In Finnish we have “kissanristiäiset” (literally means a cat’s christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.
There’s a bunch of weird ones in Portuguese.
- “Caroço de manga não é sabonete” Do you think that mango seed is soap? = “this is an absurd proposal/situation/etc.”
- “Pobre só sobe na vida quando o barraco explode” Poor people only ascend on life when the [shit]shack explodes. = “don’t expect social ascension”
- “Enquanto vem com o milho, já comi a polenta.” While you’re bringing the corn, I already ate the polenta. = “I’ve already handled this, you’re too late.”
- “um polaco de cada colônia” a Pole from each settlement = a bunch of randomly picked people or items. I don’t think that people use this too much outside Paraná.
- “farinha do mesmo saco” flour from the same bag = extremely similar in some aspects that matter (and usually negative ones)
- “comer o pão que o diabo amassou” to eat the bread kneaded by the devil = to go through rough times
- “Vai chupar prego até virar tachinha!” Go suck an [iron] nail until it becomes a thumbtack! = somewhat polite way to tell someone to fuck off
- “Vai ver se estou na esquina.” *Go check if I’m around the corner." = also a way to tell people to fuck off
- “anta quadrada” squared tapir = “anta” tapir is used to call someone stupid, so anta quadrada is stupid to the power of two.
- “anta cúbica” cubed tapir = because some people do some really, really stupid shit.
- “mais louco que o Requião de pedalinho” crazier than Requião on a paddle boat = Requião is a politician here in Paraná known for his crazy antics. The phrase highlights that something is completely fucking crazy. Clearly local.
- “teu cu” your arse[hole] = definitively, clearly, and blatantly “no”.
I always said it as while you’re bringing the wheat I already ate the bread. But in my family we exaggerated it for effect: while you’re buying the wheat seed, I already shat the bread 😂
while you’re buying the wheat seed, I already shat the bread
Like, “enquanto você tá comprando o trigo, já caguei o pão”? That’s hilarious!
Haven’t seen some of these before. Ones I particularly like are:
- Tirar o cavalo da chuva: take your horse away from the rain = give up on something
- Lavar as mãos: wash (the) hands = do not involve yourself in something
Wash your hands of [something] is also in American English, although I think more typically used when you were already involved in something then removed yourself from the situation
Another Bible reference; this one refers to Roman governor Pontius Pilate washing his hands to indicate being done with the issue of Jesus’s execution.
Small note, this is Brazilian Portuguese 🇧🇷 (PT-BR), not European Portuguese 🇵🇹 (PT-PT). I never heard most of these. We do have the “farinha do mesmo saco” and “comer o pão que o diabo amassou” though.
One important detail is that those country-based labels are at most abstractions or geographical terms. “Brazilian Portuguese” and “European Portuguese” aren’t actual, well-defined dialects; what people actually speak is local, in both sides. (e.g. “Paulistano Portuguese”, “Alentejano Portuguese”, “Estremenho Portuguese”, you get the idea.)
This is relevant here because I wouldn’t be surprised if plenty Brazilians never heard some of those. For example, “um polaco de cada colônia” only makes sense in Paraná, Polish immigration here was large enough to make some people call other immigrants “Poles”, even Germans and Italians. So the “Poles from each colony” are usually people/things that you might think that are related, but have zero to do with each other.
You’re not wrong but the way I see it it’s a hierarchical term.
Portuguese - all Portuguese based languages Brazilian Portuguese - all Portuguese dialects in Brazil European Portuguese - all Portuguese dialects in Portugal Angolan Portuguese - all Portuguese dialects in Angola and so on…
I’m not expecting everyone to know every expression under the sun, but those are CLEARLY Brazilian-Portuguese based so I thought it best to clear it up because people just say Portuguese most times and I feel that creates some confusion.
Only a few of these - “comer o pão que o diabo amassou”, “vai ver se estou na esquina” - are used in Portugal, so they’re mostly used in Brasil.
The language hasn’t drifted all that much in between both countries during the last couple of hundred years but expressions seem to tend to be the first to drift away.
It also seems to me that expressions drift away faster than other aspects of the language. Perhaps due to their casual nature, or due to context. And they’re often extremely local, too - for example, I’ve heard nordestinos using “sacrifício de mundo” (lit. world sacrifice) to refer to difficult things, while folks here in Paraná practically never do it. While saying that something is “uma vaca no milharal” (a cow in the corn farm - wrecking everything with no regards or reason) usually outs the person as from a rural background.
For speakers from Portugal there’s an additional weird expression: pila is used here in Paraná as a completely innocent word for money, e.g. “dois pila” two bucks. (In PT I believe that it’s used as a slang for dick.)
You are correct on the pila thing, though it’s old fashioned and kinda children’s language.
Funilly enough and if I remember it correctly, a pila is a kind of throwable spear from the Roman times.
