English Experts

[zumstein]

Como dizer (explicar) ‘só para inglês ver’ em inglês

Caso um dia um inglês (‘nativo’) me perguntar o que significa essa expressão “só para inglês ver”, o que devo responder?

Ex: - Era só promessa não tinha nada escrito, era só para inglês ver.

Definição: Uso informal – para efeito de aparência, sem validez.

Bye

[Marcio_Farias]

Fake or false, as in "He made an unwritten, fake/false promise" or "You can't take his promises at their face value" or "He always makes his promises void." I guess anyone else will write it better everywhere else.

[donay mendonça]

Olá Zumstein,

Uma sugestão:

Only for show/Just for show-->It was just a promise,there wasn´t anything written.It was just/only for show.


Bons estudos!

[pondedaniel]

Hi there!

you may also say: get people's hope up

Ex: it was just a promisse, something to get people's hope up


Daniel

[Flavia.lm]

Lá vai a minha:

pra inglês ver = for the sake of appearances

[Henry Cunha]

The answer I would give (to a Brit) would be something along these lines:

"Well, the British have been coming here since about the 1700's to show us what they´re like (extraterritorial legal jurisdiction, commercial and naval supremacy, superior culture, etc.), so Brazilians developed a parallel system for dealing with British expectations and demands."

Regards

[maryziller]

The answer I would give (to a Brit) would be something along these lines:

"Well, the British have been coming here since about the 1700's to show us what they´re like (extraterritorial legal jurisdiction, commercial and naval supremacy, superior culture, etc.), so Brazilians developed a parallel system for dealing with British expectations and demands."

Regards

I can't believe I read superior culture. Superior to what? Brazilian culture? There is no culture superior to any other. Each culture has its value and diversity is what makes life so interesting. Maybe I misunderstood how it was meant.

[Henry Cunha]

I'm being ironic, of course. The British certainly considered themselves superior in every way. This type of thing was pretty common fare:

"But I feel sure that if the English had colonized Rio de Janeiro, it would have been one of the most prosperous cities in the world. Even the yellow fever is not indigenous, but has been created quite within the last few years by accumulation of Portuguese filth. -- Ralph Burke Ulick, Business and Pleasure in Brazil (48) Could the intelligent English, Irish, and Scottish agriculturalists, possessed of small capital, be induced to scale the confining walls of home-ties and prepossessions to come here to judge for themselves of the climate, the resources, and the capabilities of this vast and fertile empire, on which nature, in the collocation and accumulation of its mineral and agricultural wealth, seems to have smiled benignantly, and to have lavished with a munificent hand her choicest treasures, we think that few would be willing to leave the prospects which it offers to the enterprising and industrious farmer, whether in pursuit of agriculture or of grazing -- prospects far superior to those offered by Australia, New Zealand, or the United States. -- William Scully, Brazil (xii) Studies of the interrelations between British imperialism and popular culture... "

See http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals ... orman.html

Regards

[maryziller]

Ok. Yeah, point taken. I did misunderstand that it was meant ironically by you. Thanks for the explanation, Henry.

[Henry Cunha]

And I think there's also another aspect to this expression, in that it reveals how affronted native Brazilians (and the Portuguese) were, by the visible (and openly displayed) "superiority" of the British. In a way, the expression was intended to suggest that, as smart as they might think they were, the British could be fooled by appearances. The vengeance of the underdog...