Temos Carne de Rã! …Huh?
For people learning Brazilian Portuguese, one of the first unintuitive pronunciation lessons you need to learn is that in certain contexts, Rs sound like Hs. “Rio”, “Barra” and “Rato” sound respectively like “Hee-o”, “Ba-hah” and “Hatt-o”. This can lead Brazilians to utter rather amusing mispronunciations of English words such as ‘Hock and Holl’ (popular music that emerged in the 1950s) and ‘Hugby’ (contact sport involving an egg-shaped ball).
The subject of today’s post is another such word: Rã. Probably the easiest way to describe the pronunciation of rã is to say that it sounds almost exactly like the English quizzical “Huh”. But what is it? Rã is the word for frog and you find this word in some unexpected places!
As you can see above, you find ‘adverts’ for frog meat (carne de rã) roughly scrawled on walls in some really weird places – is a wall in a rough part of Lapa really the best place to advertise frog meat? As well as this ‘frograffiti’, printed signs have been appearing in some really random places – up in trees, on the sides of building sites, on rough walls next to motorways.
We have frog meat!
After a while, this plethora of frog-meat signs started to arouse suspicion. Why were they being placed in such odd locations? Why always the same phone number? Was this an advert for a band or some kind of viral teaser campaign? Or perhaps ‘carne de rã’ was actually code for some illicit a substance?
Finally the people at Extra decided this needed to be investigated (quiet news day I guess), so they called that mysterious number. It rang and rang and rang, but no answer. After 3 days (that’s tenacious reporting!) a woman, who wouldn’t give her name, finally picked up the phone and confirmed that she was selling frog meat from a ranário (frog farm) in the interior of the state. Apparently you make an order (R$60 per kg) and then someone arranges to meet you in Lapa to make the hand-off.
I have to say, this all sounds very fishy (or should that be “froggy”?) to me, but suspicions aside, I can tell you that frog meat is delicious and can be found on the menu of many a bar/boteco here in Rio. Most commonly it is served à milanesa (fried in breadcrumbs):
Rã à Milanesa: Tastes a bit like chicken – looks exactly like a frog.
And if any of you find the image above less than appetising, you should hear what the Foodish Boy had to do for his latest restaurant job in China. Here’s a clue – it featured “a moving bag, a meat cleaver and some scissors”. Frog lovers look away now…
“Rã” means “toad”! (“sapo” is “frog”)
Hi Jen – Hmmm, I think you might want to check that. Here we’re talking about American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). As I understand it, in English, the distinction between toads and frogs is not really scientific but linguistic, but as a general rule we eat frogs and not toads. Also, if you go to the Toad page on Wikipedia and then switch languages (on the left) to PT, it takes you to Sapo.
On the other hand, the fairy tale “The Princess and the Frog” translates to A Princesa e o Sapo, so it’s not 100% clear cut :)
Well, thanks for the incentive to learn a bit more than I knew before…but info is definitely conflicted re: frogs and toads being the same there’s a reason we have different names for them in English http://www.frog-life-cycle.com/frog-toad-difference.html
You are right however this rã is the American Bullfrog. I thought the distinction was the same in Portuguese. My mistake!
No problem :) I had more fun reading up on the difference between frogs and toads then I would have had if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing (work). After reading that link of yours I was thinking that someone should make a a Frog-Toad Venn diagram and then (because I am in full-on procrastination mode) I Googled it and found that the internet is full of them!
actually i think it’s safe to say i had it generally backwards! According to this, sapos are more land-bound and rãs are aquatic
http://goo.gl/aLFU2E
Woah, a new word enters the arena – perereca! Next we should discuss siri and caranguejo ;)
Que confusão!
=)
nice diagram, thanks! haha yes definitely wtf crustaceans
So, I couldn’t resist. A siri is a type of caranguejo, the only type to have flat hind legs that enable it to swim!
http://mundoestranho.abril.com.br/materia/qual-e-a-diferenca-entre-siri-e-caranguejo
Brilliant! :)
Aesthetically speaking frogs are better looking than toads. If their world was like ours then toads would be at a disadvantage and would earn less than frogs, even if in possession of the same skill set. Let´s face it: looks matter. This is why Kermit is a frog, and why Senhora Piggy wouldn´t give a toad the time of day.
Btw do you know what both toads and frogs call liars? AmPHIBians (man, I should have my own column in EatRio).
You’re right Gritty, the world is toadally unfair…
p.s. you practically do have your own column on EatRio – it’s called the comments section! :D
“For people learning Brazilian Portuguese, one of the first unintuitive pronunciation lessons you need to learn is that in certain contexts, Rs sound like Hs. “Rio”, “Barra” and “Rato” sound respectively like “Hee-o”, “Ba-hah” and “Hatt-o”. This can lead Brazilians to utter rather amusing mispronunciations of English words such as ‘Hock and Holl’ ”
Loved this paragraph! I am Brazilian and I know exactly how the majority of Brazilians (including me when I am in Brazil) pronounce some English words! Funny observation!
I don’t eat rã, never tried, and I have to confess I am actually afraid of the whole family (rá, perereca, sapo e afins)
Anyways, I liked your site very much!!
Thanks Lidi! I must admit that there is something a bit funny about seeing that frog sitting on the plate in his coat of breadcrumbs!
On the business of Rs that sound like Hs, it does make me chuckle a bit, but then I think of all the ways us gringos mispronounce Portuguese and then I keep quiet! ;)
I guess you and I are even Tom! We (sometimes or many times) mispronounce foreign languages, but we keep trying to get it right and we continue amusing our friends along the way!
Ha ha! That’s true!