Tearing silk is a popular Brazilian expression, which means "overpraise or exaggerate", usually with a sense of flattery, in order to get a favor and often between people with little intimacy.
The expression "tearing silk" means praising a person too much, often embarrassing or irritating that person. In English this expression can be translated by "flatter" (the literal translation being "flatter") or "butter up" (whose translation is "butter").
She flatters him all the time. Surely she must want something from him. - She won't stop tearing silk. Surely she wants something from him.
He has been buttering up his boss for months, so I guess he will get the promotion. - He's been at silk ripping with the boss for months, so I think he should get the promotion.
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This legitimate expression has always been synonymous with excessive praise and first appeared in one of the comedies by playwright Luís Carlos Martins Pena, the founder of the theater of customs in Brazil.
In one of the scenes of the play, a cloth seller goes to a girl's house and, taking advantage of her profession, begins to court her, paying multiple compliments to the lady. The seller even offers some cloths "just for the pleasure of being a humble slave to such a beautiful person." However, the girl readily responds: "Don't tear the silk, it will fray." With these words, the young woman meant that the seller's many compliments could have exactly the opposite effect, and cause her to lose interest in the seller.
That's the big problem with "silk rippers", they can earn the label of sycophants, of people who only give praise in hopes of getting some favor from someone else. From this episode illustrated in the play by Luís Carlos Martins Pena, the expression "to tear silk" gained popularity and is still used today.
