Last week, we posted a number of really useful idioms and expressions on the Portuguese Blog Twitter and Facebook pages (thanks team!) If you’re not a follower or fan already, make sure you follow or like us to get even more Portuguese tips and lessons on our social media pages.

So in the same vein, today we’re going to learn a fun slang phrase: segurar a onda. It’s related to surfing, because it literally means to hold on to the wave. But when used in a conversation, it means to deal with a situation without losing one’s composure. In English, we’d translate it as “hanging in there” or “sticking it out,” since it means to put up with something you don’t want to put up with. But we can also translate it to fit the situation, but basically it means to deal with something difficult.

Let’s look at some examples:

Vai segurando a onda ai com a criança que a mãe já está a caminho. Just hang in there with the kid, since her mother is on the way.

Acho que é melhor segurar a onda até a empresa falir. I think it’s better to wait it out until the business goes bankrupt.

A menina não conseguiu segurar a onda, e acabou ligando para o pai dela pedindo para buscá-la. The girl couldn’t stick it out, and ended up calling her dad to ask him to pick her up.

Quanto tempo você consegue segurar a onda sem comer chocolate? How long can you go without eating chocolate?

It’s also helpful to see the expression in its literal form, with this news report about surfing in Rio de Janeiro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYofgnIk2dg

Can you think of any other ways to use this expression?