Friday 11 September 2009


FIGURATIVE USE OF COMMON EVERYDAY WORDS OR PHRASES IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE.

HOW DO YOU SAY THEM IN ENGLISH?

1 - "abacaxi" - a hot potato; a hard/tough nut to crack

2 - "abobrinha" - baloney; nonsense; rubbish

3 - "bater na mesma tecla" - to harp on about the same thing

4 - "cara-de-pau" - cheeky

5 - "ficar" - to make out

Adapted from Break the branch? Quebrar o galho? by Jack Scholes

8 comments:

  1. That is super cool! I will try to incorporate them! By all means they will be useful!
    Another good one to know is: pão-duro= stingy, tight-fisted.
    The list is endless...

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  3. This is a book I want to buy, it seens to be very useful!
    I loved this post...Could you post another ones?

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  4. Hi Larissa,

    By the way, any idea how to say "tomar vergonha na cara"?

    Love,
    Chris

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  5. Hi Kelly,

    It's a super cool book. The other books by the same author are also great.

    Love,
    Chris

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  6. Hi Kelly,

    We´ll post more pretty soon. Nice that you´re enjoying the blog.
    Love,
    Danuza

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  7. Hi Chris,

    With one example that I was given (because I wouldn't know exactly what "tomar vergonha na cara" means), I would deduce that it means "shame on you." For example, Pedro doesn't study as much as he should, shame on him. Or, "Pedro, shame on you, you don't study as much as you should."
    Might this be it?

    Jacqueline

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  8. Hi Jackie,

    "Shame on you" sounds close enough to "tomar vergonha na cara".
    Thank you very much.
    By the way, have a safe journey back home and do come back,ok?
    Love,
    Chris

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