The words “Big Fresh” mean a lot of different things around the world.
Big and Fresh
Supermarkets, logistics companies, burgers, soft drinks and air fresheners – there are a lot of things claiming to be both big and fresh. There is even a terrible Danish rapper whose one track is so bad that I can’t bring myself to post it.
One of the things that that I find endearing about the Brazilians is their love of diminutives. These typically involve adding an “inho” (EEN-yo) or “inha” (EEN-ya) to the end of words. For example, although the Portuguese for ‘bill’ is conta, you will often hear people ask the waiter to bring the continha (con-CHEEN-ya). Perhaps this is wishful thinking that the bill will be small? I don’t think we really have an equivalent in English. Well, certainly nothing that doesn’t make us sound ridiculous (“Waiter, please bring me the billykins”).
The name Manuela is often shortened to Manu, but this is then paradoxically lengthened with an affectionate diminutive to make Manuzinha.
Diminutives are also commonly used in *footballers’ names. My understanding of this is simply that their real names don’t exactly trip off the tongue. Compare Ronaldinho to Ronaldo de Assis Moreira. Or Pelé to Edison Arantes do Nascimento.
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From time to time a curious thing happens when you are sitting outside a bar in Rio. You will be chatting away, drinking beer and gradually starting to get a little hungry when you glance down at the table and notice what appears to be a small post-it note on which are sitting 9 or 10 peanuts. Where did that come from?
Post-it peanuts – hard to resist when you’re drinking beer and caipirinha
Peanut sellers are found pretty much wherever there are a lot of people drinking at tables out on the street. Their strategy is to nip past, placing a few peanuts on a small scrap of paper on each table. They often whip past pretty quickly so if you happen to be involved in a conversation you might not notice them.
Cheery multi-coloured ghosts, doll-like Japanese girls, strange zombie babies. If you’ve been anywhere in Rio you will almost certainly have seen the work of the Flesh Beck Crew. I think they’re the best and most consistent street art/graffiti crew in Rio. And they are prolific!
Here you can see all three of Flesh Beck’s most common characters – the Japanese girl and cheeky ghosts on the right and the zombie baby on the left. At the very top you can see the freaky clown ball character. I think he may be the work of someone else but he is also very common.
One of Rio’s most iconic landmarks is undoubtedly Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer – that statue). Yesterday was the Cristo’s 80th Birthday and anyone who makes it to 80 deserves a party right? Well a party is what he got, complete with a massive cake:
10 metre long cake…
…gone!