The emperor's bag

In a sudden surge of Victorian prudery, the Câmara dos Deputados -- the Brazilian House of Representatives -- came down hard, hot, and hurt on a presidential spokesman for using language "unfit a gentleman and a minister."

It seems that Communications Minister Sérgio ("Serjão") Motta joined his countrymen in the enjoyment of a new found democratic freedom: the freedom of being emphatic although mildly vulgar and gross in public. Not that he coined any nasty term. What he uttered was actually an inelegant but perfectly acceptable expression. The august Congressmen's sense of outrage was greeted with cynical laughter by many for its blatant hypocrisy, linguistic and/or sociological musings by the major media, and by audible yawns of "So, what else is new?" by the general public.

The alleged Motta atrocity was referring to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's quality of being a real mensch -- a tough, hard as nails, 100 per cent reliable man of his words -- when he said that "o Presidente tem o saco preto" (the President has a black bag). Translated into English of course this does not make much sense, except as an allusion to collecting unlawful bribes or contributions. But that is not the case at all. Motta used the colloquialism to explain why the President had acted against a man allegedly involved in the dealings surrounding a large bank's failure, even if the chum was his own son-in-law.

The reason for the hue and cry was instead the fact that the "bag" in issue is merely a Brazilian familiar way to say scrotum, the skin pouch containing and protecting the testicles. At this point, a sociologist would introduce learned commentary on the apparent concern Brazilians of all classes and colors have had with saco since about the turn of the century. But as my sociology degree is somewhat musty, I shall not attempt to explain the whys and wherefores of such a fixation. However, I have some linguistic savvy, with emphasis on the etymology of colloquialisms and dare to spend my two bits on the case.

These are the facts:

• All Brazilian boys have been born with purple, almost black, scrota since Brazil was found by the Portuguese almost 500 years ago, in 1500: that is, at least, what some newsmen explain after interviewing scores of ob-gyn doctors and midwives. They add that the dark coloration often changes to pink a few days after birth. And even many who later turn up gays are born with "black bags."
• Therefore, mentioning sacos in conversation has been done for generations by male and female citizens. With very little scandal, if any. If the term may be used at home, in front of the whole family, why should there be such a flap when uttered in Congress? Do the illustrious deputados imply that they are placed above the populace, etiquettewise?
• Another fact is that Brazilians have an idée fixe with both the front and rear ends of human beings. It is well-known that a well-turned up female bunda (buttocks) is deemed to be "a thing of beauty and of joy forever," much better than any Grecian urn of Keats. As a matter of fact, a disreputable wag once suggested that the blue globe of the Brazilian flag, which passes for an astronomical map of the Rio sky on the day when the Republic was proclaimed, should be replaced by a lady's butt, chosen in a nationwide beauty contest. It must be said inter alia that bunda is an African word also used in the Caribbean créole. In Portugal, the vernacular and common term is cu just as it is in French. Ironically, this monosyllable is considered too coarse for proper language in Brazil...
• Reporters with leanings to political history say that the Congressional blow-up ("hot air bags in arms because of commonplace bags") was merely a psychological throwback as it painfully brought to mind the impeached President Collor, who grossly boasted of the purple color of his private parts. Let Collor and his things rest in Miami, where the ex-Prez spends his days pumping iron, jogging, sailing and, like any overthrown Latin American pol, missing his helicopter and his escort of siren screaming, lights blazing motorcycles.
• The rainbow syndrome apart, the male "saco" is by no means the only case of colloquialism. From the Oyapock in the North to the Chuí in the South, in the Federative Republic of Brazil that took over from the United States of Brazil, everybody talks about encher o saco and puxar saco. The first, which translates as "bag filling," means to dish out harassment, being a pain in the neck, a bore. The second, "bag pulling," means pandering, brown nosing, to flatter for profit, etc.
• Even circumspect high-born ladies of "good families" calmly say não me encha o saco (don't fill my bag), meaning don't bother me, don't waste my time, don't be a pain. Estar de saco cheio (to have a full bag) means I am fed up, tired of your insinuations, your insistence, etc. Therefore, a person who doesn't heed the entreaties is a bag filler, an enchedor de saco.
• Puxa saco, however, is something else again. It should not be included in the same league because it refers to a different saco, the collection bag in a church, researchers of the folklore affirm. Apparently, it comes from the ancient practice of having favorite altar boys take the collection, a plum assignment because the lads could always pick loose change for a flic or candy. The parish priest, being knowledgeable in the ways of the human race, looked the other way, dismissing it as a very venial sin. A mere pecadillo. As the boys vied with each other to be chosen to "pull the collection bag," they plied the padre with adulation, in the hope of being his puxa saco for the day.
• A mineiro friend of mine, now living in Virginia, tells me that in Carangola, a city in his native Minas Gerais State in Brazil, there is a curious synonym for "puxa saco" -- cheiraco. It brings to mind our Americanism "brown nose" which, according to the Random House dictionary, means "to curry favor, to behave obsequiously." Now you know.

Colloquialisms pop up just like that in most languages. Some enter the lexicon and become legit. Others hang on for a while then fade out. Others never make the grade. Often the changed meanings follow the folk mores, sociologists tell us. But the phenomenon can be reversed, with mores coming after the new use for a term is introduced. A Roman politician running for office would dress in white. Since candidus is the Latin word for "white," the man would become a candidatus (dressed in white). Present day candidates don't bother much with the color they dress in. They use the media to do the job for them.

In the fifties, French movie actress Brigitte Bardot starred in a film called "And God Created Woman." In it, la Bardot said merde at least once: the puritanical English subtitle translated it as "damn," which was OK for the times. It had the desired effect. Now they would use "shit" without batting an eyelash.

For propriety sake, quite a few expletives or blasphemous terms used to be replaced by code words. When the English and the Australians say bloody, they are not referring to the juice of life, but blaspheming, because it means "by our Lady." A similar trick is Americans saying "Golly" instead of "God," "fudge" and "frig" instead of the F-word, which has come out of the closet and gains in popularity all the time. Remember when typists would exclaim "sugar!" when they made a mistake? Brazilians use a similar ruse when they tell somebody vai te fotografar (go get your photograph taken) for the F-word. Or call a guy filho da mãe (a mother's son), which of course is a redundancy. Its meaning is approximately that of "son of gun."

In real life, Brazilians morph so many innocent words into cusswords that the late controversial writer Carlos Lacerda used to comment that "Brazil is the only country in the world where even mãe (mother) is an obscene word." If you doubt it, dare to shout é a tua mãe! (it's your mother) when somebody insults you. Shout it and take cover. A more cautious person would be content with intoning é a tua (it's yours) without specifying what it means. Just like in the U.S. comics a guy asks another "have you lost it?"