It's funny how we all use a bunch of idiomatic expressions without ever thinking about their meaning.
Here are a couple of Portuguese expressions that denote long distances, their English translations, and a thought or two on them (some of them contain slang):
no cú de Judas - on the arse of Judas
OK, now... I've never read the Bible, but I don't recall any priest talking about Judas' butt... is there some passage on the Bible that people just don't like to mention? Is there something about Judas we should know about...?
na conchichina - on conchichina
China is far away, so I guess Conchichina is even farther away...
onde Judas deixou as botas - where Judas left his boots
OK, so now, apart from the fact that there's something clearly wrong with his behind, Judas is shoeless, having left his boots somewhere far, far away...
Is there something you want to tell us?
cascos de rolha - hoof of the cork
Er... I don't even know where to begin, with this one... :-\
onde o diabo perdeu as botas - where the Devil lost his boots
And now we get to wonder: do the Devil and Judas know each other? Or was it just a coincidence that both of them decided to take their boots off? And, did they do it on the same place?
All too suspicious, if you ask me...
longe como o caralho - far as the prick
This is actually a multi-purpose expression, which you can use to denote long distances, big heights, weights, large time spans, etc.
You name it, you got it:
Grande como o caralho - Big as the prick
Good for you!
Pequeno como o caralho - Small as the prick
So... is it big, or is it small?
Velho como o caralho - Old as the prick
Whatever...
Rápido como o caralho - Fast as the prick
Er... OK...
Lento como o caralho - Slow as the prick
Er... Sure... Whatever...
And here I rest my case, before you start complaining that this post is long as the prick.
See you around!
China is far away, so I guess Conchichina is even farther away
It's perhaps further than China if you go by land the way of Marco Polo, but it is closer by water, the way of Prince Henry's caravels.
Cochin China in English (or Cochinchine in the French) is the former French colony that is the southern third of modern Viet Nam, including the Mekong Delta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochin_China http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/CochinCh.html.
The name apparently means "Further away than Cochin", or "the Cochin in (greater) China" not to be confused with the (then) better known "Cochin" in India. http://www.lib.washington.edu/southeastasia/vsg/elist_2001/CochinChina.html Cochin was a Porteuguese mission now more commonly known by it's Indian name "Kochi". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kochi,_India http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04076a.htm Cochin (India) is a submarine cable landing point.
