If you think that everyday terms like “pay the duck” and “pull your ass” are current things, you are very wrong: most of these sayings are at least a century old, with several dating from colonial Brazil and even the Middle Ages. . Without blah-blah-blah and without switching balls, know where the things you talk about every day come from.
MEANS – To suffer consequences from something, to be deceived
In a short story by the Italian Giovanni Bracciolini (1380-1459), a peasant sells a duck to a woman in exchange for sex. The boy, insatiable, wants more, but she refuses. Then her husband arrives, asking what the argument is about. To escape, the peasant says that there are 2 pennies left to complete the payment. Preoccupied with dinner, the cuckold literally pays for the duck.
MEANS – Serious problem
It comes from the mythological story of the 12 labors of Hercules. One of them was to kill the hydra, a seven-headed serpent that lived in Lerna, a swamp in Greece. In addition to the animal being scary in itself, every time a head was cut off, two appeared in the same place.
MEANS – Unite to raise money
In the 1920s, the fans of the Vasco da Gama team from Rio de Janeiro came up with a new way of encouraging the players: if the team won, the athletes took 10,000 réis or “a rabbit” (corresponding animal in the jogo do bicho), collected from the players. fans. In the case of an important victory, the prize was 25 thousand, a “cow”.
MEANS – Order to desist from doing something
It comes from the times when the horse was the main means of transport. If he didn’t intend to stay long, the visitor would leave the animal unprotected in front of the house. However, sometimes, the host invited him to stay longer, telling his friend to better shelter the animal with the phrase “Can take the horse out of the rain”. In other words: “Give up this idea of leaving”.
MEANS– Who takes the blame for what they didn’t do
It comes from a ritual of Jewish tradition, Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). During it, it was believed that a good way to get rid of sins was to symbolically deposit them in a goat, which was then left to die in the desert. So everyone would be free
Curiosity: Another version tells that two goats were used: the first was sacrificed and the other thrown from a cliff.
- FAT/LEARN COWS TIME
MEANING – Prosperity/crisis period
It has its origins in the Bible, in the story of Joseph, son of Jacob. Taken to Egypt by slave traders, he interpreted a dream of the pharaoh in which seven fat cows were devoured by seven lean cows. In his interpretation, this would mean seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of economic problems.
MEANS – Something important is going to happen
The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB), which fought in World War II in Europe, had an unusual symbol: a green snake smoking a pipe. The drawing was a response to the provocation of a journalist from Rio de Janeiro, who said that it was easier for a snake to smoke than for Brazil to enter the war.
MEANS – Someone malicious or just getting in the way
This expression is linked to the fame that pigs are impure and demonic, which comes from the books of the Old Testament. Also, in a New Testament story from the Gospel of St. Mark, Jesus allowed evil spirits that had possessed a group of humans to be transferred into a herd of pigs.
MEANS – Accompany a couple alone
In the Middle Ages, there were employees whose role was to hold a candle so that more experienced workers could do their activities in dark environments. There are those who say that this even applied during the bosses’ sex, when the employee was forced to turn his back so as not to see what was happening.
MEANS – well kept
It comes from the wooden chests used to store important documents and wealth, which were widely used from the 13th century onwards. They actually had four keys, and each one stayed with a trusted official or, sometimes, with the king himself – only when all were together, they could be opened. Over time, the number became seven due to the mystical connotation of that number.
MEANS – last placed
It appeared in an edition of the Tour de France. Cyclists began to call the race’s last placed “lanterne rouge” (red lantern), in reference to the lights that shine on the final carriage of a train (a way of indicating that it is the last one and that none has come off). In Brazil, the expression was shortened.
MEANS – get confused
It comes from billiards: it refers to when a player hits a ball he shouldn’t, thus impairing his performance in the game.
MEANS – Insignificant or insufficient for a task
In the Portuguese monarchy, employees earned the day’s food according to the service they provided. Whoever was important got the whole bowl of food. Otherwise, one had to settle for just half a bowl.
MEANS – sycophant
Comes from the military. It was created as a nickname for officers who, during trips, carried their superiors’ garment bags. Over the years, the term came out of the barracks and also started to indicate an individual who does everything to please someone in whom he has some kind of interest.
MEANS – «I do not want to know about you»
In the second half of the 19th century, with the Industrial Revolution, the Portuguese who worked in factories had much more prestige. Rural activities, on the other hand, were considered things for disqualified people. So, telling someone to “plant potatoes” was a disguised form of offence.
MEANS – Fake person
In Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries, to deceive the Portuguese Crown, thirsty for taxes, riches were smuggled inside sacred wooden images. For this, it was necessary to remove the internal material of the statues, which were hollow.
MEANS – miserly
It comes from a play by Amaral Gurgel, based on a beggar who supposedly lived in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the 20th century. He always approached people asking for anything, even if it was “a piece of stale bread”. So far, nothing more. Only, when he died, it was discovered that the man accumulated a respectable heritage, with bank accounts and even real estate.
- WHERE JUDAS LOST HIS BOOTS
MEANS – far away place
There are two versions: in one, Judas is the Wandering Jew, a shoemaker from Jerusalem who quit his job to push Jesus Christ while he was carrying the cross. By sin, he was condemned to wander the world. In the second version, Judas is the apostle. Repentant of his betrayal, he would have committed suicide. Paintings about this story show the boots to indicate that their punishment is to wander forever.
MEANS – Bad place, far away
The fifth was a Portuguese tax from the time of colonial Brazil that corresponded to 20% of the gold extracted. When the ships of the Crown arrived in the small town carrying the ore extracted here, the Portuguese would say: “Here comes the ship from the fifth of hell”. That’s right, “the hells” were Brazil!
MEANS – Handed over to fate
It would have its origins in the merchant Manuel Álvares, who helped supply soldiers in Recife in the 17th century. When he didn’t have what he needed, he said “God will give”. The expression became his nickname and later became popular. Another version says that the phrase was used by people approached by beggars.
MEANS – poor
This comes from a somewhat prejudiced notion: those who are poor don’t even have a shoe, so they need to remove the bulk of the dirt by scraping their foot with a knife.
MEANS – Messy place where you do whatever you want
It emerged in the 14th century, when the queen of Naples, Joana I, needed to take refuge in Avignon (France) to escape an invasion. In exile, she decided to regulate the city’s brothels. The measure made such places known as “paço da Mãe Joana” – “mãe” has the meaning of “owner of the city”. In Brazil, “paço” was replaced by “casa”.
MEANS – fully trust
In the Middle Ages, one of the ways to test the innocence of an accused person was to have him hold a red-hot iron rod or something like that. If nothing happened, he would be free.
MEANS – uninteresting conversation
In the French language, “blablabla” is an onomatopoeia (word that tries to imitate a sound) influenced by the verb “blaguer”, which means to say ridiculous things. The verb came from “blague”, that is, farce.
MEANS– Pretending to do something or doing it wrongFor economic interests, England tried to abolish slavery in the world in the first half of the 19th century. Brazil was among the targets, but slaves were one of the foundations of our economy. To deceive the power, the Empire placed ships on the coast with the supposed mission of going after the slave ships, but, in practice, nothing happened to them. It was a performance “for the English to see”.
MEANS – being penniless
Eiras were places near the old Portuguese villages where vegetables and cereals that were being prepared for consumption were spread out in the open air. As food was always the privilege of people with more possessions, the poor were characterized by not even having the edge of a threshing floor to prepare their food.
MEANS – frame
One way to make the sweet quince yield more is to mix insipid chayote with it. Thus, it seems that the candy is bigger, with the advantage of no one noticing the taste of the vegetable there. As this is still a way of deceiving the customer, “marmalade” has become an expression that indicates something fake.
MEANS – Exemption from liability
Another Bible story. On Passover, it was tradition for a prisoner to be released. The magistrate Pontius Pilate left the decision to release Jesus or the thief Barabbas to the crowd accompanying the trial. As you know, Jesus ended up crucified. Pontius then abdicated responsibility by rinsing his hands and saying: “I am innocent of this blood. I wash my hands”.
MEANS – First time in a difficult situation
In the times of the Inquisition, those who were not baptized in the traditional way ran the risk of being condemned to the stake even without doing anything – the fanatics believed that, in this way, such sinners would achieve purification. In the 19th century, Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, didn’t get the spirit of the thing and started using the expression with his rookie soldiers who went to war.