Written Portuguese and Spanish are very similar. While speaking Brazilians add their melodious accent and rich slang. Making it so hard to understand them in the beginning, but such a joy when you mastered it. The Brazlian creativity is also shown in the way words gain new meaning and the incorporation of English words in the language.

A piranha is a fish with a bad reputation. A woman who eats many men is also called uma piranha.As are the big toothed combs used to keep your hair together. An other tropical animal is the hummingbird. The brazilians name it flower-kisser (beija-flor), which is exactly what they seem to do. Beija-flor is also the name of one of the most popular Rio samba schools. Some mulatas move their feet almost as quick as the hummingbird his wings. To stick with animals: canguru is sometimes used for a babysitter.

Gillette I have seen in two related meanings. The first as bi-sexual (cuts both ways). And more macaber as transvestite because they carry razor blades to slash their wrist on arrest. The combination of blood, sex, prostitution and homosexuality is enough to convince any cop to leave them alone.

The English/American influence is not as big in Brazil as in in some other countries and is usually twisted. The letter "X", for instance, is pronounced cheese. So a X-burger is a cheeseburger. A X-Tudo is a hamburger with everything you can imagine. A picape is a pick-up truck, and an exact transliteration of the way Brazilians pronounce pick-up. The Japanese word karaok? must have been to difficult to remember and was changed to the more descriptive videok?. The k? part keeps the Japanese origin alive.

There are also confusing coincidences. Puxe (pronounced pushee!) means that you have to pull to open the door. This makes every door a reminder that. although I get by, I have a long way to go before I really master Portuguese.