Rio de Janeiro, the most beautiful city in the world, was spiritually sentenced to death by JK (mind you, not John Fitzgerald Kennedy), when he, Mr. Kubitschek, decided to build a new Capital for Brazil.Notice that, in English, the names of countries are spelled differently from what they are spelled in the native language of that country. A good example is the homeland of my ancestors, Germany:
In Portuguese, its name is ALEMANHA.
In English, it is GERMANY.
In French, it is ALLEMAGNE.
In German, it is DEUTSCHLAND.
In Spanish, it is ALEMANIA.
In Italian, it is GERMANIA.
In Dansk, it is TYSKLAND.
Occasionally a Brazilian company, with a bad advertisement agency, produces a text in English that includes the name of our country spelled in Portuguese. The worst example that I have seen in my life is the expression MADE IN BRASIL. This phrase is an assault (ASSAULT does not mean ASSALTO - it means ATENTADO) to common sense. Our beloved and, unfortunately late, due to Socialist reasons, VARIG, once decided to name itself, in English, as VARIG – BRASILIAN AIRLINES. Fortunately, they came to their senses immediately and put an end to that stupidity very fast.
Since we started this article with RIO DE JANEIRO, the Wonder City, as the Americans used to refer to it, it is very proper to mention that Rio was definitely buried (TO BURY, BURIED, BURIED – ENTERRAR, as part of a funeral) by a Governor, said to have been born in Rio Grande do Sul, whose name I do not dare (to dare is one of the 13 modal verbs) to mention. An English teacher, who lives there, writes and sends, daily or almost every day, a very interesting e-mail, a kind of a very short newsletter named KNIGHTS ENGLISH, about the English language to whoever wants to receive it. As far as I know, he is a native speaker of English. I believe that he was born in South Africa.
Last week, one of his newsletters mentioned an English expression equivalent to our phrase CAMINHANDO SOBRE OVOS. His text was the following:
WALKING ON EGGSHELLS (Slang).
Definition: To be in a delicate situation; to be on the edge of danger or ruin.
Examples: 1. Ever since I smashed their car, I have been walking on eggshells with my parents.
2. We are walking on eggshells with our landlord. She told us that if we have one more loud party, she is going to kick us out of our apartment.
Etymology: An ‘eggshell’ is the thin, white outer coating of an egg. The shell is very thin and breaks easily. So if you are ‘walking on eggshells’ you are in a situation where you could break something (or get in trouble or ruin everything) very easily. It is an expression equivalent to WALKING ON THIN ICE (andando sobre gelo fino).
MIGALHAS – crumbs or bread crumbs.
A few moments ago, I had the opportunity to read a newsletter produced in Brazil, in English, and directed to lawyers. The name of the newsletter is MIGALHAS. There I read a statement produced by a very famous butcher (açougueiro). In fact, for me, he was the bloodiest butcher of them all – I am sure that he was perfectly able to be the master of the most famous Austrian dictator. Despite his cruelty, he (or someone close to him, you can never be sure, when it comes to dictators – this one was so smart that he had an artist who performed, in the 30s and 40s, a job that today is performed by a celebrated software named PHOTOSHOP in order to remove from official pictures the images of his former friends and supporters) produced an interesting sentence: “The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.”Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili.
Let us hope that now, with the adoption of new identification methods for the voters and the adoption of a printed ballot we may rest assured that our votes will be given to whom we have really voted on. No one can assure you that a virtual vote cannot be changed: there is no way to count such votes physically should there remain a sign of distrustfulness. And fears of distrustfulness do not lack in a country completely taken (aparelhado) by one particular political party whose leader compares himself to the greatest man that humankind has produced in the last 2,000 years, adding that he, the Brazilian Jesus, would even ask the support of a character taken by the Christian world as Jesus’ greatest foe, namely, Judas Iscariot
Sentence of the week:
Talent alone will not make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is `Are you ready?
Johnny Carson
John William “Johnny” Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years (1962-92). Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992. He also received Kennedy Center Honors in 1993.
I wish you all an excellent week. May our Deities deliver us from Communism.
Have an excellent week. Not everything has been lost (yet)
atualizado às 22h39
