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Learn English Through Football Podcast: Brazilian Football Phrases
In this week’s football-language podcast we look at some football language from Brazil with James Taylor. Do you know what ‘lettuce hands‘ or ‘chicken‘ might mean? You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Hello
DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.
Hello everyone and welcome to the show for all those who love the beautiful game of football and who want to improve their English-language skills. My name is Damian and I hope you are all well and enjoying some good weather like we still have here in London – I was playing football yesterday in 29 degrees which was way too hot for me!
Now, the European domestic season has finished but, of course, that doesn’t mean that football is taking a rest. We have just had an international break with World Cup qualifiers taking place in Europe, South America and Asia, while there were also Nations League games going on for both men and women. The FIFA Club World Cup has just kicked off in the USA and Damon did a really, really good podcast on this tournament a couple of weeks ago; while the Women’s Euros take place – they start in July. And there has also been a mini transfer window going on.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a Korean listener)
Make it through
DF: Right, let’s take a look at some of the headlines from the last couple of weeks.
Congratulations to Jordan and Uzbekistan who both qualified for their first ever World Cup, while South Korea and Australia also made it through from the Asian Confederation to next year’s tournament. Two countries from South America have also made it through to the finals next year: Brazil and Ecuador. To make it through here means to qualify for the finals next year, I think we could also say ‘make it to the finals‘; so the meaning is to qualify; to qualify for the finals. And well done to all of those teams!
Now, it wasn’t such good news for Tottenham manager, sorry former Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou who was fired (or sacked) only two weeks after winning the Europa League; that’s the first European trophy for the club for over 40 years. And I spoke to two Tottenham fans recently and they were absolutely heartbroken. Since then, Spurs have appointed Thomas Frank as their new manager so hopefully the Spurs fans are feeling more optimistic.
How about that transfer window? Well, teams participating, or taking part, in the Club World Cup have been busy. For example, Real Madrid have paid a transfer fee to Liverpool for Trent Alexander-Arnold so they could sign him before the start of the tournament. By the way, have you seen Trent’s unveiling as a Madrid player? Very impressive Spanish indeed – muy bien, muy bien! Madrid have also unveiled their new manager Xabi Alonso after their previous manager Carlo Ancelotti left. Of course, he’s now the new Brazil manager. And it’s Brazil we are going to talk about in today’s podcast and in particular we are going to look at some football language from Brazil.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a Japanese listener)
DF: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English through football podcast and that message, or stinger, was in Japanese and we have also heard one from a Korean listener. We are going to have some more stingers throughout the show and all of them will be languages from some of the club sides that have qualified for the Club World Cup – see how many of them you can name!
DF: Now some of you may remember our interview with James Taylor a couple of weeks ago. He told us about his love for Brighton and also explained the phrase, ‘in and around‘ and why we sometimes use plural forms of players’ names. Well, James previously lived in Brazil and he also introduced us to some interesting football phrases from there. Let’s see if you know what they are and what they mean and maybe you could add some more – either some more Brazilian ones or any other football phrases in another language that you know.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (from a Brazilian listener)
Brazilian Football Expressions
Damian: Can I ask… have you come across any football language or football phrases in another language apart from English?
James: Yeah. So, I’ve…I lived for many years in Brazil. And obviously football culture in Brazil is… is one of the biggest in the world and is a huge… huge part. And they also there have their own language of…of football. And so, and they have some great expressions. I’ve just got a couple; three I wanna’ share with you to see if you… maybe Damian, you can see if you can figure out what they mean.
Damian: Okay.
James: So, one is, mão de alface which means…lettuce hands.
Damian: Lettuce hands…I’m guessing it’s connected to a goalkeeper?
James: It is, yes.
Damian: Is it not a very good goalkeeper?
James: Well, it’s specifically when the goalkeeper, like, gets his hands on the shot, but it still goes in.
Damian: Oh, okay.
James: So he’s got, like, lettuce hands, it just went through anyway.
Damian: What would we say in English? Would we use a phrase or just a description, yes?
James: Weak hands maybe?
Damian: Yeah.
James: Or he got a weak hand to the shot, maybe?
Damian: Yeah. Oh, that’s interesting. I like that… ‘lettuce hands’. Good.
James: Okay. This one might be a little bit more difficult, which is…it’s um frango, which translates as a chicken.
Damian: Okay. In English it might be seen as not being very brave?
James: Okay, let’s imagine… I’ll give you a couple of clues. One is, it’s also for goalkeepers, similar to the last one. But think about…if you had a chicken there and you were a goalkeeper and you were trying to get the chicken…
Damian: …very difficult indeed. So they couldn’t control the ball. They didn’t catch the ball?
James: Yeah, it’s a fumble, basically.
DF: Ah, okay, okay, okay.
James: Yes, Um frangoo, which is the word for chicken, that’s the word you would see in the supermarket.
DF: Oh, that’s amazing…
James: Yeah. And it’s like, but it’s a sarcastic word ’cause a chicken is actually difficult to get, whereas this shouldn’t have been difficult to get.
Damian: Fine.
James: So they’ve treated it like a, like it was a chicken. And then one more, which is, ‘cada dia um sete a um, which means ‘every day is a seven-one’.
Damian: Oh, is this connected to the World Cup semi-final defeat? Oh, no.
James: Yes.
Damian: What does it mean?
James: Yeah, so it means ‘every day is a seven-one’. So, Brazilians are fascinating people. I love them dearly, but they’re much more negative and pessimistic than their global image suggests…basically, they’re saying like, when you see the news in Brazil and it’s… every day is tough, right? Every day you wake up and it’s another seven-one, right? In, in other words, another, like, another day where they got that kind of it, that wasn’t just a defeat, right? It was, it was more than a defeat that game…and so I…it, it, it beautifully summarises this aspect of Brazilian culture for me. It’s a fascinating expression I think …culturally as well as football.
Damian: That’s so interesting.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)
DF: Great stuff there from James. Thank you again to him for those examples of Brazilian football language. Two of them are related to goalkeepers and one of them refers back to that 7-1 thrashing or trouncing from the 2014 World Cup semi-final against Germany. I hope you are not having a 7-1 day today! I wonder what other phrases are there that are connected to goalkeepers? If you know of any, in any language that you know, then drop us a line and let us know.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian)
DF: Now, we’ve posted some contact details for James in this post here at Languagecaster, including some websites and his Instagram pages and podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
Contact
DF: Right, remember to contact us via email at admin@languagecaster.com if you have any questions about the language of football or if you have some feedback on our podcast. Check out our website at languagecaster.com and explore our Football Language Forum, where you can ask and answer questions about all kinds of football language – we also have some football-language quizzes there.
There is also our huge glossary of football terms, with hundreds of expressions, phrases, and clichés about the beautiful game of football. And finally, please help us by spreading the word about our podcast and our site. Give us a like and follow us on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, YouTube, and many more.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German)
Goodbye
DF: Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message, or stinger, was in German. We also heard stingers in Italian, French and Spanish. If you’d like to record a stinger about your favourite team or maybe translate the phrase ‘you are listening to Languagecaster.com’ in your own language, then send it on to us at admin@languagecaster.com.
That’s it for this short podcast in which we heard James Taylor talk about some football phrases from Brazil. We hope your favourite team’s goalkeeper doesn’t have ‘lettuce hands‘ or sees the ball as a ‘chicken‘! Let us know if you hear any interesting football phrases during the week. We’ll be back soon with some more explanations and discussions around the language of football for learners of English. Enjoy all the football this week – are you going to be watching the Club World Cup? Let us know if you are. See you soon. Bye bye!
Related Terms
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
