Posts from September 2007

Maria Rita

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Sep 13 2007

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My absolute favorite Brazilian performer is Maria Rita.

Maria Rita (full name: Maria Rita Mariano) is a Brazilian singer who comes by her deep musicality and immense talent honestly; she is the daughter of the late Elis Regina perhaps the most internationally famous Brazilian singer ever, and César Camargo Mariano a famous Brazilian composer.

I first saw Maria Rita perform at Canecão, the very temple of MPB, or Música Popular Brasileira, in Rio de Janeiro. That was 2003, and was her first show in Rio. It sold out and had the audience in tears. By New Year’s Day (Reveillon) some four months later when she played to a crowd of hundreds of thousands on Copacabana beach, the entire crowd knew every word of every song. This image has stuck with me, and is indeed a strong testament to the national passion for music as well as to the power of her performance and songs.

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Queimar o Filme

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Sep 13 2007

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A fantastic colloquialism, queimar o filme means to do something to hurt your reputation.

Here are some examples:

Meu amigo chamou a namorada dele pelo nome incorreto. Queimou o filme! My friend called his girlfriend by the wrong name. Queimou o filme!

Usei uma palavrão na minha redação, e meu professor notou. Pode crer? Queimei o filme! I used a swear word in my essay, and my professor noticed. Can you believe it? Queimei o filme!

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Imperatives

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Sep 11 2007

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The imperative form in Portuguese is pretty easy to use. To command action, as the form is most commonly used to do, you can simply use the Você or Vocês form of the (regular) verb. the reason for this is that it is common to use the Tu form of the subjunctive, which for regular verbs looks the same as the indicative tense Você form. So to say “Speak! it is appropriate to say “Fala!”

It’s a bit trickier to for the negative imperative, as it requires the Você/Vocês form of the imperative, which is related to, but not exactly like the subjunctive. To form this, one takes the Eu form of the verb, take off the ending (-o), and add the subjunctive ending for the third person, which would be ‘a/amos/am’ for -er and -ir verbs, and ‘e/emos/em’ for -ar verbs. Sound hard? It’s not really…

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Brazilian Independence Day

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Sep 7 2007

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Sete de Setembro the 7th of September is Brazilian Independence Day.

In another post I provided a brief synopsis of the events leading up to the 7th of September, 1822. On this historic day, Dom Pedro I declared Brazil an independent nation, allegedly tearing the Portuguese insignia from his uniform and swearing: “By my blood, by my honor and by God: I will make Brazil free!.” He declared the official motto, now known as the Grito do Ipiranga: Independência ou Morte. This phrase is dear to my heart as it echoes the American General John Stark’s famous words: “Live free or die,” now the official motto of my home state (New Hampshire), and the most famous of all American state mottos.

Brazilian independence was hard-fought, and certainly did not occur on the 7th of September. The Portuguese colonial forces still had to be forced to withdraw from the Americas, to which end Dom Pedro I hired British naval commander Admiral Thomas Cochrane.

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Jogo do Bicho

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Sep 6 2007


O jogo do bicho or animal game is an informal lottery run on the streets of Brazil. It is a numbers racket, essentially, that links the numbers in the game to different animal avatars. Though illegal, the game enjoys wide popularity and is considered even part of the national heritage.

Each animal is represented by 4 numbers. The avestruz or ostrich is 01,02,03,04, for example. You can even bet on combinations as well, which some believe raises the chances of winning. The various betting methods make the game difficult to play; these patterns and options are very similar to horse racing.

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