Xenophobic backlash

[plastroncafe]

The brain has specialized receptors for nicotine. How strongly one gets addicted to nicotine, and how difficult it is for them to quit smoking, is largely dependent on how many of these nicotine receptors a person has.

Some people can smoke a single cigarette and then never smoke a second. Some people can't.

I know more than a couple of people who are teetotallers based solely on the number of alcoholics and their family. They themselves have never had an alcohol problem, but they abstain entirely to keep it that way.

Me personally, I think addiction has bothnature and nurture components. There are some truly interesting animal studies which indicate that addiction can be kicked more easily when underlying social, mental, economic, and physical problems are more effectively dealt with.

[Klunk1234]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Oh boy! Where do I even begin...

Well, Brazil being a huge country has a lot of accents/dialects. Portugal has some, but with the exception of a few wacky island accents, they're all fairly easy to understand for most PT people. Although, I've heard that many Brazilians have trouble understanding Portuguese accents, but never met any who didn't understand me except for some different words and slang. There's a striking difference between your standard Portuguese and your standard Brazilian Portuguese accent. Generally speaking, Portuguese people tend to eat the vowels and abuse the "sh" sounds, while Brazilians emphasize the vowels more, which makes people think Portuguese people sound kinda Slavic while Brazilians still sound like they're speaking a Romance language.

Now, when I read a newspaper or scientific article in BR-PT, the differences are minimal. Sure, they add accents where we don't and write "me esqueci" instead of "esqueci-me" and also use the gerúndio more often such as "Estou comendo" instead of "Estou a comer" like we do. We never say "Estou comendo". Plus, Brazilians seem to treat everyone by "você" while we use "tu and "você". the former being informal and the latter formal... but apparently the Brazilian usage of "você" is informal, which is weird.

Now, when ti comes to slang and overall not so good grammar... then BR-PT gets quite unintelligible for me. Like, when I read Brazilians typing in slang in online comments and such, I'm like "WTF, this makes no sense". Because in Portugal we type in a more formal and strict manner. And believe it or not, I watched the movie "City of God" in my 10th grade class... with the subtitles on. Because it was set in a slummy area where people spoke a lot of slang and thus used terms that don't exist in the European variety of the language.

Let's just say that someone from the rural Azorian island of São Miguel going to north western Brazil would be like An American from the Deep South(yes, I know there's more than one accent in that big region, but you get my point) going to like Liverpool.

And that's how I can sum up the core differences. Now as for vocabulary... it can be quite different at times. I'll just list some:

English: Train
Brazil : Trem
Portugal: Comboio

English: Cup(sports competition)
Brazil: Copa
Portugal: Taça

English: Breakfast
Brazil: Café-da-manhã
Portugal: Pequeno-Almoço

English: Suit
Brazil: Terno
Portugal: Fato

English: Butcher
Brazil: Açouge
Portugal: Talho

English: Goal Keeper
Brazil: Goleiro
Portugal: Guarda-Redes

English: Team
Brazil: Time(from English "team")
Portugal: Equipa

English: Bus
Brazil: Ônibus
Portugal: Autocarro

And the funniest one: In Brazil "bicha" is slang for "qu*er" while here it just means... line. As in a line where you stand in waiting. Although we also say "fila". Plus, they call candies "balas" which here just means "bullet". So if someone from Brazil goes into a café here and asks for "balas" people will just look at him wondering if he carries a gun.


The differences between BR-PT and EU-PT are wider than the ones between, let's say, Belgian French and France French but not as wide as Swiss German and Standard German.

And then there's also Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe, Guiné-Bissau which also speak Portuguese. Cape Verde speaking a creole version of it. And there's some Asian communities that speak Creolized Portuguese. Goa and Macao are also former Portuguese possessions, but I don't think most locals in those places still speak Portuguese like many in Hong Kong still speak English(at least that's how it is in Sleeping Dogs...)

Muito obrigada! Meu português não é bom. Estou apreendendo. I want to learn more Portuguese, but I don't have anybody to practice with. I wish I could learn Portuguese as fast as you guys learn Spanish. And I don't lose that Portuguese accent when you guys are speaking Spanish, it made my language sounds pretty. I saw a video of an interview with Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo when both played together at Real Madrid and I understand more when Kaká was speaking than Cristiano.

[Commenter 42]

When I say I crave everyday, it's not a "gee that would be nice" it's a "I'm about to murder some bitch if i don't smoke"...

So I gave my self permission to have one this past Halloween - and It was terrible. one drag, and tossed...
Point is, now, the thing my brain wants doesn't exist for me, so I'm left constantly craving with no relief...some kind of phantom cigarette syndrome or something...

I didn't need to be that guy. I chose this. My fault, really.
But as they say, that's my addiction, everyone's different I guess.
I still leave the house and check my pockets for my smokes and lighter...everyday...like a goof.

[Klunk1234]

Commenter 42: A lady that I know couple of years ago, decided to quit smoking after she had trouble breathing. She was diagnosed with a mild form of COPD (which has no cure) and asthma. She has the "lesser" of the two evils. The worst would be lung cancer.

I was an asthmatic until the age of 18. I started when was 2 years old and my parents are not smokers. My asthma triggered due to air pollution.

Asthma is a horrible disease, try to stay away from cigarettes, your lungs will thank you. Take care.

[Commenter 42]

Originally Posted by Klunk1234

Commenter 42: A lady that I know couple of years ago, decided to quit smoking after she had trouble breathing. She was diagnosed with a mild form of COPD (which has no cure) and asthma. She has the "lesser" of the two evils. The worst would be lung cancer.

I was an asthmatic until the age of 18. I started when was 2 years old and my parents are not smokers. My asthma triggered due to air pollution.

Asthma is a horrible disease, try to stay away from cigarettes, your lungs will thank you. Take care.

Yeah, i'm aware - thanks doc

again, that's the point. I did this ultra stupid thing for years, with FULL knowledge of the risks. I chose that. Everyone today, knows damned well, what the dangers are. You buy a ticket, you take the ride. Hard to have any sympathy in those scenarios.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Klunk1234

Muito obrigada! Meu português não é bom. Estou apreendendo. I want to learn more Portuguese, but I don't have anybody to practice with. I wish I could learn Portuguese as fast as you guys learn Spanish. And I don't lose that Portuguese accent when you guys are speaking Spanish, it made my language sounds pretty. I saw a video of an interview with Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo when both played together at Real Madrid and I understand more when Kaká was speaking than Cristiano.

Really? What made you want to learn it, if I may ask?