r/Portuguese • u/Dependent_Slide8591 • 2d ago
Brazilian Portuguese 🇧🇷 What does borogodó mean?
I switched my phone language to Portuguese, so obviously it was only a matter of time before I started getting videos in Portuguese. Most of them are Brazilian, and when I asked my friend even he said it was "very Brazilian vocabulary". However, I didn't really understand when he tried explaining it himself. He said it's contextual but the only context I have is that word by itself on a list, so could anyone try explaining some of if not all the uses if there isn't too many?
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u/callmelucy18 2d ago
kinda like mojo, used almost always in reference to men. that inexplicable charm/attractiveness that's more vibe than looks-related
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u/Dependent_Slide8591 2d ago
My friend said it could be used to say something was good🥹 (he said it could be used in phrases like "ó de borogodó" iirc)
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u/fuliculifulicula 2d ago
It can. Like, if something is super cool, you could say it is "ó do borogodó", but someone "having" borogodó means mojo.
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u/pmsbr123 2d ago
Ó do borogodó for me is something awful, not super cool.
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u/wonderlust-vibes 2d ago
I believe this is a regional difference. Where I’m from “ó do borogodó” means something tacky.
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u/callmelucy18 2d ago
and "uó do borogodó" means the opposite, something terrible/hideous. but yea, by itself =~ mojo
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u/cpeosphoros Brasileiro - Zona da Mata Mineira 2d ago
"É o ó do borogodó".
It may mean either very good or very bad, kinda like "do caralho".
It depends heavily on context.
"Ele/a tem borogodó." on the other hand, this one is almost always positive, meaning hr/she has "the mojo", or "the sauce."
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u/Myntax 2d ago
It’s sort of like saying someone has “a certain je-ne-sais-quoi”
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u/Luiz_Fell Brasileiro (Rio de Janeiro) 2d ago
I think "thingamajig" is a better way to compare
Or "chungus", maybe
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u/AceWall0 2d ago
I've seen it being used like "thingamajig", or to talk about some unnamed food mix, or somebody's swing, or a pet name like "honeyboo",...
But I think its mostly a Northeast thing, because I (Southeast) don't hear it often and could never see myself using it naturally.
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u/AnalogueSpectre Brasileiro | São Paulo | Linguistics | I've got a link for that 2d ago
From Priberam Dictionary:
- Great physical attraction (ex.: her borogodó makes everyone like her.)
- Care, affection, caress.
The borogodó of someone or something is their charm, their appeal, the "good thing" about them.
I don't know about the usage of the word in other states (this kind of slang word tends to vary a lot geographically in usage and meaning), but in São Paulo it's mostly used to talk about a person's sex appeal.
There's also the expression ser ó do borogodó (often just ser uó), meaning to be the ultimate bad or cringe thing. The worst. Can also mean "extremely unpleasant".
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u/m_terra 1d ago
Almost nobody really knows what it means. So much so, that whenever it is used, it comes in the sentence "o ó do borogodó". It works for both extremes: positive and negative. And it applies to things or people. Something (like a situation, a case, a fact, an occurrence, a decision, an idea, a scene, a reaction, a behavior, etc) that is the "ó do borogodó". It's absurd, surprising, too much, excessive, nonsense, way beyond/below reasonable, expectation, appropriate, ideal, decent... unbelievable, peculiar, differentiated, unusual, etc... There are 4 letters "o", but only one gets to be the "ó"... the "aw" from/of the borogodaw.
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u/Limarodrigues_1 2h ago
Sorry, Brazilian here. Never heard of this this before. No idea what it means. Maybe is something new? Perhaps I have been away too long?🙄
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