Pagar mico
Meaning: To embarrass yourself publicly.
Language: Portuguese
Literally: To pay monkey
Category: Animals
Origin: 'Mico', a small monkey, was the booby prize in old Brazilian card games; getting stuck with it meant public humiliation.
Equivalents in other languages
- English: To have egg on your face — literally: To have egg on your face
More idioms — Animals
- Как сельдь в бочке (Kak sel'd' v bochke) — Packed together very tightly.
- Вешать всех собак (Veshat' vsekh sobak) — To blame someone for everything.
- 井底之蛙 (Jǐng dǐ zhī wā) — Someone with a narrow, limited worldview.
- 守株待兔 (shǒu zhū dài tù) — Vainly hoping a lucky fluke will repeat itself.
- 塞翁失马 (Sài Wēng shī mǎ) — A blessing in disguise; fortune is unpredictable.
- 狐假虎威 (Hú jiǎ hǔ wēi) — To bully others using borrowed power.
More Portuguese idioms
- 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.
- Acertar na mosca — To be exactly right; to hit the bullseye.
- Dar com os burros n'água — To fail despite all your effort.
- Tirar o pai da forca — Said of something done in frantic urgency.
From our untranslatable words
- Koi no yokan — The intuitive feeling upon first meeting someone that you will inevitably fall in love wi…
- Amae — The comfortable feeling of depending on another's goodwill — leaning into someone's indul…
- Weltschmerz — The weariness and sadness you feel when the world as it is falls painfully short of the w…