Sometimes we all get a little annoyed, no matter what language we speak. This post will show you how to express your frustration in the most succinct and culturally common manner.
Chatear is the first word you will need to know; it means to bother or annoy. If you are upset, you may say that you are chateado/a; this is a very common saying. Someone who is generally the cause of such feeling is said to be chato/a, or even a pentelho.
A synonym for chateado is saco cheio. Stronger still is the expression “p. da vida”. Likewise, the verb chatear can be substituted by encher o saco, which is clearly related to the phrase above.
And if you are looking for the right way to say a pain in the butt in Portuguese, look no further: “um pé no saco” works perfectly.
Chato is also frequently used to express its more literal meaning boring. Careta means old-fashioned / boring but is itself a bit old-fashioned and boring as a word. How meta.
My favorite is a sequence used by Brazilians that I find to be absolutely hilarious. Based on how annoying someone is, they are a different type of baggage! A mala (suitcase) is someone obnoxious; if they are even worse, they would be a baú (trunk); the absolute most obnoxious person would be a container (sic), which is quite a strong statement.[edit: also you can add in a gradation: mala sem alça (suitcase with no handle) is between mala and baú]
8 Comments
No man, it actually works like this:
if someone is (as you say) obnoxious, he already is a mala sem alça, people say just mala to avoid the trouble in saying the whole sentence.
what about “péla-saco”?? also meaning chato!!??!!
Not really
When I say ‘mala’, I mean boring, when I say ‘mala sem alça’ is someone that is really boring and can’t even see that, so, it is worst.
Na verdade, “péla-saco” significa algo como “kiss ass”, alguém que se faz de prestativo para ganhar atenção ou proteção de chefes, amigos etc.
Esse blog é o máximo, tudo de bom! E como já disseram por aqui anteriormente, você escreve muito melhor do que alguns conterrâneos meus…
Abraços,
Fabiana
I guess you’ve also got an expression like that in English – freeloader is someone who is obnoxious! Isn’t it so?
And to mean “um pé no saco” in English people use “a pain in the neck”, isn’t it so?
Encheu o saco.
Encheu a sacola.
Encheu os pacová(s).
Passou dos limites.
I’ve actually never heard somebody saying that some one is a “baú”.
I do use “mala”, though
and I only use “mala sem alça” when I really intend to stress how annoying somebody is