Portuguese expressions that make me smile: It’s cold enough to crack

Está um frio de rachar – literal meaning: “it’s cold enough to crack”

This is said when it’s chilly out and is usually preceded by one of several possible expletives. If you live somewhere in northern Europe you are probably thinking, “these Portuguese are weaklings! We pay for Wintersun holidays to Portugal in December what are they complaining about?”

What I love about this expression is how it manages to home in on that feeling of bone-deep freezing cold that might literally shatter your body into a thousand little shards of ice. Now that’s what serious cold feels like, isn’t it?

It’s true that this expression can be overused. Sometimes it really is only chilly by Portuguese standards and if that’s in the summer it could be as warm as 20 degrees C out and is just based on the fact that last week it was probably 35 degrees or more. But right now – in the middle of an unusual cold snap in February - it’s chilly by anybody’s standards. Brrrrrr.

Portuguese expressions that make me smile: Fish don’t pull carts

Peixe não puxa carroça – literal meaning: “Fish don’t pull carts”

This is usually said by burly Portuguese “meat and potatoes” men when presented with a fish dish at lunch and signals that they will probably be topping up with a pork steak sandwich before the afternoon is up.

Eating with a knife and fork at every meal is essential for most Portuguese people. A sandwich munched over the keyboard at work will simply not do and similarly fish is generally considered to be fare for dieting ladies and children. If you have a day’s hard physical labour ahead of you then, granted, fish may not suffice. When none cart-pulling folks come out with this expression, though I always think it’s just a grown up version of a toddler refusing to eat his greens.

The relative nutritional merits of meat and fish aside, I love the mental image this expression conjures up of a fish harnessed to a wagon in the same way that “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” never failed to summon up an image of a fish stretching its tailfin down in a vain attempt to reach the pedals of a pushbike.