I never remember to use idiomatic expressions in the real world but I pulled out “Fazer Ouvidos de Mercador” the other day, while simultaneously making a pun, and I felt like a black belt
Tag: expressões idiomáticas
Ceca e Meca
I was intrigued by this sentence. Ceca e Meca? What the heca… um… I mean what the heck’re those?
Meca is easy – it’s just what we would call Mecca. Ceca needs a little more digging: it’s an arab word that means treasure-house, but it was the popular name of the great mosque in Córdova during the muslim occupation of the iberian peninsula. So according to Ciberdúvidas, the expression “correr Ceca e Meca” recalls the pilgrimages made by arabs between the holy places in southern europe and in the middle east itself. In other words, it means you’ve been all over, you’re well-traveled.
What about the rest though? Já vi muita coisa – I’ve seen a lot. Não andei a comer palha – I haven’t just been eating hay (this seems to be related to the expression “todo o burro come palha” – she just means she doesn’t just believe what she’s told). Corri Ceca e Meca e aprendi com a vida – I’ve been all round the world and I’ve learned about life.
I’m not really sure about “É no lombo que elas nos doem”. Lombo is sometimes translated as loin, but it’s really about the area in the upper back, below the shoulder blades, either as a cut of meat or on the human body. So… i think she’s saying something like “They stab you in the back”. Not sure though. Doer means hurt, not stab. Maybe she just means things wear you out and make your back ache…? Hm, I think I might askabout that one. I’ll keep you posted.
É Uma Expressão Portuguesa Com Certeza
This beautiful gift was sent to me on Reddit and I went in search of the original. Its a blog post from a few years ago. As I have probably mentioned before, people who mark language exams live a good idiomatic expression, and the author of this piece has constructed an entire blog post out of nothing but expressions. There’s hardly a single word that isn’t part of one. It’s a magnificent achievement and certainly a lot more fun than the C1/C2 workbook I am ploughing through, where fully one third of the book is about expressions.
Roupa Dope
Some examples from the book I’m using, with idiomatic expressions relating to clothing. (Roupa). Example sentences are difficult if you’re working on your own because of course there is no model answer to check so I am just shamelessly posting them as my daily text on writestreakpt
Diz-se que o ex-ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros recebeu luvas com origem na Rússia. (Receber luvas = take a bribe)
A crise financeira provocou desemprego no Sul da Europa portanto os cidadãos tiveram de apertar os cintos. (apertar o cinto = tighten one’s belt)
A Rebeca é uma verdadeira mexeriqueira que corta sempre na casaca de alguém de que não gosta. (cortar o casaco = talk smack about someone)
Os meus amigos trabalham na Televisão Estatal e quanto à realização de programas, sabem as linhas com que se cosem. (saber as linhas com que se cose = to be expert in some skill)
À beira do Douro, em Vila Nova de Gaia, estão localizadas as famosas caves do vinho do Porto onde se encontram garrafas de se lhes tirar o chapéu. (ser de se lhe tirar o chapeu = to be worthy of taking one’s hat off to)
Estou num beco sem saída. Preciso de descalçar esta bota (mistura de metáforas!) (descalcar a bota = resolve a problem)
O bisavô dela foi fazendeiro em Minas Gerais. Era trabalhador e gastava pouco pelo que conseguiu juntar um belo pé-de-meia. (juntar um pé de meia = save)
Não gosto de amigas com língua-de-trapos. (língua de trapas – a malicious gossip – someone who might cortar o casaco de alguém, in fact!)
Expressões
Another batch of expressions from the C1/2 Textbook I’m using
Passar pelas brasas (pass through the coals) =have a little sleep
Dar barraca (give a shed) = provoke a scandal
Surdo como uma porta (deaf as a door) =deaf as a post
É outra loiça (It’s different crockery) =much better (food)
Estar em maus lençóis (be on bad sheets) = be in a sticky situation
Falar de poleiro (speak from a perch) = Speak arrogantly, get on your high horse
Ser um bom garfo (be a good fork) = be a lover of good food
Sem eira nem beira (without a floor or a roof*) = very poor
Estúpido como uma porta (stupid as a door) =daft as a brush
Atirar o barro à parede (throw the clay at the wall) = test the waters to see if someone might be receptive to your idea
De cortar à faca (you could cut it with a knife) =same as the English expression – when the atmosphere is so tense or oppressive that you feel like you could cut it with a knife
Cascos de rolha (corked casks) = a long way off.
De fio a pavio (from string to wick) =from beginning to end. (I think we’re supposed to think of a candle burning all the way down)
Entrar em parafuso (go into a screw) = go into a tailspin, panic
*=There was a bit of debate over this one. Eira is a kind of floor or patch of ground in a village, where harvested grain is threshed and sieved ready for storage. Beira is a word we usually hear when talking about the seaside (“beira mar”) but it can be the eaves of a roof. The phrase is sometimes expanded to “Sem eira nem beira nem ramo de figueira”, adding that the poor bugger doesn’t even have the branch of a fig tree.
Freudian Slip
The exercises in the book I’m working through have themes to them. The last few have all been expressions involving body parts. The other day included one that said “Fugir a boca para a verdade” (The mouth runs rowards the truth) meaning if you don’t keep it under control, your mouth just blurts out what’s really on your mind. The very same day, I saw someone using it because George W Bush had given a speech and, as this tweeter commented, his big stupid mouth had done exactly that.
Here are a few of my favourites from the same exercise
Sete cães a um osso – lots of people are trying to lay claim to one thing, or the attention of one person
Estar debaixo da língua – equivalent to “on the tip of my tongue”
Ficar com um nó na garganta – equivalent to “have a lump in one’s throat”
Ter as costas largas – to be able to cope with a lot of responsibility
Sheila Take a Baú
Social media really is a treasure trove of stuff you can learn, and it doesn’t feel like a chore because you’re just looking at memes. Here’s one i found today.
I know “golpe” is like a blow – in the sense of a blow to the head or a blow from an axe: the impact of something. It’s used in “golpe de estado” (coup d’état) for example. And baú is a chest – as in “treasure chest”. So when you put them together, what do you get? A golpe de baú is the act of marrying an older guy in the hope of inheriting all his wealth.
So, basically, I’m the words of Kanye West, they ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke tuga.
I don’t actually know who the woman is or what the account that’s posting this is like, so I’m not sure whether she’s in on the joke or whether it’s meant in a cruel way or whether she’s done anything to deserve it or whether they are just being arseholes, but I am so pleased to have learned a new thing that I don’t really care.
You can read more about the history of the phrase Golpe de Baú on Wikipedia if you’re interested
Expressions with Bodyparts
Scheduling this post for my birthday
Here are some expressions from the exercise book. I’m really trying to do these exercises every day now because I have been slacking.
Falar nas costas = talk behind someone’s back
Ter dedo = to have a knack for something
Puxar pela cabeça = think really hard
Queimar as pestanas = read a lot
Bater com o nariz na porta = be unable to achieve a goal because the shop/house/office/whatever was shut
With that last one, when I researched it, I found that there was one page that claimed it could be used in a more figurative sense – in other words you could use it when you were denied or rebuffed in some request, or met with some sort of bureaucratic denial, maybe, but the majority said it was strictly literal: you turn up at the library hoping to find a PG Wodehouse book you’ve never read but you bang your nose on the door because it’s shut. So I asked…
Há uma expressão no meu livro “bater com o nariz na porta”. Entendo o significado mas não tenho a certeza de como se usa. Será que pode ter um significado menos literal – por exemplo “Convidei a Mafalda para jantar comigo mas bati com o nariz na porta quando ela respondeu* que já tinha combinado um jantar com o Joaquim, um halterofilista com dois metros de altura” ou só numa situação concreta** como “Eu e a Janet fomos para o restaurante às seis e meia mas batemos com os narizes na porta porque os portugueses costumam jantar mais tarde
The verdict? No, only the literal sense works. If I go to the restaurant too early and its shut, I can say we banged on the door with our nose, but if I get spurned by Mafalda in favour of her hot date with the bodybuilder, I can’t use it.
* I cleaned up the grammar a little bit following some feedback from Dani. I had tried to use a different word here – ripostar – because I found it in the novel I’m reading and thought it would be more interesting but it turned out to be too interesting for this context!
** I used “específica” but that wasn’t the best choice.
Shake It Baby
Today’s book exercise includes the phrase “de mãos a abanar”. Checking what ciberdúvidas has to say in the subject, it seems there are two possible variants, one more literal than the other
Ficar/Ir COM mãos a abanar usually means your hands really physically shake (but note, not shaking hands with someone else that’s “apertar as mãos” – you squeeze hands with someone.
Vir/Ficar/Ir DE mãos a abanar means to end up empty handed. Just like in English you can come away empty handed, without being able to gain from a situation, or you can turn up empty handed, with nothing to offer in a situation. The actual example in the book uses vir as the verb, but of course it depends on the situation you’re describing – whether they are setting off with nothing, coming away empty handed or whatever. I’ve also seen a Brazilian page describing “chegar de mãos abanando” which is obviously related. They use it to describe a situation where someone arrives at a party without a present or a bottle of wine or whatever. According to the writer this is related to immigrants to Brazil in the 19th century. If they were unskilled their hands would shake due to inability to use the tools of the trade. Pardon my skepticism but this sounds like bollocks to me.
Expressões
Expressions from the C1 Textbook that are vaguely animal-related.
Tratar abaixo de cão – to treat someone worse than a dog, ie mistreat someone (“o meu pai tratou-me abaixo de cão” )
Quando as galinhas tiveram dentes – when hens have teeth, ie, it’ll never happen (“Ele só vai deixar de fumar quando as galinhas tiveram dentes”)
Pensar na morte de bezerra – to think about the death of the… I don’t even know the correct English word here. Heifer? Something like that. A female calf, anyway. The expression means to be miles away, thinking about something else and not tuned in to what’s going on around you (“a professora perguntou-me alguma coisa mas está a pensar na morte da bezerra”)
Ficar pior do que uma barata – to be worse than a cockroach, meaning to be angry. This doesn’t seem to be a very common expression as far as I can tell. I can only find one example online and even that is phrased slightly differently from the Textbook example (“a mãe está pior que uma barata com o filho”)
Ser feio como um bode – to be as ugly as a goat… About what you’d expect really.
Não é como vinagre que se apanham moscas – you can’t catch flies with vinegar, ie, if you want to win people over you have to give them what they want. The dicionário informal give a slightly depressing sample sentence “Com este seu gênio não vai arrumar namorado, pois não é com vinagre que se apanham moscas.” You won’t get a boyfriend by being a genius, because you can’t catch flies with vinegar. There you go, girls, there’s some good life advice for you.
Estar com a pulga atrás da orelha – To have a flea behind the ear, ie to be paranoid or to lack confidence (“normandos sempre tão rude, hoje deu-me um presente. É caso para ficar com a pulga atrás da orelha
Cair nas garras de alguém – to fall into someone’s claws, ie to be at their mercy (“O chancelor caiu nas garras da indústria alemã”)
Meter-se na boca do lobo – to put oneself in the wolf’s mouth, ie to put oneself in danger (the verb here can be cair as in the previous expression, if the person has got into danger by mistake instead of through heroism or hubris (“Não percebes que estás a meter-te na boca do lobo?”)
Meter o rabo entre as pernas – to put ones tail between ones legs, ie to admit defeat or accept humiliation (“depois de levar uma pancada de Will Smith, Chris Rock meteu o seu rabo entre as pernas”)
Meter a pata na poça – to put the hoof in the puddle, which is equivalent to the English expression “to out your foot in it”, ie, make a mistake (“Chris Rock meteu a pata na poça ao aludir à falta de cabelos da mulher de Will Smith”)
Luso 