6 ms·
Brazilians have terms that make no sense at all even in our own language. Things like greeting someone with “beleza?”(Beauty?) and the other end replying with “
by ulzeraj 8y ago
Brazilians have terms that make no sense at all even in our own language. Things like greeting someone with “beleza?”(Beauty?) and the other end replying with “Jóia” (jewel). Other things include “pretending to be armless John” and “pull your small horse out of the rain”.
Most of them have some obscure meaning that is unknown to most people nowadays.
- bobwaycott 8y agoMy favorite Brazilian phrase is “too much sand for your/my truck.”
- robocat 8y ago"Muita areia para a minha camioneta" https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=too%20much%20sand%20for%20my%20truck https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=too%20much%2... literal meaning: it’s a lot of sand for your little truck. rough translation: he or she is out of your league
- jpatokal 8y agoIt's a good thing the English language is a different kettle of fish that doesn't hornswoggle us blithering idiots while we chew the fat and things go pear-shaped.
- gspleen 8y agoThis is strange. I was curious about the meaning of “pretending to be armless John” so I googled it. There is only result for the use of that phrase: Your post. So what's your fun example situation for us of someone “pretending to be armless John”? https://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9Cpretending+to+be+armless+John%E2%80%9D&oq=%E2%80%9Cpretending+to+be+armless+John%E2%80%9D&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9Cpretending+to+be+ar...
- soneca 8y agoAct as someone who does not understand a situation in order to not do something or not face the consequences. An explanation I read is a reference to mutilated men being dismissed from going to war https://www.dicionariopopular.com/dar-uma-de-joao-sem-braco/ https://www.dicionariopopular.com/dar-uma-de-joao-sem-braco/ ( A Google translator might help)
- reubenmorais 8y agoJoão-sem-braço (literally, John-without-arms) is someone who feigns ignorance, pretends they're not aware of something to avoid doing something unpleasant or for personal gains.
- gota 8y agoA reputable publication in Brazil had a columnist write about the origin of the sentence here (obviously in Brazilian Portuguese): https://veja.abril.com.br/blog/augusto-nunes/de-onde-vem-as-palavras-dar-uma-de-joao-sem-braco/ https://veja.abril.com.br/blog/augusto-nunes/de-onde-vem-as-... Apparently, beggars would tie one arm (or both) around their body under clothing, pretending to have been injured in war.
- nhumrich 8y agoAlmost every language has this. Its called idioms, and I am fascinated by them. Some examples in English: "wet your whistle", "cost you an arm and a leg", "basket case", "bite the bullet", "for a song".
- quadrangle 8y ago"cost you an arm and a leg" and "for a song" don't seem like the others. Those two makes metaphorical sense without being idioms (even though they are idioms). You could translate them to any language, dialect, etc. and the meaning is still clear. Not so with your other examples.
- sjg007 8y ago"wet your whistle" has multiple idioms too (slang).
- teh_klev 8y agoWhen I lived in County Donegal (Republic of Ireland) a couple of my favourite phrases you'd hear in passing were: "Now we're on a pig's back" - doing well "They're doing a big thing" - performing a task, but perhaps in an over complicated way
- xapata 8y ago"High on the hog" is where the good fat is. Prosciutto comes from that part.