Colloquialisms, sayings, & Slang

Sayings about Patience

De grão em grão, a galinha enche o papo. - Grain by grain a chicken fills its tummy

De moeda em moeda se faz uma fortuna - Coin by coin one makes a fortune

Devagar se vai longe - [By] going slowly you go far

The Brazilian equivalent of “slow and steady wins the race”

Água mole em pedra dura, tanto bate até que fura. - If soft water strikes the hard stone long enough, eventually it will create a hole

Literally, “soft water on hard stone, strikes so much that it pierces [through]”

Pop Culture: Turma da Mônica

Turma da Mônica (Monica’s Gang) is a nationally renown comic series created by Mauricio de Souza.

An iconic picture of the 90's of Mauricio and his most famous creations 

The characters first appeared in comic strips for the newspaper (a la Peanutsor For Better or Worse), and eventually became so popular that they started to be made as comic books. 

Nowadays they come out in monthly and weekly installments, with various editions dedicated to showcasing stories that focus on a specific character as a protagonist.

These comics are so popular that they have their own tv show, movies, theme park, and store.

It’s not just something for the kids. This is huge in Brazil. They’re on cute baby diapers. They’re on food wrappers, shampoo bottles, and pet products.They have toys and dolls. They have every type of children’s memorabilia you can think of, from school notebooks to bed covers.

In fact, people often use the character names as a way of calling someone something related to the most famous traits of each character.

It has been translated into Spanish, English, Chinese, and Greek. 

Turma da Mônica was officially translated into English as “Monica’s Gang”, but its meaning is something closer to “Monica & Friends”)

Superstitions

To get rid of an unwanted guest put a broom behind your front door (sometimes it's said it should be an upside-down broom).

It's Tradition!

Traditional foods in Brazil vary greatly from area to area. So much so that you can often tell where one is from by what traditional foods the start naming off.

Quibe

Okay. Quibe is technically traditionally Lebanese, but in Brazil it is as common as any officially traditional food. Which makes sense, considering there is a larger population of Lebanese in Brazil than in Lebanon itself. 

Quibe is made with a special type of wheat that is soaked in water for hours so it puffs up and is then mixed with meat and spices. It can then be fried (a traditional snack at birthday parties), baked, or eaten raw with olive oil and bread.

Raw quibe (the centerpiece), ready to be enjoyed. 

Fried quibe, a staple food at birthday parties. They can be made to have fillings as well.

Money, Moolah, Cash

Moedas (Coins)

R$ 0,50

The coins on the left are the old version, the one on the right is the new design that you are more likely to encounter.

  On the coroa side: Barão do Rio Branco (Baron of White River), who is responsible for defining Brazil's borders. Behind him is an allegory of his achievement.

Colloquialisms, sayings, & Slang

Cê tá pensando que berimbau é gaita? - Are you thinking that a berimbau is a harmonica?

A somewhat friendlier way of saying "who do you think you are?" or "what do you think I am?". It is usually used when a person makes an exorbitant demand or request. A berimbau is a musical instrument.

Chôvê não, chovê molha! - Not rain[ing], rain[ing] gets [us] wet!

A play on words for the request "Deixa eu ver" (let me see/can I see), which is often shortened to "Chovê" (which in turn sounds exactly like the common shortening of "chover" - to rain). It's usually used by adults to little kids who are trying to grab something off their hands.

Colloquialisms, sayings, & Slang

Churrasquinho de gato – Cat barbecue

Any bbq of questionable origin (it isn't necessarily actually made of cat).

Pastel de ar - Air pastel

A pastel is a kind of popular pastry in Brazil that can be savoury or sweet and has varying flavours (I'll make a post on it in the near future, but for now, think "deep fried pita pocket"). 

An air pastel is a pastel that has very little filling inside (the bigger the pastel, the ore likely this is to be). The idea is that since there's so little filling, the filling for that pastry is "air".