The most clueless expressions in Portuguese Portugal
Living in Portugal and talking like in Brazil is not a reality for us Brazilians. This is because some expressions that mean one thing there, have a very different meaning here. Latin and o are very present in the Portuguese language, but they are chosen years since the colonization of Portugal in Brazil. So, in addition to distinct phonetics, many words also have another definition.
Portuguese mixed with indigenous languages, mainly Tupi, which was used in communication between Portuguese and indigenous people. Too many can cause confusion. An example of this mess are words used by Portuguese that are our swear words and vice versa.
With that in mind, the Brazilian Carla Gomes, who creates content about living outside the country where she was born, published content with words and phrases spoken in Portuguese lands that are very different from those we use in Tupini soil.
The content, full of memes and jokes, went viral:
The video has thousands of comments. Among them, a Portuguese confesses: “the problem is that even we Portuguese can’t stand these names either, or else I’m not mature enough either”.
Brazilians who joke about a situation described in the video: “now, there are like our bad words, there are kkk” and “I wouldn’t have the maturity to go to Portugal kkk”.
So, let’s translate what each of the expressions in the video means there:
- ‘Full of pica’ means: ‘full of zest’, that is, charm’, since ‘pica’ there is ‘will’, ‘vigor’. Another example of the use of the word: ‘thus doesn’t feel like it’, read: ‘thus doesn’t feel like it’.
- In the case of the drink mentioned in the video, according to information on the product’s website, Licor de Merda was created to ‘honor’ some who ruled Portugal in 1974, when it was created. At the time, the country had a troubled period marked by the struggle between the local left and right. “Not making sugar to its name, sugar juice is a sugar-based and easy-to-drink sugar. Made from milk, it also contains vanilla, cocoa, cinnamon and citrus,” he says.
- Despite the eccentric name, the Miradouro da Garganta Funda is located in Ponta do Pargo, in the municipality of Calheta, Madeira Island, in Portugal. The way to walk is about 7 minutes between the forest and the Atlantic Ocean and the view is really beautiful, despite the route being little frequented.
- The word ‘foda’ has the same meaning in Portugal as it does in Brazil. The official website of the festival says that the term ‘Feira da Foda’ is used to talk about the lamb meat à Moda de Monção, known as “Foda à Monção”. The event is also known as ‘Feira da Monção’.
- In Portugal, ‘porras recheadas’ are our famous ‘churros’. Portuguese churros are made in the same way as here, the only difference being that they are usually eaten without filling.
- On the opposite side of Praias do Sado, there is a sign indicating ‘Caralhão’, which is nothing more than a direction of place. The beaches are located in the east of Setúbal, belonging to the parish of Sado, in the district of Setúbal, in the metropolitan area of Lisbon. Other Brazilian expletives there are used ‘cacete’, which is our ‘bread tube’, ‘puto’, which is ‘adolescent’ and ‘cool’, which here is ours: ‘very cool’.
- Control your laughter with this Portuguese dish, ‘jerk with greens in sight’. In Portugal, ‘bacalhau punheta’ is a typical dish, considered a starter or snack, which consists of raw cod preserved in olive oil, vinegar, garlic and parsley. Turnip greens, on the other hand, are turnip leaves, often served with rice, which Brazilians do not normally eat.
- In M&M’s advertising, there is the expression ‘do you share with the Go Go the big person? : a ‘joke’.
- The last expression in the video, ‘cabaço’, in Portugal, means a bucket or watering can, used to draw water from a well.
Speaking Portuguese or Greek?
What is clueless or bizarre in one country may be normal where you live. Content creators play a lot with Portuguese and Brazilian expressions, trying what they mean.
About the pronunciation, it’s all very different if we pay attention to the details.
In Brazilian English, vowels are open and spoken with a sung rhythm. Here, the sound of ‘l’ is replaced by ‘u’: in words like paper, we pronounce ‘papeu’.
In Portugal, the word is highlighted in the pronunciation of the final “l”: ‘papél’. Our ‘z’, on the other hand, can become ‘ix’ for the Portuguese, as in the word faz, which is said to be ‘faix’.
Although the Portuguese language is the same, this girl expresses that sometimes it has nothing to do with it. She became famous by making fun of friends who, for them, made no sense, although they are extremely common where she was born:
‘Here in Angola, it was the same as Portugal, but we love to use some Brazilian slang’, wrote an internet user.
And the video comments about the difference between Brazilian Portuguese and other places come from different parts of the world, many countries speak Portuguese. They are: Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Macau and others.
Portuguese from Portugal has so many words that we don’t have in Brazil that it’s hard to put them all here.
Some examples are: in Brazil, they say ‘panties’, but in Portugal it’s ‘cueca’.
For the Portuguese, ‘pila’, from the expression ‘how many dicks does this cost?’, can mean ‘penis’.
Write down more different words and expressions there: ‘goalkeeper’ means ‘goalkeeper’.
Nickname is the same as ‘nickname’ and ‘doing the handstand’ means ‘planting a banana tree’.
Other words widely used in Portugal are: ‘à grande’ and ‘à française’, which mean ‘with abundance’, but in Brazil, the second is spoken to refer to ‘to sneak out’.