The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-02-11
VERBAL PITFALLS.
Traps That Await English Speak
lng Tourists In Portugal.
THERE ARE NO TOES THERE.

But, Then, One Has twenty Fingers |
to Make Up the Loss, Fingers Of the
Hand and Fingers Of the Foot-oddi-
ties ct the Verb "to Walk"
The Englishman Or American in
Portugal who thinks id his own Ian
guage and tries to speak in the Ian
guage Of the country he is visiting is
a great smile producer.
For instance, you never marry any
body in Portugal unless strange para
dox-you happen to be priest. You
marry with your beloved Maria, and
the priest marries you both. In the
same way you never dream about any
body, but always with them.
When the landlady at your boarding
house is ladling out your soup you
call out, Arrive" You are telling
her to arrive at the stopping point-in
other words, that you don't want more
than she has put out. When you see
| a child that you want to fondle at the
| other side Of the room you say to her,
ARRIVE here" And the child prompt
| ly arrives"
In England when we speak of walk
ing we refer to certain use ofrthe
legs. But the Portuguese verb ito
walk" has many more Specifications.
In Portugal not only do the people
| walk, but also the carts and cars walk,
the trains walk. balloon walks, and
boat 7 walks. Stranger still. the
| IL 4Ia
A clock. by the way. never goes; it
works"
Unless you are very intimate or very
rude you never say to your fair part
ner at dinner, "Will you have some
breadY etc. You inquire, win your
excellency have some breadr' or, "Will
the lady have some bread?" the "lady'
meaning not some other lady, but your
fair partner herself.
In spite of winter you are never cold
in Portugal unless you are corpse
You are with" cold. In the sam.
way you are occasionally with" heat
with" headache, with" hunger o
with" thirst. When you have occa
sion to discuss the weather you say
ut makes cold" at makes fog,
etc. On your way home from an en-
tertainment you tell your companion
that it makes" dark.
II speaking of her husband a wifi
says he is tame" man She merel
means that he is a man of peace an
Justice.
The word "house" means more tina
with us. Your buttons share your ow
privilege of living in a house. Th
buttonholes are called houses {
the buttons" The squares on a ches
board are also houses" You don
say, "rm going to shave" You sa.
"Im going to do the beard" Neitht
do you say on the way to the ba
ber's. I'm going TO get my hair cut
but you say. I'm going to cut m
hair"
When you are in Portugal you hay
twenty fingers. but no toes. If yo
e want to make distinction yo
say FINGERS If the hand"
FINGERS of the foot" Instead
telling the servant to set the tab
you tell her TO put" it. When yo
go TO the theater you assist" Yo
don't mean by that that you con
on" nor even that you do a little seer
shifting. You mean that you are Their
- Residents in fats who mediate tai
ing holiday in Portugal will be r
lieved to hear that no one plays IL
!. plano there. They merely 'touch"
=" Neither do they ring bells. The
touch" them also But they "play
stones, meaning that they thro
them, and a ship at sea "plays" whe
n 1t pitches and losses.
Be careful how you tell your Liant
lady that you intend to dine out ,
she may think, with shrug Of ii
shoulders, that you intend dinin
''outside"-i e., in the garden. In al
swer to the kind inquiries of yor
friends don't say that you are wei
say that you are good" Be carefl
In your use Of words. Some word
B. similar in form are widely different
meaning. as an American missionar
1t once discovered TO his cost whe
preaching in Brazil. once Portuguese
colony. His subject was "The Prod
gal Son." and he gravely informed b!
hearers that when the young man r.
turned home his father killed for hi
the fatted beetle! But he had mere
made a mistake In one SOLITARY vowel
A sleeping" bridge means a brtdg
that is immovabie mot a drawbridge
Stagnant water also sleeps" So d
trucks or trains that wait anywhel
during the night When they laugh
Portugal they unite themselves
laugh" and when they cry they ''ul
make themselves in tears" A persfs
entity unfortunate man says, Fl am {
unlucky that If fell on my back
should break my noser'-London Al