PortugueseViajar na maionese
Meaning: To talk nonsense or drift off into your own dream world.
Literally: To travel in the mayonnaise
Example: “No meio da reunião, ele começou a viajar na maionese sobre abrir um bar na Lua.” — Halfway through the meeting he went away with the fairies about opening a bar on the Moon.
English equivalent: Away with the fairies
Origin: Brazilian slang for talking nonsense or drifting off into one's own thoughts. Viajar (to travel) already meant to daydream or hallucinate, and maionese is a mixture of many ingredients, so the picture is a mind wandering through a muddle. Popular explanations, such as a mayonnaise advertising campaign that promised trips, or prison slang from Rio, are unconfirmed, and no source dates the phrase.
Equivalents in other languages
English: away with the fairies
More Portuguese idioms
- Chutar o balde To stop caring and let everything go — unlike the English, nobody dies.
- Enfiar o pé na jaca To overdo it wildly, especially with food or drink.
- Pisar na bola To mess up or let someone down.
- Encher linguiça To pad something out with filler to take up space or time.
- Nem que a vaca tussa No way; under no circumstances.
- Tirar o cavalo da chuva To give up on an expectation.
Explore another collection: Proverbs
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- Cá se fazem, cá se pagam Wrongs are paid for in this life, not the next.
- Quem não tem cão caça com gato If you don't have the ideal means, you make do with what you have.
- Quando um não quer, dois não brigam A quarrel needs two willing sides; one person can always refuse it.
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