Posted in English

Some More Expressions

Here are a few expressions gleaned from the C1 book

Em casa de ferreiro, espeto de pau (In The blacksmith’s house, the skewers are made of wood) People who have skills they use in work don’t use them for their own benefit.

Cada cabeça sua sentença – everyone has their own opinion

Nem tudo o que luz é ouro – all that glimmers is not gold. Easy one, this. The only thing that grabbed my interest was that “luz”. I’d only ever come across this word as a noun so I had a hard time choosing it as an option in the exercise, but it’s actually part of the verb “luzir” in this context.

Quem canta, seus males espanta – is another that threw me since it sounds like it’s saying “whoever sings will shock you with their evil deeds” which is probably right for Michael Jackson, but “espanta” can also mean scare something away or chase it away, and “males” can be a person’s woes or troubles, not actual evils, so it just means if you sing a song you’ll chase your blues away. OK, cool.

Zangam-se as comadres, descobrem-se as verdades – When the godmothers start arguing, the truth will come out. In other words, when people start getting heated they tend to say things they would normally keep to themselves

Ladrão

O ocasio faz o ladrao – the opportunity makes the thief. This seems to be used slightly differently. If you look around various sites, some people take it as meaning that a person driven by circumstances might steal but isn’t to be regarded as a born thief; others take it as more like “if you don’t take care of your stuff someone is bound to nick it”. A middle way seems to be “People might be tempted to steal if there isn’t a strong motivation for them not to”. That seems to be how this guy interprets it anyway,and he mentioned a reference by Machado de Assis who says “Não é a ocasião que faz o ladrão, o provérbio está errado. A forma exata deve ser esta: a ocasião faz o furto; o ladrão já nasce feito”.

It’s definitely a pessimistic expression, anyway!

Em águas de bacalhau – I keep seeing this one and forgetting what it means. Apparently it comes from the fact that cod fishing used to be very dangerous, back in the day, and you were quite likely not to come back from a fishing trip if you went off to the cod fishing waters. So if something “deu/ficou/continuou em águas de bacalhau” then basically it came to nothing and had no result.

Trazer água no bico – bring water in your beak – do or say something sneaky or with a hidden agenda

Dar água pela barba – Give water in the beard (“sweat through the beard, I guess?) If something dá água [pela barba, it’s something very complex and challenging

Here are a few that are easier, because they’re equivalent to english expressions

Fazer crescer água na boca – to make the mouth water

Como peixinho na água – like a fish to water

Enquanto há vida há esperança – where there’s life there’s hope

Em terra de cegos quem tem olho é rei – in the land of the bline, the one-eyed man is king

Cao que ladra nao morde – his bark is worse than his bite (lit “A dog that barks doesn;t bite”)

Quem semeia ventos, colhe tempestades – sow the breeze, reap the whirlwind

Author:

Just a data nerd

2 thoughts on “Some More Expressions

  1. Kicking myself for not making O ocasio faz o ladrão into its own post and calling that post “My milkshake brings aldrabões to the yard”. A pun is a terrible thing to waste. I must try and crowbar that into a tweet somehow.

    Like

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