24. ACERTAR NA MOSCA

“Acertar na mosca” could be literally translated as “to hit the fly”. And if you guessed that this isn’t what the expression really means, you hit the fly! Exactly! Whenever someone guessed something right, or hit the target with precision (could be an actual target, like a dartboard), or got the lottery numbers right, we say that person hit the fly.

The origin of the expression has to do with the size of the fly and how difficult it would be to hit something so small and restless. Same thing with the bull’s eye, in English, that would be the same meaning of “acertar na mosca”.

Funny fact is that apparently we’re not the only ones thinking about flies when the subject is to hit the target, some of the urinals of men toilets in Amsterdam have a fly drawn at the bottom, in order to make it easier for the boys to aim and hit (I’ve been told this is a particular struggle among the male population).

Not that I can judge anyone about hitting the target.

Mr. Fiancé decided to teach me how to shoot with a gun (poor judgement on his part, I’d say, but no complaints from me), he got me lectured on the four rules, put together a huge pile of construction rubble and in front of it we built a structure of targets with some sawhorses and metal disks. By the end of the experience I asked how was I shooting, and the answer I got was: “You’re shooting great, sweetie! You’re just not hitting”.

Honestly! I could not make a single one of those metal disks to ting, let alone if they were flies. I’ll keep trying, though, he showed me this lady on YouTube who can shoot an egg at a 300 yard distance with a rifle. So if she can do that, I can hit the bloody damn metal disk, right?

Anyway, if you bet I’ll be here tomorrow unravelling more Brazilian expressions to you, dear foreign, you hit the fly!

Till tomorrow,

expressionada