From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles

Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

Anybody up on European Portuguese?

Yesterday, I started watching the Portuguese Netflix show
_Rabo de Peixe_.

Around the five minute mark in the first episode, some young women
are standing in line to register for a pageant. An argument breaks
out about cutting in line.

- Mas n|uo |- assim que funciona, h|i uma bicha.
- Uma fila, queres tu dizer.

That's clearly a put-down. But how so?

I don't think there's a usage dispute in Portugal what to call a
waiting line. I assume it's a wordplay or double-entendre based
on another meaning of "bicha" ... of which there seem to be many.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bicha#Portuguese
Hmmm.

https://pt.wiktionary.org/wiki/bicha#Portugu%C3%AAs
... 11. (Portugal e obsceno) genit|ilia masculina; p|-nis

Now _that_ would fit. Assuming it's something people still say?

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

(ACB said something (relevant?) about Cola)


In Portugal: The word bicha just means LINE (queue)


In Brazil, it means [Gay man] (a very bad word)

--------- the word for LINE (queue) is Fila

- Mas n|uo |- assim que funciona, h|i uma bicha.

maybe the person who said is older?

and the younger man [corrected] him?


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From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles

On 5/08/2026 6:11 a.m., HenHanna wrote:

Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

Anybody up on European Portuguese?

Yesterday, I started watching the Portuguese Netflix show
_Rabo de Peixe_.

Around the five minute mark in the first episode, some young women
are standing in line to register for a pageant. An argument breaks
out about cutting in line.

- Mas n|uo |- assim que funciona, h|i uma bicha.
- Uma fila, queres tu dizer.

That's clearly a put-down. But how so?

I don't think there's a usage dispute in Portugal what to call a
waiting line. I assume it's a wordplay or double-entendre based
on another meaning of "bicha" ... of which there seem to be many.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bicha#Portuguese
Hmmm.

https://pt.wiktionary.org/wiki/bicha#Portugu%C3%AAs
... 11. (Portugal e obsceno) genit|ilia masculina; p|-nis

Now _that_ would fit. Assuming it's something people still say?

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

(ACB said something (relevant?) about Cola)

In Portugal: The word bicha just means LINE (queue)

In Brazil, it means [Gay man] (a very bad word)

--------- the word for LINE (queue) is Fila

- Mas n|uo |- assim que funciona, h|i uma bicha.

maybe the person who said is older?

and the younger man [corrected] him?

All this stirred up memories of the time when I was hunting for the
origins of the protean Pacific expression
"beach-la-mar/beche-de-mer/bislama" which can refer to either

- the trepangs or holothurians ("sea cucumbers")
- (an early form of) Melanesian Pidgin English

The source appeared to be Portuguese bicho do mar 'sea creature', and
the bicho would go back to Latin bestia 'animal'. Hm. Looks like a gender-switch (f > m) already.

Sure enough, my Port-Eng dictonary has:

bicha f (lombriga) worm; (PT) queue, (BR) (pej) queer

bicho m animal; insect, bug

So a gender split. I remember mata/mato both meaning something like
'forest', from an earlier discussion here. Does Portuguese have a lot of
these pairs?


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From Newsgroup: rec.puzzles

Op 4/08/2026 om 23:18 schreef Ross Clark:

On 5/08/2026 6:11 a.m., HenHanna wrote:

Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

Anybody up on European Portuguese?

Yesterday, I started watching the Portuguese Netflix show
_Rabo de Peixe_.

Around the five minute mark in the first episode, some young women
are standing in line to register for a pageant.-a An argument breaks
out about cutting in line.

- Mas n|uo |- assim que funciona, h|i uma bicha.
- Uma fila, queres tu dizer.

That's clearly a put-down.-a But how so?

I don't think there's a usage dispute in Portugal what to call a
waiting line.-a I assume it's a wordplay or double-entendre based
on another meaning of "bicha" ... of which there seem to be many.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bicha#Portuguese
Hmmm.

https://pt.wiktionary.org/wiki/bicha#Portugu%C3%AAs
... 11. (Portugal e obsceno) genit|ilia masculina; p|-nis

Now _that_ would fit.-a Assuming it's something people still say?

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a naddy@mips.inka.de

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a (ACB said something (relevant?) about Cola)


In Portugal: The word bicha-a just means LINE-a (queue)


In Brazil,-a it means-a [Gay man]-a-a (a very bad word)

-a-a-a-a-a ----------a the word for-a LINE-a (queue)-a is Fila

- Mas n|uo |- assim que funciona, h|i uma bicha.

-a-a-a-a-a-a maybe the person who said is older?

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a and-a the younger man-a [corrected]-a him?

All this stirred up memories of the time when I was hunting for the
origins of the protean Pacific expression "beach-la-mar/beche-de-mer/bislama" which can refer to either

-a-a-a-a- the trepangs or holothurians ("sea cucumbers")
-a-a-a-a- (an early form of) Melanesian Pidgin English

The source appeared to be Portuguese bicho do mar 'sea creature', and

Yes, nice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bislama

the bicho would go back to Latin bestia 'animal'. Hm. Looks like a gender-switch (f > m) already.

Sure enough, my Port-Eng dictonary has:

-a-a-a-abicha-a f-a (lombriga) worm; (PT) queue, (BR) (pej) queer

-a-a-a-abicho-a m-a animal; insect, bug

So a gender split. I remember mata/mato both meaning something like 'forest', from an earlier discussion here. Does Portuguese have a lot of these pairs?

There are some around, also in Spanish and French, but not enough for
engaging in memorising exercises.-#

Spanish has
el bicho, little animal, bug (and la bestia (learned), besides fiera [L. feria] and animal).

French has b|-te (pseudo-learned) but also
la biche, the deer (both meaning "animal", see D./G. dier/Tier).

Flemish dialect has also "bisjke/bichke" for insects and the like
(~beestje).

-# It is fun though, bringing together m. and f. forms of words, related
or not, with similar or completely different meanings.
Le point, la pointe
Le dos, la dose
Le h||te, la haute
Le ton, la tonne
Le fil, la file
Le maire, la m|?re/la mer
Le trait, la traite
Le sort, la sorte
Le port, la porte
Le cours, la cour
Le tour, la tour
Le mec, la Mecque
Le chai, la chaise
Le chas, la chasse
Le tas, la tasse
Le p|?re, la paire
Le bouc, la bouche
Le souk, la souche
Le grain, la graine
Le greffe, la greffe
Le pain, la peine
Le coq, la coque
Le bout, la boue
Le col, la colle
Le vice, la vis
...
--
guido wugi


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