Reader Question – Samuel Nakahara,
Sao Bernardo do Campo, SP
Relating the trade to those who drive poorly has to do with the multiple functions carried out by barbers until the end of the 19th century. At that time, both in Brazil and in Europe, barbers were professionals who, in addition to cutting and trimming hair, did small medical jobs and dentistry due to lack of specialized labor. That is, razor professionals (a word that also designates bad drivers in Portuguese) also pulled teeth and performed minor surgeries and bloodletting (blood removal to eliminate diseases). Due to precarious working conditions and lack of knowledge, barbers did poor quality work that did not please their patients very much. All this stimulated the use, in Portugal, of the expression “barber” to classify those who did bad things. Upon coming to Brazil, the slang started to be used specifically for silly things committed in traffic.
Sources Book General History of Medicineby Lycurgo Santos Filho, and website Kids School
Images Disclosure/Military Police