I just came across a baffling expression in an exercise “Dando uma no cravo, outra na ferradura”. It didnt help that I assumed cravo had its ordinary meaning: carnation. But the word actually refer to a kind of nail. So… What’s it all about? Giving it one on the nail and one on the horseshoe is meant to invoke a blacksmith or farrier hitting the nail with one stroke and then missing and instead hammering on the horseshoe with the next.
Figuratively, it means someone who’s vacillating, hedging their bets, making an argument but also waffling and saying the opposite. Here’s the Wikipedia entry if you’re interested.
Luso 