Don’t Let the English See －イギリス人に見せないで－

“para Ingles ver”

for the English to see

a Brazilian Portuguese idiom 

I have been reading a book called “Brazil” by English travel writer, Michael Palin. 

Palin mentioned an interesting idiomatic expression used by the Brazilians, which literally means “for the English to see”, or “for the eyes of the English”. 

The expression is used to indicate that something looks good on paper, but can be ignored in practice.  For example, a company which is exploiting its workers might write in the employment contract that everyone will be paid extra for working overtime.  But that is just for the eyes of the English.  In actual fact, the company lets everyone know that they are expected to work overtime for nothing. 

I laughed when I first heard the idiom, because it seems to encapsulate a stereotype of the English as bureaucratic and the Brazilians as easy-going.  But the origins of the expression are not funny.  In the 19^th century, Britain was the most powerful country in the world.  After making slavery illegal in the British empire, they tried to prevent other countries from buying and selling slaves too.  In the 1830s, Britain insisted that Brazil end slavery.  And so they agreed, for the eyes of the English.  In other words, they superficially agreed to end the slave trade, but it continued quietly.  Slavery was finally abolished in Brazil in 1888.

 

Vocabulary:

to encapsulate something – to express the essential features of something in a short form

[eg., The final sentence encapsulates the theme of the book.]

superficially – only on the surface

[eg., Superficially, it looks like a good deal.  But when you look at the details you will see why it is actually not such a good deal.]

 

A Thirst for the Red Stuff －赤いものへの欲望－

I recently finished reading a book about the history of the samurai period in Japan.  One interesting story from the period was of swords supposedly cursed.  These Muramasa blades were said to thirst for blood.  The madness of their maker’s mind had been passed on to the soul of the sword.  If the blade was unsheathed, it would not allow itself to be sheathed again without tasting blood, sometimes influencing the wielder to commit murder or suicide with the blade in order to satisfy its bloodlust. 

A master swordsmith of the 16^th century founded the Muramasa school of swordsmiths, which created a number of fine blades.  These Muramasa swords were of excellent quality, and were thus popular among the high ranking samurai of the Tokugawa clan around the time of Ieyasu (1543 – 1616).  Coincidentally, a number of relatives of Ieyasu were killed or injured by Muramasa swords.  His grandfather was killed by one in battle, his father was stabbed by one, and his first son was beheaded by a Muramasa blade as a mercy stroke after he had committed seppuku. 

The legend of the curse seems not to have started with Ieyasu himself, who owned two Muramasa swords.  The legend appears in the 18^th century.  The swords became associated with ill fortune for the Tokugawa clan in particular, and thus became desirable items for enemies of the shogunate.  Many kabuki plays stressed the madness and bloodlust that the swords would cause to their wielder. 

Some people may not believe in the curse.  They may say, “It is just a coincidence that one type of sword killed several members of one family.  There is no need of a supernatural explanation.” 

But I am not so sure.  I have seen cursed items before.  I have a cursed wine glass, for example.  Once taken out of the cupboard it will not let itself be put back until its thirst for the red liquid has been quenched.  And people say it drives the person who holds it to madness…

 

Vocabulary:

to be cursed – to have a magical power which brings harm rather than good to the user

[eg., That cursed ring brought bad luck to all those who wore it.]

to unsheathe a blade – to take a blade such as a sword out of its protective covering, ready for use

[eg., Samurai were forbidden to unsheathe their blades inside Edo Castle.]

the wielder (of a sword) – especially of a weapon, the person who holds it

[eg., King Arthur was the wielder of the sword named Excalibur.]

bloodlust – an uncontrollable desire to kill or seriously injure

[eg., Upon seeing his enemy, the warrior’s bloodlust rose, and he charged to attack.]

to quench (a thirst) – to satisfy one’s thirst by drinking

[eg., On a hot day, he stopped at a vending machine to quench his thirst with a bottle of water.]

 

 

A Very Modest Old Clock －とても謙遜した古時計－

I recently listened to an old BBC documentary, made in 1975, about the Glasgow subway (also sometimes called the Glasgow underground).  The documentary was made to celebrate the quaint and old-fashioned nature of the subway before it was upgraded and improved.  Those upgrades were indeed carried out between 1977 and 1980. 

I learned a number of interesting things about the history of the subway, despite being born in Glasgow myself.  As the documentary said, many Glaswegians know little about the subway, because it is so small and limited in the places it can take you.  There is only one line, which goes in a circle both clockwise and anticlockwise.  The full line runs for only 10.5km, and has 15 stops.  It takes a grand total of just 24 minutes to make a full circuit and return to your starting point.  Two of the stops are so close together that it takes the train only 52 seconds to get from one to the other. 

The Glasgow subway is the third oldest in the world.  London’s underground was opened in 1863, and Budapest’s and Glasgow’s subways were both opened in 1896, with Budapest’s opening a little earlier.  At the time of the 1975 documentary, some of the same train carriages were being used as had been first used in 1896.  It is no wonder that the train ride was famous for its “shoogle,” or swinging side to side movement as the trains progressed. 

Because there is only one line, the tracks are not very deep under the ground.  The subway would not make a very good bomb shelter.  In 1942, a German bomb landed on the ground above the subway tunnels, damaging them, and forcing the temporary closure of the line for repairs.  Entrance from the ground level to the shallowest of the station platforms involves walking down just 32 steps. 

A single adult ticket on the Glasgow subway now costs one pound and eighty pence, or about 350 Yen.  That’s very good value for a ride on a living museum piece. 

Vocabulary:

to be quaint – attractively unusual or old fashioned

[eg., Look at that quaint old windmill.  Let’s take a photo!]

to shoogle/ a shoogle – a Scottish slang word, which can be used as a verb or a noun.  We can also use the adjective “shoogly”.  If something shoogles, it sways or wobbles, especially dangerously or unstably.

[eg., A common expression is “His jacket is on a shoogly peg,” literally meaning that his jacket is in danger of falling off an unstable hook, but used to mean that his position or job is unstable and in danger.]

 

A big Appetite

There was an unusual story from Thailand this week.

An elephant managed to escape from a nature reserve.  He wandered 1km away from the park entrance, and went into a corner store.  He then started stealing groceries from the shelves to eat.  He managed to grab nine bags of sweet rice crackers, one sandwich and one banana. 

Perhaps the elephant had heard about the growing popularity of cashless payments? 

I also worry about this elephant’s diet.  Surely a healthy elephant should choose nine bananas and one bag of sweet rice crackers as a snack, not the other way around? 

Congratulations to the impressive corner shop staff members, who bravely shooed the elephant out of the store.  That is one customer I wouldn’t like to make angry.

 

Vocabulary:

to shoo an animal or person (out, away, etc.) – to drive an animal or person (away, out, etc.) by making “shoo” sounds or gestures to encourage them to leave

[eg., a bird was attracted by my lunch.  So I waved my hand at it and tried to shoo it away]