IdiomFood & Drink
Portuguese
PortugueseEncher linguiça
Meaning: To pad something out with filler to take up space or time.
Literally: To stuff sausage
Example: “O trabalho tinha dez páginas, mas metade era só para encher linguiça.” — The essay ran to ten pages, but half of it was just padding.
Origin: Sausage casings were stuffed with whatever scraps of meat and fat were at hand, so encher linguiça (stuffing sausage) is padding a speech, an essay or a program with filler. An article in the Michelin Guide links it to poor households using up the cheapest parts of the pig, but that is a guess; the phrase has no documented first use.
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- Nem que a vaca tussa No way; under no circumstances.
- Tirar o cavalo da chuva To give up on an expectation.
- Pagar mico To embarrass yourself publicly.
- Procurar pelo em ovo To nitpick over nothing.
- Ficar a ver navios To be left disappointed and empty-handed.
- Onde Judas perdeu as botas In the middle of nowhere; the back of beyond.
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- Quem o feio ama, bonito lhe parece Love makes people see beauty where others don't.
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