My favourite word in Portuguese
Back in 2009 when I was planning my 4 month (ha!) trip to South America, I started taking Spanish lessons. Back then there were no plans to visit Brazil and so Spanish was the obvious choice. A couple of friends and I found a lovely teacher and we would spend a very enjoyable hour each week having lessons. After a few months we were discussing how the lessons were going, what we thought of Spanish as a language, what we liked about it and so on.
Words, words, words…
My favourite word in Spanish
At some point a question came up: What’s your favourite word in Spanish? I hadn’t given it much thought before, but I knew my answer immediately:
Ocho, the Spanish word for “eight”. You say it just like it’s written: O-cho! I like the sound it makes, round and chunky at the same time – satisfying. My friend’s favourite word was the Spanish for penguin, pingüino (sounds like pin-GWEEN-o) – also a good choice I think.
My favourite word in English
There’s something about learning a new language that makes you think more about languages in general – you analyse your first language, notice similarities and connections. Of course there is plenty of room for frustration and impatience during the language learning process, but it can also be satisfying and very interesting. Having decided on my favourite Spanish word, I thought about which would be my favourite in English.
Until recently I think the number 1 spot for me was occupied by the word buffoon. I assume most of you are familiar with this word (the equivalent in Portuguese is bufão) – it’s a fun way to call someone a fool. But I also like it because of its origins – it comes from an Italian word, buffone, used back in the 16th Century to describe a jester. That in turn came from buffare, which means “to puff out one’s cheeks” which is apparently what the jesters did to amuse people (comedy has come a long way…).
Dizzy Gillespie – not a buffoon, but certainly engaging in some buffare.
However, I think I have a new contender for top word in English. Just recently I discovered the English word sumpsimus, a noun which means “the correct usage of a phrase which has been largely replaced with a more popular but incorrect alternative”. You know – like when people insist on saying “these data prove X” when the rest of the world say (erroneously) “this data proves X” (‘data’ is the plural of ‘datum’). Sumpsimus has the equally delicious sounding antonym, mumpsimus.
When I asked my wife (whose native tongue is Brazilian Portuguese) for her favourite word in English, she chose drifter – when I asked why, she simply said “I like the way it sounds” – fair enough!
My favourite word in Portuguese
And so to Portuguese. My favourite word often surprises the Brazilians who ask (this genuinely has come up, unprompted, a couple of times). It is a simple word that you hear hear maybe 20 times a day here in Brazil: isso! Isso means “that” (or “this”) and has a very pleasing sound – Eeeeeeey-so!
Tudo isso – all this/that.
Portuguese has an interesting aspect to it – if someone asks you if you have an umbrella, you wouldn’t reply “yes” – you’d reply with “I have”. Can I come in? You can. You like Marmite? I like. And if someone asks [pointing] “Is this the one you want?” – you would reply isso!
Isso also makes up one half of the super-useful utility phrase Que isso? (literally “What’s this?”) which can take on all kinds of different meanings, from “Don’t mention it” when someone thanks you, to “Check him/her out” when a hotty walks past (this isn’t necessarily a very nice/respectful thing to say, but you hear guys say it here a lot!).
So tell me your favourite words! Can anything beat the laid-back sound of isso? The chunky goodness of ocho? Or are you more of a drifter?
Tom,
You out did yourself yet again, LOVE this post, and I was laughing all the way through while reading it!!
My favorite word in English is: LITERALLY
My favorite word in Portuguese is: PARALELEPIPEDO
My favorite word in Spanish is: CUCAMONGA ( It means light over the mountain) :)
AWESOME POST TOM!!!!!
Abracos
Ray
Ah, thanks Ray! :) Glad you liked it! And those are great choices – paralelepidedo is a real mouthful isn’t it?! And Cucamonga is a great fun to say – I will try to use it in a conversation today!
Parallilepipedo is a Greek word .
You speak Greek and you don’t know it!
English: Tomfoolery
Portuguese: Travessão,
English and Portuguese: Grave.
Note to self: stop puffing out of cheek during comedy bits.
Tomfoolery – I will try not to take that one personally (it is actually rather a good choice).
I rather regret including that photo of Dizzy – I feel a bit funny when I look at those cheeks…
Speaking of words and languages: once again I’ve outdone myself.
http://grittypoet.blogspot.com.br/2012/07/grittjokes-third-one.html
Ha! I hadn’t ever though of it, but I love the word, “isso” too – great pick. I also love the word, “beleza” it just rolls off the tongue so perfectly.
Yeah! Beleza is almost onomatopoeic – you feel it when you say it :)
I’ve never given thought to this before, so after hours of thinking, here they are:
Portuguese: Felicidade
Spanish (Portuguese too): Paraíso (it’s prettier in Portuguese though; SP- Paraissso, PT- Paraízu)
And, English is just too hard. Maybe I’ll think of one later.
Nice one – I first became aware of Paraíso when I visited Val Paraíso in Chile – there was a general strike at the time and so the streets were strewn with rubbish. It was a really cool town, but didn’t feel quite like paradise! ;)
Having spent the past minute repeating the word in both languages, I find that I agree with you – it sends better in Brazil!
Okay, this is funny because when I first got introduced to Portuguese I was insta-obsessed with hearing the word ‘Não’. I honestly have no idea why but I thought it sounded so sexy. I always made my Brazilian roommates say it to me. Now with my fiance I have DEFINITELY gotten over the love of that word :P. Now, my fav. word in Portuguese is, without a doubt, tranquilo. That is a great word. Way better in Portuguese than in Spanish.
English: Strawberry
Spanish: Luego or Órale
Hey Susan – I hear you, those crazy Portuguese vowels are pretty awesome aren’t they? I am a big fan of pães. I am useless at saying it properly myself, but recorded a helper saying it for a post way back last year :)
Your favorite word reminded me of this video that was very popular in Brazil a while ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPYf951wQ1M
Too cute… :)
Ahhh!! That is so cute!! Hahaha! Tá? Tranquilo?
I really wanted to reply to this one, because it’s a great topic! I’m a translator and thinking about words, their sound, placement and meaning is all I do.
I don’t think I have a favourite word in Portuguese though from now and then “vida” just makes me really introspective and I love it. It sounds great, it has a great meaning and in Portuguese you can actually affectionately call someone “Vida”. I also like that words in Portuguese and Spanish can be either feminine or masculine no matter wich subject they apply to. So vida being a feminine word is even more appealing.
Funny enough, my favourite word in English is “word”… it took me a long time to pronounce it correctly! So I also associate it with victory or accomplishment.
In Spanish, I always liked ‘creo’, as in the present tense first person of ‘creer’ – Creo que es hermosa :) I also like it mostly because one of the first sentences I learned in Spanish was “no creo en las brujas, pero que las hay, las hay”… many Brazilians will recognise it.
Um abraco Tom… it’s great coming here from time and always finding interesting topics. :)
Thanks Amanda – words really are fascinating aren’t they? It’s really interesting to hear people’s reasons for a particular favourite word.
You have made very positive selections – in your life, you believe in words :)
There are times that I find the fact that Portuguese (and Spanish) words have gender a bit frustrating. I often struggle to remember the whether words are males or female (um
asistema é masculino!).But sometimes the gender seems very appropriate – A problem (um problema) could only be male! :D
Wonderful post! I say “isso” all the time and use it a lot with my students :) I will share the article :)
Thanks Luciana – from a teacher-student context it’s certainly nicer to hear isso than não!
And I feel that I should give you proper credit here. I learned about that lesson about Do you speak Portuguese? -I speak! from your youtube video! Muito obrigado for the lesson!
OK, my favorite word in Portuguese is “restaurante” because it looks just like Spanish but sounds so different and it took me a while to get it right (well, as close to “right” as I can get). Plus, I figure it’s a good word to know since I do like to eat. Runner-up: “sobremesa,” my favorite part of the menu.
Favorite Spanish word is “caliente,” because I like the way it sounds.
Favorite English word: “freeway,” because unless it’s crowded, that’s exactly what it is, and it sort of symbolizes America at its best (in spite of the fact that most of them are in pretty rough shape now).
These may be a bit more revealing about my personality than I’d thought they would be, but oh well, lol.
Hey Phil – caliente is a great one – definitely has a very cool sound to it and positively demands that you put on a nice Mexican accent! ;)
Hi Tom
In Portuguese: saudade, apparently the only language that can express this feeling in one word (haven’t researched though, it’s just hear say)
In Spanish: guapo (Portuguese or English do not have a word as good as this for a handsome man!)
In English I’ll have to think, way too many to shortlist to one!
xoxo
Eliana
Great choices Eliana! I love the sound of Guapo – it is very satisfying to say (though I guess I prefer guapa! ;) )
Saudade is a wonderful word isn’t it? I remember I learned it at a stage that I was just starting to learn Portuguese and it was probably the first word where I realised that how difficult translation can be. This one word in Portuguese requires a whole paragraph of explanation in English, plus perhaps a little bossa nova to really make the point clear!
My favorite English word is “Hoity-Toity”.
My favorite Portuguese word to say is “maravilhoso”, it’s just so wonderful to say.
Ooh, nice choices Stacey! Man, I haven’t heard hoity-toity in ages! :)
Maravilhoso is a good one – I like the way that Brazilians really take their time with every syllable in that word. I guess that makes it sound even more marvellous!