Jeitinho, Gambiarra and Bacalhau
If you spend any amount of time in Brazil, you will soon become familiar with the word jeitinho (sounds like zhay-CHEEN-yo).
Here’s what former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC to his friends) has to say on the matter:
Jeitinho has a double meaning. One meaning is good – that you try to solve problems rather than to put up obstacles… It’s an attitude, “Let’s try to solve this, let’s try to help you.” That’s positive. But there is another meaning, which is to disregard the law, the rules.
From an interview with Catherine Pees Scott
The word “jeito” means “way”, as in “I think there’s a way we can do this”. When we use the diminutive (jeitinho) we move into the realms of improvisation and rule bending.
Ran out of gas? A little jeitinho should fix this up!
It’s a divisive word because people seem to give it the meaning they want. For some it is about being resourceful and solving problems under difficult conditions; for others it is about not doing things properly, rule breaking and corruption.
Last weekend, Mrs Eat Rio and I were walking down our street when we got to a patch of pavement/sidewalk when had been repaired. The normal sections looked like this:
An unremarkable, non-slip, red and white pattern.
Here’s what the repaired section looked like:
Ha ha! Brilliant! I loved the way they must have gone to the effort of finding red (food?) dye to make the pattern fit so ‘seamlessly’.
I don’t know if they couldn’t find replacement tiles or they simply didn’t want to pay the extra, but the solution made me smile and I appreciated the effort that someone had gone to. Interestingly, Mrs Eat Rio thought it was pretty terrible and saw this as indicative of a larger problem.
Having thought about it some more since we saw the tile repair job, I think perhaps I’ve changed my mind a bit. While I still really admire the positive aspects of jeitinho, I have a lot of sympathy for the Brazilians who are fed up with all this ‘improvisation’. Many of the jeitinho solutions are kind of hilarious, but they often also reflect the fact that a lot of the poorest people in Brazil don’t have the means to do things the proper way.
And a major problem with rule breaking is that it is contagious. When politicians and police are routinely caught stealing and cheating, why should anyone else follow the rules? Some aspects of jeitinho can seem cute, but when jeitinho leads to buildings collapsing and people dying, it doesn’t seem so funny.
Of course I’m not suggesting that this is a uniquely Brazilian thing. Whether we’re talking about improvisation or corruption, these are things that happen everywhere given the right (or wrong) circumstances.
Back in my days working in IT in London, people* would talk about ‘bodge-jobs’ and ‘Friday Afternoon Solutions’ (i.e. let’s get this patched up quickly so we can go down the pub). Here in Rio, IT people* describe the same quick-fix workarounds as ‘gambiarras’ or ‘bacalhau’.
*In case any potential future employers are reading this, I should make it clear that I was never personally involved in any such gambiarras…
Yes sir, your laptop is ready…
Ahh the famous Jeitinho. I imagine it will will slowly die out as Brazil progresses.
The Spanish use ‘tener jeta’ to have the gall or cheek to ask for something. And if someone is a “Jeta” they are a cheeky bastard. At present Spain has a lof of politicians who are “jetas”.
Back home in England i liked using the word he or she is a “cowboy” to refer to a job done in a jeitinho way.
I read FHC’s autobiogrpahy “An Accidental President” and it is a good read. Although when i ask Brazilians about FHC their opinions are always very divided. But the Real Plan was a stroke of genious and sowed the seeds for Brazil’s current economic strength. Plus Lula’s popularity had a lot to thank FHC’s previous work.
I enjoyed that book too – it’s a good read and has lots of interesting historical background. I came to the same conclusion as you – seems like Lula reaped a lot of the benefits from FHC’s hard-fought work.
Tom,
Perhaps both Chris and you would enjoy this:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/04/130329523/how-fake-money-saved-brazil
I have also read “An Accidental President” and highly recommend it. Regarding Cardoso´s unpopularity towards the end of his second term it ironically displays what an extraordinary president he was, and human being that he is. The Real Plan did not happen overnight, it actually took years of structural reforms after the then new currency was first printed to make it sustainable. Some of these reforms were painful, and unpopular, yet necessary and highly beneficial in the future. As it turns out Lula reaped these benefits (albeit having, along with his party, lambasted everything FHCardoso proposed – to the point of blocking important reforms which would have helped Brazil even more). Cardoso though did not stray, and unlike most politicians did not go on a spending binge towards the end of his second term to help his party´s candidate, instead he stuck to fiscal responsibility which helped and continues helping millions of Brazilians to escape poverty and improve their lives.
Nice link Gritty! I gather that FHC feels (with some justification) a bit miffed that Lula took (or was given) so much credit for the very thing that he actually tried to prevent. Politics is a dirty business isn’t it…?
Great read Tom…
I love the pizza-box laptop. It’s great camouflage, so you can take it out on the street without getting mugged (not by a guy who steals laptops anyways…)
Cheers.
Thanks Raf! Now I just need to make my phone look like a crumpled packet of cigarettes and my wallet look like a worthless box of matches… ;)
Thanks for the excellent NPR link Gritty!
kkkkkk…. adorei as fotos!! Ri bastante!!! Ótima explicação do jeitinho brasileiro! Parabéns pelo Blog! Dica: quando quiser vir a Vitória conhecer a moqueca capixaba ou a fábrica do bombom Sonho de Valsa, fale comigo! Abraço!
Ah, muito obrigado Alexandre! :D Pode acreditar que eu nunca comi moqueca capixaba? Só comi a versão de Bahia (gosto disso muito!)