13. VAQUINHA

The other day we talked about oxen.. Today we’ll talk about the cow. There are no animals spared on the Brazilian expressions and the cow is present in a ton of them.

In this case, the word cow is in the diminutive, and the expression goes “fazer uma vaquinha”, to make a little cow.

Now, since you’ve been here for a while, you probably imagined that the cow has nothing to do with the actual meaning, right? The meaning of the expression is to put money down together, like a fundraising kind of thing.

“Vaquinha” encapsulates the gather money with the help of other people in order to achieve a goal or buy something.

So, imagine you and your co-workers are planning to have a snack n’ drinks kind of gathering, and upon calculating the cost of everything you all get to a certain amount. It’s time to chip in, to pass the hat round, it’s time to make a little cow.

This expression has a solid origin and it has to do with gabling and soccer. Around 1920, the fans of Vasco da Gama, one of Brazilian biggest soccer teams decided to reward the players according to the matches results. And inspired by a very popular lottery game called “Jogo do Bicho” (Animal Game), they would attribute the amount of money of the prize to the number of an animal on the gambling game.

The best result possible was a victory at the and of a championship, and that would guarantee a 25.000 réis (the currency at that time), the largest prize and the animal on the lottery that correspond to the 25 is a cow.

This specific gambling game is illegal in Brazil since the 40’s, yet is vastly spread around the country and it’s still on till today.

And although the “make a cow” had started with soccer results, its use has gone wider than just put money together for your team, being used for any case of chipping in.

There are even websites that allow you to make a “vaquinha” online, and it’s greatly used of and to people that need to pay for expensive treatments or medication and can’t afford it. It’s being used even to help future brides and grooms with their dream weddings (not sure how I feel about this last one).

Anyway, no “vaquinha” required at this blog, dear foreign, all I want is your presence here daily in this project.

Till tomorrow,

expressionada.