Globo News is reporting that Brazilian President Lula da Silva spoke to U.S. President George Bush twice on the phone today. President Lula claims that Bush was upset after the Brazilian leader had phoned U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently before communicating with him to discuss the U.S. economic crisis.
And then, the best part.
Globo has the following quote from President Lula:
“Eu liguei para ele e falei: ‘Ô Bush, o problema é o seguinte, meu
filho: nós ficamos 26 anos sem crescer. Agora que a gente está
crescendo, vocês vem atrapalhar, pô? Resolve a tua crise!’”
Translation: “I called [Bush] and I said: ‘Hey Bush, this is the problem, my son: we went 26 years without any growth. Now that we’re growing, you have to screw it up! Jeez! Work out your crisis!”
It’s not clear how the translator actually translated this into English!
Let’s pick out a few of the vocabulary and expressions:
Meu filho (my son) [mee-oo feel-yoo] is used as an affectionate term for a male friend or colleague, even if that person is obviously not your son.
crescer (to grow) [creh-sehr] is used to discuss the growth of an economy, a plant, or a person.
atrapalhar (to muddle/mess up/screw up) [ah-trah-pall-yar] is used to describe the actions of a person or thing that mess up or interfere in a situation.
pô (man! jeez!) [poe] is an interjection used to describe frustration or irritation.
Comments:
rrgg:
“we went 26 years without any growth. Now that we’re growing, you have to screw it up”
This is interesting. Apparently it’s OK to take 26 years to fix a problem, but something that went into a crisis about 6 months ago is unacceptable?
Annissa:
Nice article,
I am actually beginning to be able to understand some of the things I read because of your daily word and articles! Thanks! =)
Sonia:
Hi Rachel
Meu filho is also somewhat patronizing depending on the context (and this seems like a good example).
Sonia