Two weird pieces of slang grammar in the Walking Dead book I’m reading (Vol 12, which is called “Viver Entre Eles” in portuguese), during a scene in which Abraham finds out Eugene has been lying all along and that Washington is not, in fact, a safe haven.
Seu filho de puta
Porque, c’um caraças?
Apparently that c’um is short for “com um”, and the “seu” can mean “you are” although why the heck that should be, I have absolutely no idea! To me it just looks like he’s saying “your son of a whore” which is baffling.
–update–
Paulo on iTalki offers an extra bit of wisdom, saying that “seu filho de puta” is ironically following the very formal way of addressing a member of the aristocracy – e.g. Sua Alteza Real o princípe-herdeiro, equivalent to “his royal highness….”. My mind is still grappling with this new information. Can it be right? It seems like a lot of baroque irony to apply to – basically – a physical assault…
–update to the update–
OK, Paulo’s explanation checks out. Although the person probably isn’t going out of their way to be wittily ironic, the format “seu…” is derived from that way of speaking and indicates a higher degree of specificity – you specific son of a whore!
Race Start (Patrick via FLICKR Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 2.0 License)
This is a reply to a query about the difference between the english words “begin” and “start”. I’ve written it in portuguese and english, with the english starting about half way down, and obviously all the examples are in english, even in the portuguese text.
Pensei muito nisso e discuti com uns outros faladores de inglês, incluindo uma americana, mas acho que não há grande diferença entra os dois países neste assunto. Continuo a acreditar que “start” e “begin”, têm o mesmo significado em 95 por cento das situações. Quando não são sinónimos, parece que o padrão é, de forme geral, que “begin” encaixa a ideia duma transição mais gradual, e “start” é uma mudança que acontece de repente. Isso não é uma regra muiiiiito forte. É o que chamamos um “rule of thumb” ou seja uma regra que é só uma guia mas não se aplica em todos os casos.
Por exemplo:
Situações em que “begin” é preferível ou é a única palavra que cabe na frase
I began running when I was in high school [verbo]
I have been running for three weeks but I am still a beginner [nome = novato/iniciante]
A book should have a beginning, a middle and an end [nome=início]
Situações em que “start” é a única palavra que cabe na frase
I started running when the PE teacher blew the whistle [verbo]
I started the engine [verbo]
The car won’t start [verbo]
Press the start button on your laptop [nome]
Situações em que a escolha de verbos depende do movimento, e pode influenciar a imagem mental do escritor
He was walking slowly but as the rain got heavier he began to run
He was walking slowly but when he heard footsteps behind him he started to run
Escolhi “start” aqui porque queria dá para entender que a pessoa mudou a taxa dos seus passos de repente, talvez num pânico. Na primeira frase, usa-se “begin” porque na minha imaginação andava cada vez mais rápido enquanto que a chuva tornava cada vez mais pesado, até começou a correr.
Vi alguns websites que dizem que “begin” é mais formal. Não acho que isso seja correcto. As vezes pode ser mais elegante mas isso é porque o ar abrupto de “start” pode diminuir a elegância. Por exemplo
If you’re all sitting comfortably, I will begin my 3 hour long poetry recital [verbo]
É melhor do que “start” porque poesia é algo que começa suavemente. “start” não era errado, mas “begin” soa melhor. Portanto, acho que isso de velocidade de transição é uma regra melhor até que tens um melhor conhecimento das subtilezas (absurdidades) da língua!
Espero que isso te ajude!
Notas de rodapé
Há mais um significado de “start” que é o saltinho que uma pessoa faz quando leva um susto. É mais relacionado com um outro verbo semelhante: “startle” mas transmite a mesma impressão dum movimento súbito. Se tudo fosse calma na casa e, de repente, eu estourei um balão, a minha mulher diria ou
“Agh! You startled me” ou
“Agh! You gave me a start”
2. Aliás, também existe mais um verbo “commence” que é obviamente um cognato da palavra portuguesa “começar” mas é muito mais formal e quase nunca usado na dia-a-dia.
[English version] 🇬🇧
I’ve thought about this a lot and discussed it with some other english speakers including an american, although there isn’t much difference between the american and british usage. I still think “start” and “begin”, are synonymous 95% of the time. When they’re not synonymous, the pattern seems to be that “begin” conveys a more gradual transition and “start” is more sudden. The rule isn’t veerrry strong, but it’s a good rule of thumb when in doubt.
For example:
Situations where “begin” is the best or the only option
I began running when I was in high school [verb]
I have been running for three weeks but I am still a beginner [noun = novato/iniciante]
A book should have a beginning, a middle and an end [noun=início]
Situations in which “start” is the best or the only option
I started running when the PE teacher blew the whistle [verb]
I started the engine [verb]
The car won’t start [verb]
Press the start button on your laptop [noun]
Situations where the choice of words might depend on the style
He was walking slowly but as the rain got heavier he began to run
He was walking slowly but when he heard footsteps behind him he started to run
I chose “start” in the second example because I imagine the person suddenly changing pace when they hear someone following them, maybe out of fear. In the first, I chose “begin” because I think they might have gradually walked faster and faster as the rain got heavier and heavieer, until finally they start running.
I’ve seen websites that suggest “begin” is more formal. I don’t really agree with this, but sometimes the suddenness implied by “start” can puncture the elegance of a formal situation. For example, an announcement in a theatre
If you’re all sitting comfortably, I will begin my 3 hour long poetry recital [verbo]
Here, “begin” is better because it fits better with the gentle nature of a poetry reading. “Start” would not be wrong, but “begin” sounds right. That’s why I think this idea of gradual change vs sudden changes is a better guide than formal vs informal
I hope that helps!
Footnotes
There’s another meaning of “start”, which is the little jump someone makes when they get frightened suddenly. It’s related to a similar verb “startle”, so if I were to suddenly burst a balloon in the house when everything was calm and peaceful, my wife might say either
“Agh! You startled me” or
“Agh! You gave me a start”
2.There’s another verb “commence” that’s obviously cognate with the portuguese word “começar” but it’s much more formal and tends not to be used much in day-to-day conversation.
Here’s an interesting snippet: in “Reaccionario Com Dois Cês“, Ricardo Araújo Pererira has someone mocking a football player online after he is the victim of a mugging: “xupa, é bem feita por çeres um ignorante que ço çabe dar pontapés na bola”
I wondered what all the mistakes were all about – was it imitating a regional accent or something? Was the person writing just not very clever? Because the stray Çs didn’t seem like the kinds of typos one would make normally.
Apparently it’s a way of mocking someone’s lack of intelligence. If someone answers a question but you think their point is nonsense, instead of saying “sei” (I know) you reply “çei” , implying that’s the sort of thing only an idiot who can’t even spell “sei” would believe. Or if they write a tweet with lots of errors in it you can say “você çabe falar muito bem português” just as in english you might say “You’re grammer is exelent” or something.
Este livro é o segundo deste autor que já li. Gostei bastante! Consiste num serie de artigos, publicados inicialmente na revista Visão. São muito engraçados. Soltei gargalhadas durante quase todos. Além disso, os artigos frequentemente têm temas sérios, relacionados com as notícias da época em que foram escritos. Há poucos comediantes que conseguem escrever opiniões assim, e dar um resumo duma situação, com humor e, quando é necessário, força.
It often happens that when I learn a new phrase I suddenly notice it popping up everywhere – in videos or in song lyrics that, previously, I had mentally marked as indecipherable. After I wrote the post about Chico-Espertice the other day I spotted it in a Deolinda song (have I mentioned I like Deolinda? I have? Oh!) called Manta Para Dois (“Blanket for two”). I wondered how it had been translated, to see if I’d understood it right.
I found the english lyrics here. They’ve translated
Às vezes és parvo
Gabarola, mal-criado
É preciso muita pachorra para ti
Cromo, chico-esperto
Preguiçoso e incerto
Mas é certo que és perfeito para mim
as
Sometimes you’re stupid
You brag, you have no manners
I need a lot of calmness to deal with you
Silly, fancy and smart
Lazy and uncertain
But it’s obvious you’re perfect for me
Well, that’s not what I was expecting. I think this must be wrong though. I think the translator must live in a region where the expression isn’t used. Everything else in that paragraph is a list of faults the person has, in spite of which she loves the guy anyway, so throwing a couple of compliments in makes no sense, especially if they’re joined together with a hyphen instead of a comma. I think it should say
Sometimes you’re stupid
You brag, you have no manners
I need a lot of patience to deal with you
Silly, a smartarse
Lazy and uncertain
But it’s obvious you’re perfect for me
Or maybe “a pisstaker” or “too clever by half” or something like that.
Video here
By the way, that word “Cromo” is interesting too. It’s translated as “Silly” and Priberam gives it as
Diz-se de ou pessoa que tem um comportamento considerado estranho excêntrico ou ridículo . “cromo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [em linha], 2008-2013, https://dicionario.priberam.org/cromo [consultado em 24-09-2018].
but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard it used to mean “nerd” or “geek”
Este livro é o segundo deste autor que já li. Gostei bastante! Consiste num serie de artigos, publicados inicialmente na revista Visão. São muito engraçados. Soltei gargalhadas durante quase todos. Além disso, os artigos frequentemente têm temas sérios, relacionados com as notícias da época em que foram escritos. Há poucos comediantes que conseguem escrever opiniões assim, e dar um resumo duma situação, com humor e, quando é necessário, força.
Luso 