PortugueseDar com os burros n'água
Meaning: To fail despite all your effort.
Literally: To end up with the donkeys in the water
Example: “Tentaram abrir o restaurante sem licença e deram com os burros n'água.” — They tried to open the restaurant without a license and it all went pear-shaped.
English equivalent: To go pear-shaped
Origin: The usual explanation comes from the tropeiros, the muleteers who carried goods across colonial Brazil in the 17th and 18th centuries: crossing a flooded river, a pack train could be swept away or drowned, and the owner lost the animals and the cargo. Ending up with one's donkeys in the water became failing after all one's effort. The story is widely repeated but not documented.
Equivalents in other languages
English: go pear-shaped
Finnish: Mennä metsään Literally: To go into the forest
Spanish: venir mal dadas Literally: To come badly given
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- Tirar o pai da forca Said of something done in frantic urgency.
- Chorar de barriga cheia To complain when you have nothing to complain about.
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