I've had two really classy moments this month where I have been so close to having a freak out or breakdown, or both.. I can be a pretty angry person in English but this anger was compounded by the fact that I don't have any angry words to use in Portuguese. I know that people say that the first words you usually learn in a language are "hello", "thank you" and all the naughty words but I've been sheltered by the fact I'm surrounded by children most of the day.
The first episode was when we landed in Guarulhos, after 28 hours of travelling from New York (delayed, redirected to Miami, delayed boarding, delayed on tarmac) and American Airlines had lost our luggage as well! We were not the only ones but you as you can imagine we were pretty tired, pissed off and surrounded by crying, tired, hungry children. One Brazilian father had a complete wobbly, shouting at the staff and I thought, I need to learn some of those words! To be honest though, I think shouting here only encourages people to work s.l.o.w.e.r but it does feel good to shout.
The second time was when I ordered new grass for our garden, and when they delivered it we only got half. When I called the guy I bought it from, he told me I needed to speak to the person who supplies the grass rather than him (the man I bought it from)! It's one thing trying to communicate without words when you need something - food, water, directions - but how do you communicate anger, over the phone? So I told him "Vou chamar a policia!", I laughed the moment it came out of my mouth - it was the most threatening thing I could say in Portuguese. The rest of the grass is yet to be delivered...
So I asked for it to be the focus of my portuguese lesson this week and here is a summary of some expressions you need to know:
Teve uma tempestade: Had a storm (of anger!)
Eu fiquei muito brava, ficar brava: I was very angry, gets angry
Eu to com muita raiva: I was with lots of rage
É muita sacanagem: This is a dirty trick, use it when someone does something mean
Vocês estão brincando, né?: Are you playing me?
Se vira!: Turn yourself around, i.e. go and sort it out!
Não quero saber!: I don't want to know
muito folgadas: very, very lazy person. I can be "folgada on a Sunday morning", for example. Reminds me of our plumber who would arrive at work at 10am, work for 1 hour, go for 2 hour lunch, have a 2 hour nap, work 1 more hour and then go home! He was "muito folgada" all week long.
