Wednesday, March 23, 2011

One metaphor and I insulted my Brazilian daughter.

We have all heard and even used metaphors. Metaphors such as:  “I have too much on my plate” or “living like a rock star” or “he is a real train wreck.” I think I took for granted how our metaphors might sound to a foreigner.  “It’s raining cats and dogs” is used to describe a heavy downpour. “like finding a polar bear in snowstorm” or “A needle in a haystack” are both descriptions of the difficulty you might experience trying to complete any task or project.  All pretty easy for us to understand but not the case for those from other countries.

 Recently while talking with Talita I was being sarcastic and I used a metaphor. Well that was a bad idea. Talita is my surrogate daughter from Brazil South America. Honestly I would never say anything to insult her but I did the other evening. Add to this the fact that I was being a bit of a smart a**   and I “uncorked” a “fire storm” of responses.

Genius me asked the question; “so we should not care if you ‘crap or go blind’ ” which “went over like a lead balloon.”   Her response was first “???” and then “why are you being rude?”  That was followed by a barrage of other defensive responses.  I didn’t see the issue with what I said at first; I thought maybe her issue was with me being a bit of a smart mouth.  The sarcastic tone to my remark was lost, it was the metaphor that insulted her.  So after a few hours or writing in Portuguese,(2 hours = 3 paragraphs) checking word after word for spelling, looking up words for translation and correct context but forgetting about grammar, my apology was ready to be sent.  I haven’t heard back from Talita yet so I have to assume that I didn't write any additional insults in my note but I did apologize.   

So the lesson learned: Cautiously use metaphors around Talita in the future. 

So to minha filha, eu desculpe, eu desculpe, eu desculpe! Sempre seu pai. 

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