PAGAR PRA VER

Hello, dear foreign, how have you been?

Around here everything is great, and as my mom would say, good like money found. And although I find this a very good expression – I mean, who doesn’t love to find money in the pocket of those jeans that have been in the hamper for at least three weeks? –, it’s not our expression of the day. They are both money related, though… sorta.

Today’s expression is “pagar pra ver”, which means “to pay to see”, and it doesn’t really mean to pay to take a look at something, but the actual meaning is not as far as you would think. It’s used as a “call a bluff” kind of situation, pretty much the same context too: card games.

If you think about it, in the situation of a poker game, when you call someone’s bluff, you are actually paying to see what they have on their hands, and that’s the exact feeling encapsulated not only by gambling situations, but every time you feel you’re being given bullshit, and decide to test the veracity of the information. You’re taking a risk to know if a given result is favourable, because you are suspicious of the other part.

Mr. Fiancé the other day called my bluff on something we were talking about, except it wasn’t a bluff, I was for real, then he had to pay. Not that my poker game is great, on the contrary, I can’t lie with a straight face to save my life, but I bark more than I bite, so I always catch him off guard when I actually take a chunk out of him.

It’s also used as “estou pagando pra ver”, “I’m paying to see”, when you’re really incredulous about a situation, like if someone tells you they have a flying monkey… You’d pay to see that, right? Although you know it’s highly unlikely.

It could also come as “quer pagar pra ver?”, “do you want to pay to see?”, and that’s the version of the bluffer person, a dare, a challenging call when someone doesn’t believe your version of the events.

Now, I’m not a poker gamer myself, really terrible at it, so I’ll keep unravel the most funny and/or curious Brazilian expressions, instead, what do you think?

See you soon,

Till then,

expressionada