In Portuguese, these are called duplas sertanejas (something like ‘country music duos’) and in general, their get-ups are a bit cheesy. Check out some classics! Special note of mention to “Conde e Dracula” and “Batima e Robson”!
Hilarious. The original (although less funny, in British English) is below
(click to enlarge)
In the quadrinho (comic strip) Grump by Orlandeli, last year’s acordo ortográfico (spelling reform) was used as the subject matter of a series he did in January of 2009. Little by little, I will be going over the spelling reform here on Eyes on Portuguese because most sites teaching Portuguese haven’t adjusted their lessons to the new reform. Below, I will translate each quadro (square) of the comic.
Primeiro quadro“I had an idea. I am going to ask for help from my nephew to understand the agreement. For these kids, it’s a cinch. They are learning now. They don’t have our bad habits because we have been using the old rules for a long time now.”
Segundo quadro
“Hello, nephew. Everything good? By chance, are you in the know about the rules of the spelling reform?”
Terceiro quadro
“Wazzzzuppp Tuimmmm! What’s crackin? Ain’t no thang, yo. Why don’t u roll on thru cuz we can learn dat ish togetha! looool”
“It’s probably best I come up with another idea.”
In the first square of the comic, the words molecada and moleza are used, both of which are slang. Moleque (often misspelled ‘muleque‘) is how you would call a bratty kid in English a “little punk”. It is also used in a general sense to speak of someone who is immature or not yet acting like a man. Since in Portuguese the suffix -ada can be used to speak of a group or of an action (see the end of this post I just linked), molecada means a group of moleques. The second term, moleza, is equivalent to saying something is easy, a cinch, nothing complicated.
For the third square, I improvised in the translation to best represent what it might sound like if an American teenager (influenced by hip-hop culture) would have said it. In Portuguese, the sad state of the nephew’s writing is called miguxês or neo-miguxês, something which I will address in the next post. The second line of the third square is what I would consider the equivalent in English to what was written in the comic.
Thanks to Street Smart Brazil for emailing this comic a while back.
This I found on the SK language school site in the humor section, although most of the humor is in English.
GLOSSÁRIO DE UM TRADUTOR BRASILEIRO QUE ESTUDOU NUM CURSINHO RÁPIDO, PORQUE NÃO TINHA TEMPO A PERDER:
Just don’t ask for the “de quê” flavor…
I’m thinking quite a lot of people have heard of or seen parkour but what about it’s laid-back cousin, street training? Yes, that’s right, if you are not daring enough to attempt l’art du déplacement then there’s another way you can interact with your surroundings and it’s called street training (what is it called if you become an expert?).
It seems to have started in London and picked up across the pond in none other than Brazil. After seeing a few videos on Youtube, I’m no longer sure it should be called the lazy off-shoot of parkour but rather the chilled-out version of flash mobs…or is it the walking man’s idea of the laying down game? Oh I’m not sure anymore…you crazy kids, you!
Phil over at Cachaçagora recently returned from a trip to Brazil where he visited several distilleries and will slowly but surely release a film about his experience. His only concern? Will his film be able to compete with the likes of this…
But if your fancy is something that is actually done in good taste, either wait a lil’ bit for Phil’s documentary or try the Caipirinha Truffle he spoke about on his site!
Somewhere in a small town in Brazil, there’s a pretty narrow-minded architect, I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he’s a real stand up guy but his head was a little in the clouds when he made this one…
In the small town of Madre de Deus in Bahia, of just about 4 miles squared, there’s a house that’s three stories high and seven feet wide and believe me, it’s an eye-catcher. The residence comes complete with two living rooms, a kitchen, three bedrooms and a varanda. The owners are two 40-somethings, Helenita Queiroz Grave Minho and her husband Marco Antonio and they live with their three children, Helenita’s mother, sister and one dog…go figure!
On the narrow plot of land, when Helenita found herself unemployed, she decided to build a house and rent it out for extra cash. Marco Antonio thought it was a crazy idea but in the end, he gave in and hired a bricklayer who happened to agree with Marco, saying that not even a fridge would fit in a place so narrow. And you know what? He was right. The family ended up having to take apart their appliances and furniture in order to get them in the house.
At the end of two years of work, the owners became satisfied with the house which was bigger than where she lived previously. Upon having this realization, Helenita decided to move to the narrow house and to rent out the old house, which today goes for around $350/month.
The mayor’s office made a fuss at the start but upon seeing the finished work, gave in as well and eventually accepted the new tourism spot where tourists come to sit in front and take pictures. Now, Helenita and Marco Antonio plan to build yet another story, this time without a roof so they can enjoy the sunshine and a nice bbq.
One of my missions with my sites on Brazil is to show the good side of the country and culture. With Eyes On Belém, I intend to continue in my pursuit of the beautiful things that go unseen and unknown in the capital of Pará. On the other side of things, it’s also important to insert a little bit of reality or humor into the picture. Speaking of such, I came across the blog (in PT) of a Paraense who has a list of the top 7 ugly sights of Belém. Most of them are statues of some sort while a few are landmarks. Each comes with a personalized description and for that, I hope your Portuguese is up to par…if not, enjoy the photos!
I’ve come across an interesting story on a blog linking to a Swedish blog about a possible ghost story in Belém, known as the passageira fantasma (ghostly passenger). Although after searching for her name, I came up with nothing on Google…the information was as ghostly as the story that follows.
Apparently, among the taxi drivers, there’s knowledge of a woman (who might be named Severina Romana) who got a taxi at the cemetery and asks the driver to take her for a spin around Belém. Upon dropping her off back at the cemetery, she gives him an address, says it’s her parents place and to get the money for the ride tomorrow. The driver goes to the home to get the money the next day, and is met by a man who says the driver is mistaken. He lets him into his house to see photos of the man’s daughter and upon seeing them, the driver confirms it was her. The father says it is impossible because she died many years ago.
I don’t believe in ghosts but it’s an intriguing story. Maybe some of the taxi drivers know her real name, as it is also said that they light candles at her grave every year in Santa Izabel. Here’s the short story in Portuguese, confirming the urban legend, and yet another (in PT, albeit more embellished).
