachorro - Dog television


A rotisserie.


Rotisseries in Brazil are near the entrance to stores, and placed lower than in Canada, so it’s in a perfect place for dogs to sit and stare at the revolving meat (which they often do).


Monday 15 December 2014

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #69

Nossa!


A multipurpose exclamation. It can denote surprise, shock, exasperation… I’m probably missing a bunch of uses here, but these are three of the main ones - it’s a very versatile exclamation.


Literally, Nossa means “Our”.


"Um, wtf?" you may ask. This one actually makes sense: Nossa in this context is a shortening of Nossa Senhora (Our Lady), a reference to the Virgin Mary.


It was likely considered a nasty swear way back in the day (a la “My God!”, which we also use - Meu Deus!). Nowadays it holds no hint of being a swear anymore.


Variants of Nossa! include (but are certainly not limited to):


Nossa Senhora! - Our Lady!


Nossa Mãe! - Our Mother!


Ave Maria! - Hail Mary!


Santa Maria! - Saint Mary!


Vixe! - Virgin!


In English people would say “Gee” instead of “Jesus”. Like Gee, vixe is a way of referring to a holy person without using their proper name/title (the proper word for “virgin” in Portuguese is virgem - it might sound familiar due to its Latin root: Virgo).


I doubt many Brazilians even realize that’s what vixe (pronounced “vee-shee” or “vee-shh”) even refers to (I certainly didn’t until I actually stopped to think about it); it’s just a popular exclamation nowadays.


Vixe Maria! - Virgin Mary!


Thursday 11 December 2014

Brazilian Colloquialisms, Sayings, and Slang #65

Cada louco com sua mania - [To] each crazy person their craze/habit


The Brazilian more or less equivalent of “to each their own.”


Literally, “each crazy person with their craze/habit/mania.


Monday 8 December 2014

Sunday 7 December 2014

Brazilian Holidays: Christmas #5

In Brazil Santa’s reindeer don’t have names.


They’re just the dudes that pull the sleigh and help Santa in the super important job of handing out the Christmas loot.


Rena - Reindeer (singular)


Renas - Reindeer (plural)


Saturday 6 December 2014

Brazilian Holidays: Christmas #4

In Brazil Mrs. Claus is called Mamãe Noel (Mother/mom/mommy Christmas), which is quite fitting since her husband is Papai Noel (Father/dad/daddy Christmas).


Thursday 4 December 2014

Brazilian Holidays: Christmas #2

Santa Claus/Father Christmas/St.Nick is called Papai Noel in Brazil.


Papai - Father/dad/daddy


Noel - French for “Christmas” (remember how in an earlier post we talked about how Brazil went all borrow-happy on French in the 1800’s?)


Wednesday 3 December 2014

(Estar) careca de saber - (To be) bald from knowing The Brazilian equivalent of “to know full...

(Estar) careca de saber - (To be) bald from knowing


The Brazilian equivalent of “to know full well”


ie. Você está careca de saber que eu sou alérgica a gatos - You know full well that I’m allergic to cats


A variant of this is saber muito bem (to know very well).


…You know, the more I translate these the more I realize how weird languages are. Most of the time we’re really just babbling nonsense that for some reason we think sounds logical.