Conversation for sleeping ox is a popular expression in Portuguese (from Brazil) used when it is said that someone is on soft talk, read-read, Lame excuse or lie told with the intention of deceiving someone.
A conversation to sleep ox can also be one that is not to your liking, and the person who speaks, tries to pretend that he understands the subject.
In English, the expression "talk to sleep ox" is known as "cock-and-bull story" (whose literal translation is "story of the rooster and ox).
Example: "The teacher got mad at him because he arrived late every single day and always had the same cock-and-bull story" - The teacher was angry with him because every day he arrived late and came with the same conversation to sleep ox.
expression source
The expression "talking to sleep ox" emerged at a time when livestock was of paramount importance to the local population. The ox was considered one of the most important animals, bearing in mind that it was possible to take advantage of almost everything, with the exception of the scream.
For this reason, the ox was of great importance to ranchers, who treated the animal almost like a person, and often even talked to it. However, they didn't talk to put him to sleep.
In 1950, at the World Cup, Brazil beat Spain 6-1 and nearly 200,000 people sang "Bullfights in Madrid", a song composed by Carlos Alberto Ferreira Braga, also known as Braguinha, who ends with this verse: “I wanted me to play castanets and catch a bull by the nail / dammit, snails / don't bother me / to Brazil I'm going to run away / this is soft talk / for ox to sleep".