Right, I see WordPress have fixed that bug that was causing double posts and it’s now doing triple posts instead. Sorry if you got that last one three times. He is very dishy though, isn’t he. The eighties, man, what a decade.
Category: English
Tia Angústia
I used the phrase “Tia Angústia” as the original title of yesterday’s post and that made me wonder if there really was a Portuguese equivalent to the English expression “Agony Aunt”, that would be better than my all-too-literal translation. I asked…
Acabei de usar esta frase no meu texto dia. Foi uma piada, porque aposto que a expressão não existe em português mas “agony aunt” em inglês significa alguém que dá conselho, principalmente sobre amor, por exemplo num jornal ou numa revista. Tipo: “Cara Tia Joana, Amo um rapaz mas é casado com um caranguejo. O que é que devo fazer?” / Já consideraste vestir-se a vermelho e andar de lado para chamar-lhe a atenção? Será que tais pessoas existem/iam lá? E se existem mesmo, qual é a… Sei lá… O título deste cargo…?
Anyway, it turns out that, no, agony aunt columns were never really a thing in papers, but that seems to have been largely because there was a magazine called Maria, launched in 1978 that absorbed all this action. People would address their letters to “Maria” and so having another personality, an agony aunt figure, wasn’t really necessary. A lot of this is based on people speculating so it’s not an authoritative answer or anything.
Maria still exists but it has modernised and moved on to fashion and lifestyle tips, but you an find old advice from it if you look around. Here, for example. Apparently the letters were real, and the people who answered them were psychologists, according to the magazine’s own account of itself.
So, bottom line, nobody will know what you’re on about if you refer to a Tia Angústia but if you need a cultural reference point in the same sort of area to drop into conversation, a revista Maria is probably the right one to reach for.
Foca à Doca
I managed to mistype “fica a dica” (“here’s a tip”) as “fuca a dica” which sounds vaguely rude. Anyway, here’s a foca (seal) at the doca (dock) to remind you to check your spelling.
TFW You Think There Are Only Two Languages
This made me chuckle. Bless him, he’s trying
A Nossa Senhora dos Substantivos Abstratos
Religious Post. Well, not really. Recently, I write a post that had no errors in it. I attributed this miracle was due to “a Nossa Senhora de Reddit” but then (embarrassingly) that joke had a mistake in it: it should be “do Reddit”, Reddit being the name of a site.
I replied to the person pointing out the error that they were “Nossa Senhora da Minuciosidade” (Our Lady of Attention to Detail). But then I got paranoid. Is it Da Minuciosidade or De Minuciosidade? After all, Attention-to-Detail is an abstract noun (Substantivo Abstrato). If you don’t know what an abstract noun is, don’t panic, it’s not a Portuguese thing, it just means a noun that refers to an emotional state or an idea – so hope, happiness, liberty, anxiety – things like that.
Anyway, I googled “Nossa Senhora de Piedade” and “Nossa Senhora da Piedade” to find out which was right and of course found examples of both. Then I started to worry – is Minuciosidade really a good quality or will it sound like I am accusing the person of pendantry? So I write a text in the subject and also asked in the Portuguese language subreddit.
And I’ll tell you what I found out after this brief interruption…
Hoje, numa resposta a um texto de há uns dias, usei a frase “Nossa Senhora da Minuciosidade”
Tenho duas dúvidas quanto à esta piada:
Antes de mais, espero que não tenha cometido um erro ridículo, semelhante à Muphry’s Law – o erro de fazer referência a um erro (embora neste caso seja erro meu) e, no mesmo comentário, fazer um erro de gramática: será que é “da Minuciosidade” ou “de Minuciosidade”?
Pesquisei “Nossa Senhora DE piedade” e “Nossa Senhora DA piedade” e ambos existem, mas DA é mais comum do que DE, portanto, apesar de Piedade e Minuciosidade serem substantivos abstratos, acho que levam um artigo neste contexto. Às vezes, parece-me que o uso do artigo é aleatório mas provavelmente existe uma regra…
Além disso, quanto à palavra “minuciosa/o”: é evidente que prestar atenção aos pormenores é uma qualidade ótima (sobretudo neste sub!), mas, regra geral, ser pedante não é elogio. Não sei como as palavras neste dominio* soam em português: acho que “minucioso” é um elogio. (ou seja, espero que sim, porque já utilizei a palavra!); picuinhas significa excesso de minuciosidade e pedante é ainda mais enfático…? Escrupuloso, diligente, rigoroso e os outros quase-sinónimos têm os seus próprios lugares também… Mas e então? Onde fica a fronteira entre elogio e ofensa? Depende sempre do contexto ou existem palavras que ficam sempre no campo da ofensa?
In answer to whether its “de Piedade” or “da Piedade” opinion was definitely in favour of da. Although it’s an abstract noun, its also a religious concept so in a sense it was a thing and needed to have an article in front of it. Thank you Uyth and Butt_Roidholds for this info.
As for minuciosidade, obviously these things vary slightly in context, but minucioso, escrupuloso and all those qualities are definitely qualities, not defects. Pedante is more negative and opinion is slightly split on picuinhas. Its a weird adjective that always ends in as even when describing a singular, masculine noun, but it’s generally more negative – like “nit picking” but, again, you can use it in a jokey way and not have it be insulting. Thanks to Uyth and JCliving for these answers.
*I wrote “área geral” – words in this general area, translating my own sloppy English expression literally, but in Portuguese you think of them being in the same domain.
[IN]Pertinente – Podcast
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this podcast before: I heard about it a while ago on twitter and Portuguese tweeps were praising it as being an good listen. It’s put out by the Fundação Francisco Manuel Dos Santos. They bring together experts, eggheads, brainboxes and boffins to discuss a different topic each week, ranging over politics, economics, science and society. I have quite a few “serious” podcasts in Portuguese and tend not to be very good at listening to them because they require sustained concentration over an hour or so which is usually more than I can cope with, so I usually stick to shorter stuff. As a result, it’s been on my list for a while but I hadn’t given it much eartime.
Anyway, recently I listened to an episode about Britain and I found it both easy to understand and very detailed and interesting, so I based that day’s Portuguese text on it. And just to confirm my good opinion, the marker said it was one of her favourite podcasts too!
Now obviously when I say “easy to understand” I don’t mean the language is simplified: you’ll still need to be at a decent intermediate level of learning to follow it, but they speak clearly, don’t talk over each other, don’t ramble or drone on in a monotone or do any of the other things podcast hosts sometimes do that make it hard to follow the thread of what they’re saying. I appreciate that and I hope the episode I heard was representative of the series as a whole.
Anyway, here’s what I wrote. Thanks to Dani for correcting it.
Hoje, ouvi um podcast chamado In Pertinente. Os apresentadores estavam a falar sobre a história do meu país. Tocaram nos temas* “Astérix e os Bretões”, Shakespeare, Alan Turing, Blackadder, a guerra entre a Escócia e a Inglaterra e mais alguns outros. Fiquei muito impressionado com a profundidade da discussão. Não costumo de ouvir mas acho que, de futuro, isso vai mudar!
*I originally wrote tocaram no “Astérix e os Bretões” but it seems you need to write “touched on the theme(s)…” and not just “touched on..”
Catching Up
I’m a bit behind on corrections from texts I’ve written on r/Writestreakpt. I published one called “A Greve dos Comboios” a few days ago, which I was told was error free but turned out to be full of crap so I’ve just republished that with the corrections on place. Thanks to Dani for doing such a thorough job.
Also, I keep thinking of all the posts I’ve written on here and forgotten about. It seems like I should do a sort of “revision” series where I oickniut the most interesting or neglected tips from my well-over-a-thousand posts. When would I find time though?
Portuguese Comedy in London
Looking at Guilherme Duarte’s website yesterday, I noticed that he’s actually playing a show here in London later this year. He’s at the Leicester Square Theatre on the fourth of November. I don’t think I’ve seen Portuguese comedians including London dates in their tour schedule before, and I’m not really sure how he’s going to be able to fill the room on a Friday night, but I am definitely going to see that!
A few days later, I have tickets to see Dulce Pontes at Cadogan Hall. That was originally scheduled for 2021.but it was delayed due to covid. November is going to be a good month for Portuguese culture in the capital.
Super Ego-Trip Humilde 🔞
Carrying on the translation tradition, I thought I’d have a go at this rap by Gandim because I can understand most of it but not quite all and I thought it would be fun to do the research and really understand it from top to bottom. Gandim means something like “workshy person”. He isn’t a real rapper, he’s a character invented by Guilherme Duarte. Duarte originally trained as a computer scientist (that’s relevant context for the song, believe it or not!) but he’s famous as a comedian who has been involved in a few different podcasts and media projects such as “Por Falar Noutras Coisas” (“Speaking of Other Things”). Here, he’s having a rap battle with himself in his “real” persona. It’s quite funny and has lots of good slang. It’s ABSOLUTELY FILTHY though. Seriously – this is definitely the rudest thing I’ve ever translated on here, so if you’re of a sensitive disposition you might want to skip this one!
It’s also interesting how they’re using some english words and expresions in ways that are close to but not quite identical to the way we use them ourselves: even in the title, “ego-trip”, seems just to mean a boastful rap and “feat” is obviously just “featuring” but later in the lyrics they seem to be using it as a noun, roughly equivalent to “collaboration”
Ya, Gandim feat Guilherme Duarte / Yeah, Gandim, feat Guilherme Duarte
Juntos no mesmo som mesmo / Together in the same track
Ninguém estava à espera / Nobody was expecting it
Não sei se a tuga está preparada para isto / I don’t know if the Tuga was ready for this
Vamos mostrar como é que se faz / Let’s show them how it’s done
Isto nunca foi visto / This has never been seen
Porque nunca foi feito / Because it’s never been done
Parece que viste o anti-cristo, boy / It looks like you’ve seen the anti-christ, boy
Até te cai o queixo / Even your jaw is drooping
Vai deixar mazela / It’s going to leave a wound
Ainda nos vão pedir sequela / They’re going to ask us for a sequel
As rimas são como as cricas / The rhymes are like pussies
Aparecem tipo dicas / They appear like tips
De todos os lados / From all sides
Eu e o Guilherme (Olá Olá) os mais pesados / Me and Guilherme (Hello, Hello) the heaviest
Espera lá… isto é uma egotrip? / Wait… is this an ego-trip?
Ya, faz sentido pelo beat / Yeah, that makes sense from the beat
Devia ter visto a tua parte antes de gravarmos o feat / I should have watched your part before we recorded the “feat“
Mas obrigado por me fazeres o convite / But thanks for the invitation
Mas é melhor falares por ti / But it’s best to speak for yourself
Eu nem sou bem rapper / I’m not really a rapper
Há muitos melhores do que eu por aí / There are a lot better than me round here
Não vale a pena essa humildade / This humility is no good
Nu sta* rebenta sociedade / We are blowing up society
O game vai mudar, a gente veio para ficar / The game is going to change – we came to stay
Este som é bomba atómica, vai incinerar / This track is a nuclear bomb. It’s going to incinerate
Calma, man / Calm down, man
Não é preciso exagerar / There’s no need to exagerate
Tipo exibicionistas / Like exhibitionists
Não vamos estar aqui a criar / We didn’t come here to create
Sei lá, expectativas irrealistas / I dunno… unrealistic expectations
É um som razoável / It’s a reasonable track
Um flow confortável / A comfortable flow
Não vai ser nada memorável / It isn’t going to be memorable at all
Nem raro de outro mundo tipo marte / Not rare, from another world like Mars
Falo, claro, da minha parte / I’m speaking of course, from my own perspective
As damas até ficam loucas, desvairadas, malucas / The women go crazy, frenzied, insane
Desapertam as blusas e abanam as bundas / They loosen their blouses and shake their asses**
Ficam com água nas bocas / Their mouths water
Quando vêem as nossas bazucas / When they see our bazookas
Vocês fazem cara de mau a pensar que têm pila grande / You make like a badass, thinking what big dicks you have
Mole já mete respeito mas olha ainda expande / Soft, they give respect, but then they expand
O que vocês têm de pau a gente tem só de glande / Our glans alone is the size of your whole dick***
Pah, o meu é médio, não vou mentir / Mate, mine is pretty average, not gonna lie
Não é grande nem vale a pena medir / It’s not big but I’m not going to measure it
Nem grosso nem fino, é banal quando estou contente / It’s not thick or thin, it’s OK when I’m happy
E quando está murcho até é bastante deprimente / And when it’s soft, it’s pretty depressing
Mas dizem que o tamanho não importa / But they say size doesn’t matter
E mesmo que seja um bocado torta / Even if it’s a little bent
Desde que não esteja morta / As long as I’m not dead
O que conta é o que se faz com o membro peniano / What matters is what you do with your penile member
E nisso, confesso, sou mais que mediano / And with that I am above average
Aguento tipo 7 ou 8 minutos / I can last like 7 or 8 minutes
Parece pouco, mas 5 é a média / It doesn’t seem like much but the average is 5
Não estou a gozar, li na Wikipédia / I’m not kidding, I read it on Wikipedia
Cus e mamas, everywhere / Tits and ass everywhere
Comemos com as mãos, sem talher / We eat with our hands, no cutlery
Lambemos o prato todo da tua mulher / We lick your wife’s plate clean
Até cai pó lado como Feher / Until she falls over like Fehér****
Ela quer mais diz que tu só reclamas / She wants more and says you only complain
Nem é preciso férias nas Bahamas / A holiday in the Bahamas isn’t necessary
É mesmo aí nas vossas camas / It’s right here in your beds
Que vamos comer as vossas damas / that we eat***** your women
Vamos? os dois ao mesmo tempo / “We”? Both at the same time?
É um bocado estranho (caga nisso bro) / That’s a little bit weird (fuck this, bro)
Tenho alguns complexos com o meu corpo / I have a few body issues
E nem é pelo tamanho / And it’s not about the size
Estar assim nu ao pé de outro homem / To be right there next to another man
É demasiada nudez / That’s too much nakedness
Não sei, dá para ir à vez / I dunno, maybe we could take turns
Não quero ser mau companheiro / I don’t want to be a bad companion
Mas se é para ir, vou em primeiro / But if I’m going, I’m going first
A gente derrapa, drift fast and furious style / We slide in, Fast and Furious style
Elas ficam molhadas com o nosso flow 8 mile / And they get wet with our 8 Mile flow
Quer boleia a tua hoe / Does your ho want a ride?
E não é só no meu lambo / And not just in my lambo******
Tem mudanças automáticas, 7 / It has seven automatic gears
Mas ela tem a mão na manete / But she has her hand on my gearstick
Não tenho guita para lambos / I don’t have the money for lambos
E até acho que é muito show off / And I find them a bit showy
Não curto dar nas vistas / I don’t enjoy showing off
O meu bote é um clio de 99 / My ride is a 99 Clio
Patina quando chove, faz barulhos da panela / It skids when it rains, makes a noise from the oil pan
Tem pelos de cadela, rádio só à capella / It has dog-hairs everywhere and the radio is only a capella
Não liga à primeira quando a noite gela / It doesn’t start first time on cold nights
Deve ser problema de velas / It must be some problem with the spark plugs
Aqui é faroeste, a lei é nossa / Here in the wild west******* the law is ours
Tu estás a leste, baza ou levas coça / You are from the east, get the hell out of here or get spanked
O que tu cospes cai no meu spam / What you spit******** falls into my spam folder
Mas quem não cospe é a tua irmã / But your sister doesn’t spit
Aqui é conflito, não é meninos da mamã / This is war, not mummy’s kids
À noite é delito, dormir de manhã / the night is sin, sleep in the morning
Vens dar para gangster com o teu clã / You’re coming like a gangster with your posse
Ainda deixas a tua filha orfã / You’ll just leave your daughter an orphan
Gandim, não sei se te consigo acompanhar assim / Gandim, I don’t know if I can carry on like this
Eu não sou gangster nem g / I’m not a gangster or a G
Só houve aquela vez que roubei uns cromos da panini / The only thing I have ever stolen is some Panini stickers
Sempre fui bom aluno, calminho / I was always a good student, calm
Eu sou bué humilde, mano / I’m really humble, man
Já na autoavaliação pedia baixinho / In the self-evaluation I asked for a lower mark
Menos do que achava que merecia no ano / Less than they thought I deserved that year
Manda vir a tua crew / tell your crew to come
E ainda sais daqui todo nu / And you’ll leave here naked
Andas aí armado em clown / There you go, acting like a clown
A tua tropa sai daqui tipo black hawk down / Your soldiers will leave here like Black Hawk Down
Eu e o Guilherme a gente arrebenta / Me and Guilherme, we destroy
Venham todos que a gente enfrenta / No matter who we face
Tag team ninguém aguenta / Tag team nobody can withstand
Humilhação tipo shot à panenka / Humiliation like a Panenka********* penalty kick
Depende, quantos é que são / It depends how many there are
São muito grandes ou um deles é anão / Are they very big or is one of them a dawrf?
Se for malta da pesada ainda ficamos em maus lençóis / If these guys are heavy, we could be in a tight spot
Consigo andar à porrada, mas não há cá heróis / I can fight but there are no heroes here
Prefiro resolver de forma sensata / I prefer to resolve this sensibly
Ser diplomata, sou franco / To be diplomatic, I am frank
Mas se tem de ser, siga / But if it has to happen, go ahead
Eu cubro-te o flanco / I’ll cover your back
Fiz jiu jitsu, sou cinturão branco / I did ju-jitsu, I’m a white belt
Invejas o don perignon / You envy the Dom Perignon
O chamon, os diamonds e o rolex / The weed, the diamonds and the rolex
Desculpa lá o flex / Pardon the flex
Mas por isso é que a dama que me dá sex é a tua ex / But it’s because of this that the woman who gives me sex is your ex
Tanto money no corpo uso o pulso como expositor / So much money on my body, I use my wrist like a showoff
E tu honey, só lhe dás uso em frente ao computador / And you, honey, you only use it in front of your computer
Eu nem tenho relógio / I don’t have a watch
Vejo as horas no telefone / I check the time on my phone
Que não é topo de gama / that isn’t top of the line
Nem é sequer é um iphone / I don’t even have an iphone
Não curto gastar assim / I don’t like splashing out like that
Em booze, drugs e ostentação / on booze and drugs and ostentation
Prefiro poupar e chegar / I prefer to save up and reach
Aos setenta são / my seventies
Os cães ladram e passa a caravana********** / The dogs bark and the caravan passes by
E nós aqui a chillar com a marijoana / and we’re here chilling with marijuana
Somos demasiado fat para ser fit / We’re too fat to be fit
All day smoking weed, we don’t give a shit / All day smoking weed, we don’t give a shit
Mais ou menos / More or less
Não fumo há bué anos, mas não condeno quem fuma / I haven’t smoked in years, but I don’t judge those who do
Só acho que há malta muito nova a fumar / I think it’s mostly young people smoking
Não quero influenciar / I don’t want to influence them
Porque depois o pessoal abusa / because then people abuse it
Man, dá lá aí uma passa ya, fuma aí / Man, take a hit on this, smoke up
É mesmo assim, Guilherme ya, somos os maiores deste a tuga até pequim / That’s how it is, Guilherme, we’re the greatest from Portugal to Peking
é mesmo assim, os mais pesados / that’s how it is, we’re the heaviest
Não curto gabar-me assim / I don’t enjoy boasting like this
Não dá para fazer uma ego trip humilde / It’s no good making a humble ego-trip
E deixar de parte ego / and leave out the ego part
às vezes acordo tão negativo / Sometimes I wake up so negative
Que me sinto abaixo de zero / That i feel less than zero
Tenho as minhas inseguranças / I have my insecurities
Acho que me está a bater a ganza / I think that weed is kicking in
Dias depressivos, sem vaidade / Depressive days, without vanity
Dias que não me acho capaz de fazer nada com qualidade / Days when I don’t feel able to do anything well
O meu ego tem síndrome de Estocolmo / My ego has Stockholm syndrome
Estou a ficar meio zonzo / I’m getting a little dizzy
Estou a ficar meio zonzo / I’m getting a little dizzy
Complexo deus aplaude o meu complexo de fraude / My god complex applauds my imposter syndrome
Bué deep / Really deep
Sou mil folhas / I am a thousand layers
Flow bue quick / Real quick flow
Beep beep / Beep beep
Tenho bué camadas / I’ve got so many levels
No sleep, horas acordadas / No sleep, awake for hours
Porque na cama tenho sempre muitas queridas bué dadas / Because in bed I always have many well-endowed babes
Sabia que tinha isso dentro de ti / I knew you had this in you
Estava a ver que não / I was thinking you didn’t
E se é para me gabar feito patrão / And if I have to boast, it’s done, boss
Sou ganda boss da programação / I’m the big boss of computer-programming
Tua cabeça não aguentavas a pressão, meu / You can’t stand the pressure, man
Ainda te dava uma como a Maria João, Abreu / I even gave you one with Maria Joao Abreu***********
Ai, olha aí, há limites, mano / Hey look, there are limits, bro
Acho bué falta de respeito dizeres uma cena dessas / I think it shows a lack of respect to say something like that
É uma egotrip, tudo bem, mas calma lá / It’s an ego trip, OK, but calm down
Não é preciso atirar com essa da programação à cara do pessoal / It’s not necessary to throw this computer-programming thing in people’s faces
Nem toda a gente tem o mesmo acesso à educação / Not everyone has the same access to education
Vou bazar, não curto estar aqui com gabarolas / I’m going to get out of here. I don’t want to be here with showoffs
*= Not sure what’s going on here – short for “nos esta(mos)” I think…?
**=I’ve gone against my principles and written this the american way because british spelling and rap do not mix
***=Look, I’m sorry, I’m just the translator, don’t blame me
****=I think this must mean the hungarian footballer who died of a heart attack on the pitch – hence the reaction!
*****=Comer a tua dama means “eat your lady” but comer is also a slang word for “have sex”, so I probably could have translated it less literally than this. The other relevant piece of information here is that the game we call drafts is called Damas in portuguese, and when you take the opponents piece, the word for taking can be “capturar” or “comer” so he could be talking about playing draughts. but in this context, probaby not!
******I guess he means Lamborghini here but the fact it’s so close to “lamber” is setting my double entendre radar pinging)
*******faroeste = far west? I’ve never heard this before, but I googled faroeste and it does indeed bring up a load of wild west films dubbed into portuguese!
********=-I assume this is the same as the slang use of spit in english – spitting lyrics, spitting facts. He’s dissing your rap lyrics, basically
*********= Panenka… he’s a footballer apparently. Good at penalties. Google him, I can’t explain
**********=This is an expression that comes up sometimes in exercise books – it just means something like – “we just carry on as normal, no matter what happens or who complains”
***********= Maria Joao Abreu was an actress who had died a few months before the video was released, so you’re meant to think that the shocked reaction that follows is as a result of the extreme bad taste of what he’s just said.
Haggis
I usually record.my daily calories and exercise in my fitness app in Portuguese to get used to the language of food and health generally but we had vegetarian haggis today. I didn’t even bother looking that one up…
Luso 