You may have heard someone say that they “swear their feet together” that such a situation is true. Or even having heard, when walking through the streets of some city, someone shout: “barber driver”! These expressions are part of Brazilian and European phraseology, having their origin in some historical situation, or in the habits of life practiced by the populations, and which perhaps today have been forgotten.
In order to remember these origins, three common expressions in the daily life of Brazilians will be presented below.
take the horse out of the rain
This expression is usually used to deter a person from some intention that he has that is difficult to carry out. However, the usage in the past was different. According to linguist Reinaldo Pimenta, in the book Mother Joan's house, the expression “taking the horse out of the rain” was related to people's locomotion and reception habits in domestic environments. As until the 19th century the horse was one of the most practical means of locomotion, it was with it that people used to travel. When someone was going to visit a friend or relative, the place used to tie the horse indicated the intention of the visitor's length of stay.
Placing the mount in front of the house was a sign of a quick visit. On the other hand, placing oneself in a place protected from the rain was a sign of lengthy prose. But placing the horse in a protected place without authorization from the owner of the house was indecent, being necessary to wait for the host's approval to properly guard the animal. In a situation of good and lively conversation, the host would say: “you can take the horse out of the rain”, indicating that the conversation would take a long time, authorizing the accommodation of the horse in a protected place.
swear feet together
This expression is of European origin and is linked to the torture practices used by the Inquisition to obtain confessions from those accused of heresy. The practice of torture consisted of tying suspects by their feet and hands, suspending them from the ceiling by their feet, or even nailing them to wooden posts, always with their feet together. Thus, the inquisitors sought to extract the confessions.
The promise was always to tell the truth to any of the questions asked. In Portugal it is said “to swear with your feet together” and “to deny your feet together”, and in Spain, the meaning of the expression is to believe blindly in everything, saying “to believe with your feet together”.
Barber Driver
This expression, also of European origin, is related to the fact that barbers performed many activities, until the 19th century, in addition to cutting hair and beards. They bled using leeches, cut corns and extracted teeth. As they were not experts in these functions, it was common for them to make mistakes and leave permanent marks on people.
According to the linguist José Augusto Carvalho, since the 15th century the expression “barber's thing” has served to indicate unhappiness committed in some service performed by a person who was not a specialist in area. This expression came to Brazil through the Portuguese. But calling a driver a barber is a genuinely Brazilian construction.
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History
