This post is going to be very sweary, so if you don’t like that, maybe give it a miss.
I’m watching this Netflix series, Rabo de Peixe and I’m hexed, vexed and perplexed by the weird contradictions in a line of dialogue from near the end of episode 5:
“O Universo não julga, não dá premios, é pura indiferença e acaso. Por isso se te calha a sorte de uma segunda oportunidade, caralhos me fodam, se não a agarras com unhas e dentes.”
Here’s how I translate it (keeping the commas intact)
“The universe doesn’t judge, it doesn’t give prizes, it’s pure indifference and randomness. So if you’re lucky enough to get a second chance, dicks fuck me, if you don’t grab it with your fingernails and teeth.”
It’s a bit of a mess as far as I can see. I think I get the gist of what he’s saying overall, but it’s that weird, sweary tree-word clause in the middle of the second sentence that doesn’t seem to fit: why does he switch from the second person to the first for that bit? It just sounds like the clause is an exclamation that has nothing to do with the wider sentence, which is why it’s surrounded by commas. But if you imagine the sentence without the clause, the remainder makes no sense at all.
The best explanation I’ve had is that it is not an exclamation at all, it’s a legit part of the sentence. So he’s saying “you” in the sense of “any person”, and he’s so sure that any random person would grab the second chance that he’s willing to call down all the fodando of all the caralhos if he’s wrong.
It’s a bit hmm, though. For a start, for that to be true, the comma before and after the clause would have to be a mistake. Ugh, it gives me a headache!
Luso 