
Brazilian Expressions!
Full Transcript - Episode 2
STF Ruling, legalized weed, dodgy cachaça and dying on the job...!
J: Good morning São Paulo! Hello everybody. Welcome to podcast number 2, November 2019, from The Samba Buzz! That’s buzz with two zees.
G: Or two zeds.
J: Or two zeds. So Gee, tell me, what do we have planned for today?
G: Well today we have a discussion of Brazilian expressions – some of the more crazy ones, and some of the less crazy ones…
J: Oh, that sounds nice.
G: …and how we might say them in English, actually – in American English, and also in the Queen’s English.
J: So, so we’re going to have an-an American speaking Portuguese and an Englishman speaking Portuguese?
G: Well personally I was just going to translate the Brazilian into English but…
J: Oh.
G: …you go ahead and speak your Portuguese. I’ll…er…I’ll watch you.
J: I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re just going to go with it and see what happens. Um, anyway, so that’s-that’s what we have for today. In addition, of course, we will have as always, we will have our ‘What Caught My Eye’ this week section and of course at the end the English Guru section that just so many people are dying to hear about. We’re getting so many emails about that it’s just hard to keep track of.
G: Well it is week 2.
J: Yes, it is week 2. And, of course, nobody’s written us because I just made that up!
G: And we haven’t launched it yet!
J: No. That’s why, anyway. So here we go!
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G: So, um, what caught your eye this week, Jay?
J: Ah, well, funny that you mention that, G-Gee. Actually, the first news that I have, I would like to start with a decision that was made today by the Brazilian STF.
G: Hmm. Sounds dangerous.
J: Yeah, it can be. So, the Chief Justice, meaning Dias Toffoli, er, decided to reverse his earlier position that he had made last, er, I think in November...let’s see, it was made last October 25. He reversed that decision and then he decided that he, as being the Chief Justice of Brazil, no longer needed access to financial data from more than 600,000 individuals. Erm, this sounds a little bit strange and it actually was really quite strange. Er, because he had issued a ruling saying that he, as Chief Justice of Brazil, had the right to see all the financial data from more than 600,000 individuals and institutions and ONGs in Brazil.
G: Hmm.
J: Now why he ever wanted that, nobody really knew, and he justified this with kind of a strange ruling. Er, he said that he needed to know how the FIU – so that’s the financial reports institution that takes care of all of those things – how they actually made reports and sent their reports to the investigative authorities. In this case, he decided – just kind of out of his own free will – ‘I need to have this data.’
G: So this was just information for him to use alone, then, was it?
J: Yeah, it was very strange. It was very strange the whole time. And then after some protests from the FIU, then he reverted his decision and basically he said, well, ‘the decision that I made last October 25 – it no longer exists!’ and…
G: Cos if this was to do with corruption by Brazilian politicians and they were able to monitor the movements of the bank accounts of those guys then I can kind of see why you would want to do something like that. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what happened.
J: Anyway, that’s my news for today, for the week.
G: And your conclusion was? What’s gonna change?
J: My conclusion was that it seems like the STF is kind of, let’s say…er…I would, I would use the Brazilian expression – viajando no maionese!
G: Ah!
*strange singing
J: Yes.
G: Our first expression of the day – flying in the mayonnaise! Yes, makes lots of sense.
J: Swimming in the mayonnaise – I don’t know, or travelling in the mayonnaise, I don’t know.
G: Yes.
J: Ok, so, Gee – what do you have?
G: Well, actually, I’ve got a question for you. If somebody came up to you, and you were on the street and a car pulls up, and some guy hands you a bottle of yellow liquid, what would you do with that yellow liquid?
J: Run!
G: You would probably run, yes. Well, not everybody is the same as you, as it turns out, cos there was some chap in Barueri, who, um – in São Paulo...
J: Ok.
G: …and, um, he was given a bottle of yellow liquid by some chap who probably told him it was cachaça…
J: Ok.
G: So then he goes to the main square of Barueri with his friends, with his buddies, and they hang out and I guess they share their afternoon, and there’s about 8 of them and, um, at some point in the afternoon they-he gets round to pulling out this bottle of yellow liquid and says ‘Hey! Look what I got! Let’s try this.’
J: Party time! Woohoo!
G: So they all drink it and um, it didn’t turn out well – 4 of them died and the other 3 are in hospital and it’s not good. So the moral of the story…
J: Don’t drink yellow liquid.
G: Don’t drink yellow liquid. And don’t eat the yellow snow either.
J: No, and-and don’t pee into the wind either, for what that means. Oh, that’s, that’s just a nasty story. But why on earth would he want to eat-drink that yellow liquid that somebody gave him out of a car?
G: It-it does sound…I think-I think it was the equivalent of crackolândia actually so…
J: It’s…that’s just a nasty…
G: …it’s just nasty things happen.
J: Ok.
G: What about…?
J: It’s kind of sad.
G: It’s kind of sad. But what about-what about elsewhere? You got anything from around the world you want to talk about this week?
J: Well actually I do. It’s good that you asked that. I have a little bit of news from my home state of Colorado. Now, I need to say that-the in Colorado – I don’t know if everybody is aware of it but it’s possible to buy marijuana. [children coo] They have something even called medical marijuana in Colorado. It was I think the first state in the United States that allowed medical marijuana. And now they-there’s been the recent Colorado supreme court decision. I don’t know, by chance both my articles are about the-about supreme court decisions. Ok, so what was the core argument is that in Colorado it’s possible to buy medical marijuana. And, of course there was a person that was convicted of a crime and they were–they had been proven guilty of a crime – not for the marijuana but for something else – and the court prohibited them from using medical marijuana while they were on their probation period. Now probation is basically a time after you have been found guilty and you are not sent to jail but you have to have good conduct. Basically you can’t do any-anything else…illegal. And the court prohibited this person from using medical marijuana even though they had a prescription from the doctor saying that that particular individual needed medical marijuana.
G: Did it say why he needed it?
J: No, the court just simply said you can’t-you cannot use it.
G: But did-did the doctor’s notes say why he needed to use the medical marijuana?
J: Well, yes, they did say why but that’s actually not in the article so I don’t know, I don’t know the medical reason for that.
G: It could be because he’s got compulsive behavior to cause him to commit the crime, and then taking the medical marijuana stops him from doing that.
J: I hadn’t thought about that, but that’s a possibility, sure. It would be a good reason not to do it. Anyway, um…now the supreme court in Colorado has ruled that even if you are convicted and guilty of a crime during your probation period, you are allowed to use medical marijuana unless the prosecution can prove that there are medical reasons why you should not use it. So now the burden of proof is now shifted from the defendant to the prosecution.
G: Hmm. But aren’t there states where it’s legal to use marijuana recreationally?
J: Yeah, Colorado is actually one of those states. You can also use it recreationally.
G: So, was he allow…he must have been allowed to use it recreationally then, except not medically?
J: Exactly. And-and that’s where then, even if you are convicted of a crime, they can deny the recreational use. What-what this particular lawsuit hinged on was the fact that it was-it was in a medical, medical context.
G: I see.
J: And the courts had prohibited the individual from using their medical marijuana.
G: So are you tempted to return to Colorado now that they have free and legal marijuana or not?
J: No, no, actually I’m not.
G: No.
J: Well, I will be travelling this summer but not for the marijuana. That’s because my family’s there.
G: Er, ok. That’s a good reason.
J: But I will say, by the way, they do have these particular gas stations there. They’re called ‘gas n grass’. So, yeah, so you can go there and you can tank your gas and you can tank yourself as well!
G: So you can smoke the grass and you can gas away to your friends…
J: Yes.
G: …and that sounds great.
J: It’s hard to believe that that’s legal but it’s ok, it’s Colorado. Anyway, that’s my story for the day.
G: Very nice. I like that.
J: So Gee, what do you-whatdaya have for us this week?
G: Well my, my second piece actually comes from Europe.
J: Ok.
G: It comes from France, would you believe?
J: Again?
G: Have you been to France?
J: Oh France. I have been to France. I’ve been to Paris. I liked it – quite a bit.
G: Anyway, this particular story is about a guy – he’s a businessman – and he’s sent away to a town – he’s a Frenchman, I believe, and he’s sent to a town where he doesn’t normally work and he spends the night there because he’s required to work there the week…
J: Ok.
G: And, during his time there he decides to go out and I don’t know where he went or what he did but he ended up in his hotel room with a young lady, and they were obviously getting very intimate and possibly got a bit too excited because he had a heart attack.
J: He had a heart attack with a lady?
G: While he was involved intimately with this lady, and…
J: Oh, I hate it when that happens! That’s…that’s…
G: …a terrible end to the day!
J: Put’s such a damper on the entertainment, doesn’t it?
G: It’s a terrible end, and unfortunately it’s not a good end for her, actually but… Anyhow, he died, and his company tried to claim that although he died while he was on assignment, he was not actually working when he died, and therefore, he was not entitled to worker’s compensation.
J: But he wasn’t working! He was…he was…like, getting it on with this girl!
G: Well, this is a matter of interpretation. So the insurance company that represents the workers in France – they claimed that he was working…
J: Ok.
G: …and the company that he works for claimed that he wasn’t working, and so obviously it went to court, and the court had to decide – did this guy die working on the job or…or not? Um, what…what would you say? This is obviously France. It’s not England or Brazil.
J: I mean, I mean what kind of surprises me in this is…why weren’t say criminal, let’s say, charges brought against the girl for, let’s say, being intimate too…too intimate with a guy and killing him, actually? She could have been charged with murder, as far as I’m concerned!
G: Well, she might have been a suspect, I guess, yes.
J: Ah, I mean it depends…
G: It depends on your perspective on these things.
J: I don’t know about the exact technique she was using but ok…I mean…you know…
G: Her name might have been Jezebel, or Delilah, or something like that, yes.
J: I don’t know, that’s hard to believe.
G: Anyhow, what do you think? Do you think the court found in the company’s favor – that he was not officially working and not entitled to worker’s compensation – or do you think they found in the family’s favor?
J: Erm, well, first thing, it`s in France, so I`m going to think that probably because of the labor laws that are active in France that they chose in favor of the worker and not in favor of the company.
G: You’d be absolutely right! France is a good place to work if you go there and you die on the job you will get worker’s compensation!
J: So if you-if you are there in France, you know, whooping it up with, with some, somebody locally, and you happen to die, rest well assured at least they’ll take care of your family.
G: They will take care of your grave, at least, yes.
J: At least of your grave.
*strange singing
G: What is that exactly?
J: I don’t know, I think, I think it might have been a cat or a…er…Chinese opera singer…er I dunno.
G: It sounds painful, whatever it is.
End of Part 1
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