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.]