IdiomDaily Life
Portuguese
Portugueseforçar a barra
Meaning: to push beyond reasonable limits; to insist or persist too aggressively.
Literally: To force the bar
Example: “Pedir o terceiro adiamento já é forçar a barra.” — Asking for a third extension is pushing your luck.
English equivalent: Don't push your luck
Equivalents in other languages
French: Faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties Literally: You mustn't push granny into the nettles
English: don't push your luck
Origin: The phrase means pushing too hard, insisting beyond what is reasonable. Barra can be the sandbar across the mouth of a harbor or the bar across a door, and both are sometimes offered as the picture: a ship forcing its way over the bar, or someone forcing a barred door. Neither explanation is documented, and the origin is unknown.
More Portuguese idioms
- a cereja do bolo the crowning touch; something wonderful that completes something already good.
- brincar com fogo to engage in a risky or dangerous behavior; to put oneself in harm's way.
- nu e cru To speak with brutal, unvarnished honesty, holding nothing back.
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- olho da tempestade The center of a crisis or controversy; the thick of it.
- matar cachorro a grito To be extremely poor or destitute.
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