Portuguese Nugget of the day: the “cc” field in email doesn’t mean “carbon copy” or even “copia de carbono”, it means “com conhecimento”.
So what does bcc mean? Boringly, not “blindado com conhecimento” because (a) blindado means armoured, not blinded, and (b) it would make no sense.
It just means “blind carbon copy” according to this explainer. Anyway, I doubt this fact will come in very handy but…
Noting this new phrase I’d never heard before.
Limar means to rub something with a lima – a file. I mean one of those scrapey things you use in metalwork class or in the nail bar.
Aresta can have a few different meanings, but in this context, it’s a pointy, sticky-out bit the corner or the edge of something.
So the general idea is you’re rubbing off the rough edges, polishing something or perfecting it.
According to Ciberdúvidas, it can also mean to conciliate a difficult person. That’s a very different idea, but you can see how they both make sense of you’re thinking of smoothing things over with someone.
Comi caldo verde muitas vezes, mas tanto quanto sei, nunca tentei fazê-lo*. Isso muda hoje! O prato é um favorito da minha esposa que está a trabalhar. Quando ela voltar do hospital, vou oferecer-lho e o resultado será ou felicidade ou divórcio. Vamos ver.
Caldo verde é uma espécie de sopa típica. Se estás a ler este blogue, provavelmente já sabes. Consiste em batatas** cozidas em caldo de galinha com azeite, alho e cebola. Depois, as batatas e os líquidos são despejados*** todos numa Bimby**** para serem desfeitos. Os outros ingredientes consistem em rodelas de linguiça ou chouriço e umas boas mãos cheias de couve cortada em fatias. Estou a usar couve lombarda, que não é típica, mas tenho uma em casa que precisa de ser usada.
Se quiseres experimentar, há uma receita mais pormenorizada aqui. Também tenho massa de pão branco à espera da sua vez no forno.
Se este for o último post neste blogue, saberão que a minha culinária não atingiu o seu nível esperado e estou a viver numa caixa de papelão sob a ponte de Chiswick.
*Aparentemente, soa estranho não saber se alguma vez já fiz este prato, mas se soubesse quão desconfiável é a minha memória, não te surpreenderia de todo.
**I mistyped this as “baratas” but no, that’s what we’ll be eating in a few years if the conspiracy theorists are right, but for now simple potatoes will do the job.
***New word. Well, I’ve probabky seen it before but this is the first time I’ve been conscious of it and I like it.
****such an unportuguese word, this, but it’s like “hoover”: a word that derives from a brand name. In this case, it’s an Italian brand of food processors.
Postscript
I based my description here on a website but after I’d written it, I realised it was a Brazilian site so the link in the text goes to the site I actually used, which has a different technique.
The end result was nice as far as it goes but it didn’t really taste right. Ad if you look at this picture you can see some other obvious negatives: I cut the cabbage up but didn’t go back and slice the end pieces so there are some big chunky bits on the top. It could have been cooked a little longer too. And finally, I think my in-laws use more chouriço when they make it. I used the amount in the recipe but definitely felt like I’d been short changed in the sausage department (not a euphemism).
So, to summarise if I ever get tired of being a data migration wizard, I might just open an Irish/portuguese fusion restaurant and serve this as a caldo verde/colcannon hybrid dish. Dare I say a “mash up”? The hipsters will pay top dollar for that!
The bread turned out well too. I’ve got a lot better at crusts lately. Luckily my wife prefers rye bread for some reason so there is more left over for me to have with apricot jam for my pudding. Nom.
Thanks again to my benefactor at Say it in Portuguese who has corrected this and a few recent posts that have been sitting here just being wrong all this time!
I’ve noticed for a while that if I type portuguese into Gmail on the laptop it underlines a few words in blue. I tend not to pay much attention because it has 3 spellcheck languages and gets confused easily but recently I’ve started paying more attention. It actually seems to be offering better suggestions for correction than FLiP does these days. So much so that I might just ditch FLiP from my typo-prevention process and pass my texts through Gmail instead. It found 4 mistakes in the text of tomorrow’s blog post even after I’d made corrections in flip.
Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be available in android as far as I can see, but that’s ok, I don’t mind switching to the office chair for a couple of minutes.
I got my result from the DAPLE exam and I am absolutely staggered to say I seem to have made like a houthi drone facility and got bommed.
I’m really nonplussed about this. When I did the DIPLE I absolutely smashed it and yet got a pitifully low mark, which is an injustice so great the tories have tried to blame it on Kier Starmer’s time as the Director of Public Prosecutions. This time, I made horrible errors on the dialogue, guessed a lot of my multi-choice answers and left the exam feeling pretty sure I’d actually failed and yet according to this I was above 70% across the board. Errrr… How?
While I was writing that, my wife was learning Spanish in Duolingo and kept saying things like “estoy lendo dos biografias” in a loud, clear voice.
No wonder I’m confused!
#uncorrectedportugueseklaxon
Perdi dois dias por causa do novo emprego, mas preciso de montar o cavalo novamente*, portanto aqui vou eu com um pequeno texto antes de me deitar:
Acabamos de ver uma peça de teatro chamada “Ulster American” em Hammersmith, num sitio onde foram filmados os episódios do Dr Who nos anos 60 e 70. A peça é muito engraçada e satírica sobre as perspectivas dos americanos e ingleses sobre a Irlanda do Norte. Até a personagem anglo-irlandesa é antipática**!
Daqui a 8 dias, irei ver um comediante português, cujo nome é Luís Franco-Bastos e depois faltam 3 semanas para o concerto da Sara Correia. Que sorte de ter tantos divertimentos para me sustentar durante os meses mais escuros e deprimentes do ano!
And I really do need to get to bed so I’m not even doing the most basic checks on this. I hope it isn’t too rubbish.
*As far as I’m aware, “get back on the horse” is not a portuguese expression… By the way, “Remontar” sounds like it should mean remount but I don’t think it does. None of the definitions priberam give sound like that anyway. It has quite a few meanings having do with raising things or fixing things that have collapsed. One meaning is even “adornar as extremidades de” which is a beautifully specific definition. Anyway, I could be wrong, but I think you have to say it the long way, I’m afraid.
**I wrote “até (…) não é simpática” but the até and the não clash, apparently.
Another translation – this one from Amália. It’s not one of my favourites but I’ve always been intrigued by the title: Cheira a Lisboa: It smells like Lisbon. OK, well let’s see what that smells like then. Cigarettes and roasted chestnuts mostly, I think, well, OK, there are worse smells.
It’s probably worth remembering the differerence between “cheirar a” and “cheirar de” which is discussed in this blog post from a couple of years back. I’ll translate “cheirar a” as “smells like” not “smells of”. And “Cheira bem” I will translate as “smells good” but it would be more literal to say “it smells well” because bem is an adverb, but that would sound stupid in english.
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
| Lisboa já tem Sol mas cheira a Lua Quando nasce a madrugada sorrateira E o primeiro elétrico da rua Faz coro com as chinelas da Ribeira | Lisbon has sun but smells like the moon When the surreptitious dawn breaks And the first tram in the street Makes a chorus with the slippers of Ribeira |
| Se chove cheira a terra prometida Procissões têm o cheiro a rosmaninho Nas tascas da viela mais escondidas Cheira a iscas com elas e a vinho | If it rains it smells like the promised land Processions have a smell like rosemary In the most hidden backstreet bars It smells of Iscas com Elas and of wine |
| Um cravo numa água furtada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa Uma rosa a florir na tapada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa | A carnation hidden in the window It smells good, it smells like Lisbon A rose flourishing in the park It smells good, it smells like Lisbon |
| A fragata que se ergue na proa A varina que teima em passar Cheiram bem porque são de Lisboa Lisboa tem cheiros de flores e de mar | The frigate that rises up on the prow The fish seller who insists on passing by They smell good because they are from Lisbon Lisbon smells like flowers and the sea |
| Lisboa cheira aos cafés do Rossio E o fado cheira sempre a solidão Cheira a castanha assada se está frio Cheira a fruta madura quando é verão | Lisboa smells like Rossio cafés And fado always smells like solitude It smells like roasted chestnuts* when it’s cold It smells of ripe fruit when it’s summer |
| Nos lábios tem um cheiro de um sorriso Manjerico tem cheiro de cantigas E os rapazes perdem o juízo Quando lhes dá o cheiro a raparigas | On its lips it has the hint** of a smile Basil smells like songs And the boys lose their judgement When the smell of girls reaches*** them |
| Um cravo numa água furtada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa Uma rosa a florir na tapada Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa | A carnation hidden in the window It smells good, it smells like Lisbon A rose flourishing in the park It smells good, it smells like Lisbon |
| A fragata que se ergue na proa A varina que teima em passar Cheiram bem porque são de Lisboa Lisboa tem cheiros de flores e de mar | The frigate that rises up on the prow The fish seller who insists on passing by They smell good because they are from Lisbon Lisbon smells like flowers and the sea |
| Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa Cheira bem, cheira a Lisboa | It smells good, it smells like Lisbon It smells good, it smells like Lisbon |
| A fragata que se ergue na proa A varina que teima em passar Cheiram bem porque são de Lisboa Lisboa tem cheiros de flores e de mar | The frigate that rises up on the prow The fish seller who insists on passing by They smell good because they are from Lisbon Lisbon smells like flowers and the sea |
*Ha! I told you so! She’s got half of it, anyway! The best half!
** I assume “um cheiro” can be “a hint” in this sense.
***I think “lhes dar” is equivalent to “dar a” (eles) which can have the sense of reaching or arriving at something
Just a pause to thank everyone who has sent me money through the “Buy Me a Coffee” link on the right. I just had a really nice message from someone who was enjoying an audiobook of “O Livro do Desassossego” from Wook after I mentioned it in a post on New Year’s Eve. It’s always really nice to know that someone is reading these little brainfarts of mine and recently I seem to find there are more and more people saying hello to me. I’m not sure what that means. Is European Portuguese becoming a more popular language these days? Excellent!
I tried to set it up so I had enough money trickling in that I could run the site ad-free without it costing me money because the ads that used to appear in the first 3 or 4 years were so annoying. As it turns out, when I tally up contributions minus WordPress’s hosting fees I am actually earning about 4 pence per blog post! Amazing! I am now going to tell everyone I know that I am a professional bogger since for the last two months it has been my only income stream! (Don’t worry though, I’m starting a new job tomorrow so I won’t starve!)
Luso 