From Newsgroup: sci.lang

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
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From Newsgroup: sci.lang


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

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?

Up on European Portuguese? No, but I have a possibly relevant anecdote. Once
in Brazil I wanted be sure I was in the right queue for a bus. Being incapable of asking in Portuguese, I asked in Spanish: -+Es la cola para el bus a la entrada? I was worried that "cola" might be a chilenismo that they wouldn't understand, but they understood "cola" perfectly well. The word they didn't understand was "bus", which I had thought was an international word understood everywhere, but no, it isn't. In Brazil (and I guess Portugal) you have to
say "||nibus".

"Cola", however, does mean penis and is not considered vulgar (in Spanish). According to a site on the web it is used in Chile for a male homosexual,
but I've never heard it used that way: the usual term is "maric||n".
--
athel

Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
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From Newsgroup: sci.lang

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: sci.lang

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: sci.lang

Op 4/08/2026 om 19:49 schreef athel.cb@gmail.com:

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

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?

Up on European Portuguese? No, but I have a possibly relevant anecdote. Once in Brazil I wanted be sure I was in the right queue for a bus. Being incapable
of asking in Portuguese, I asked in Spanish: -+Es la cola para el bus a la entrada? I was worried that "cola" might be a chilenismo that they wouldn't understand, but they understood "cola" perfectly well. The word they didn't understand was "bus", which I had thought was an international word understood
everywhere, but no, it isn't. In Brazil (and I guess Portugal) you have to say "||nibus".

And in Argentina (etc I guess) "colectivo".

"Cola", however, does mean penis and is not considered vulgar (in Spanish).

Also bottom, low of the back (at least having heard people complaining
of pain at that place as at their "cola").

According to a site on the web it is used in Chile for a male homosexual,
but I've never heard it used that way: the usual term is "maric||n".

Yes.
--
guido wugi

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From Newsgroup: sci.lang

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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