sábado, 12 de janeiro de 2013

Portuguese slangs

Slangs show that one can go local!  And are some of my faves in travelling, too!  On my way, I find many gringos that speak good Portuguese or are in a good level of communication.  So, in order to help them improve their foreign language skills, here goes a few expressions that only locals know (readers are welcome to suggest new ones) (no bad words, although every foreigner loves to learn them):

Uai é uai, uai! : "uai" has the same sound of "why".  It's a very countryside saying, so to speak.  Or redneck, as you migth say.  Very commom in Minas Gerais (my native state, uai!)  The way that I put it, it's actually a joke.  It's basically the countryside man explaining what "uai" is.  It's simply "uai", he says.  You gotta become brasilian to understand it precisely.

Né!? : it's the contraction of "não é?", a validation question that means "isn't it?"

Trem bão! : means, litteraly, "good train", but of course, it has nothing to do with it.  The meaning of it is "good stuff".    Usually it comes like this: "Trem bão, sô!"  "Sô" is an contraction of "sinhô" or "senhor" (the last one is more formal).  It means "sir".

Ôxi: people say that when they're surprised.

Vixi Maria! : pure exclamation!  It's like "Oh my god!".  It's very common in the northeast of Brasil.  A variation of it is: Vixi Maria, bichim! This is very very northeast.  But it's also a tender way of calling another one.  The "bichim" stress the tenderness.  It comes from the diminutive of "bicho" = "animal".

Popozuda: a funk slang.  Do you remember the song "I like big butts and I can not lie..."?   Well, that's a popozuda.  They make you go crazy, bro!  But some of them just take so much steroids or plastic surgery, that becomes vulgar or just ugly.

Tchutchuca: another funk slang (Rio's funk has nothing to do with US funk).  It a reference to a good looking girl.

Beleza? ... Beleza!: that's a greeting.  The same word is used to answer it, but in a different tone.  It means litteraly beauty, but as a slang, it means "What's up?"  So, if a man goes up to another man and say "Beleza?" the manhood is still there!

Quê que tá pegando?: What's goin' on?

É nóis, fi!: this one comes from the ones in São Paulo state.  Each state has a way of saying things, with particular slangs.  This is hard to translate.  Something like when nobody knows what to do...then everybody get to an agreement and say "é nóis, fi!" 

Ziriguidum: this is the beat of the music, the ziriguidum.

Tem samba no pé: when someone knows how to dance, that's what you say.  It doesn't matter what rhythm you're talking about.

Madeira!!!: it means lit. "wood", but it's used by the people in the woods (forgot the proper name, now), when they cut the tree and warn the ones around that the tree is coming down.  If you say that around a group of people, some will eventually look up to check if something is falling.

Mete bronca: go for it.

Cruz credo!: damn ugly!

Um tiquim só: just a lil' bit.  You can say, also: um cadim só.

Foi um barraco!:  it was a big mess!  (variation: barraqueira: the woman that makes a big mess, usually in public)

Ah nem!: it's an interjection that means something like "oh man!", like when someone is bitching about something. ;)

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