On this page I shall define and explain typical and untranslatable Brazilian words, however commonly used, you will not find them in the ordinary Portuguese dictionary. For the coleur local I use them in my posts.
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Caatinga – is a biome, which in the native Indian language tupi-guarani means White Forest. It is located on Brazil’s Northeast coast between the biomes Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlântica) and Cerrado (see map). The Caatinga is the largest dry forest region in South America and characterized by a semi-arid climate, low and irregular rainfall, fertile soils and apparently dry vegetation. It is a xeric scrubland and thorn forest, which consists primarily of small, thorny trees that shed their leaves seasonally. Cacti, thick-stemmed plants, thorny brush, and arid-adapted grasses make up the ground layer. Many annual plants grow, flower, and die during the brief rainy season.
The Caatinga biome comprises about 850.000 km2 (10% of the Brazilian territory), extending across eight states: Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, and parts of Minas Gerais. The Caatinga includes several enclaves of humid tropical forest. (For more information go to: http://www.brazadv.com/brazil_tours/caatinga.htm)
Cerrado - the name given to the Brazilian tropical savannah and is located on the large plateau that occupies the central highlands (see map). Influenced by the 4 surrounding biomes: Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlântica), Caatinga, Amazon and Pantanal, the fauna and flora of the Cerrado is extremely rich, while the climate is hot and semi-humid. The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biome comprising a total area of app. 2 Mio km2 (20% of the Brazilian territory). An ecological jewel in its own right, as it is the world’s most bio-diverse savannah, with 10.000 species of plants, nearly half of which are found nowhere else on earth, and more mammals than the African bush. (For more information go to: http://www.brazadv.com/brazil_tours/cerrado.htm)
Mamata - a government in which financial benefits are given to politicians and protected persons without any services in return in relation to the volume of the benefits received.
Maracutaia (literally: Shocker) – is a mischievous and illegal manoeuvre against one or several persons, to obtain profit or benefits for another person or particular group. It is an act of bad faith.
Petralha is the contraction of PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores = Brazilian socialist party) and the Irmãos Metralha (The Beagle Boys in English). The word identifies a member of a moralistic political party that when in power, deceives, steals, kills, lies, corrupts, installing a cleptocracia, in other words a state governed by crooks.
