ash wednesday 2019 was marked by a shocking tweet from brazil’s president about the end of carnaval tuesday night. thedailybeast.com called the tweet nsfw (not safe for work) and an article on dailymail.com had this headline…
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro tweets sexually explicit video to slam annual carnival celebrations after he was mocked in parades across the country
slam means criticize. mock is make fun of. parades are processions that celebrate an event.
frequently, images of carnaval are parades.
an article by ernesto londoño in the new york times that bolsonaro…
denounced what he said was the debauchery of the festivities, and posted a video on twitter that he presented as graphic proof.
denounce means reject, condemn. debauchery is the satisfying of sexual pleasures. proof is evidence.
there was a strong negative reaction on twitter to bolsonaro’s tweet. then wednesday morning bolsonaro tweeted the question what is a golden shower? which made the twitter community even more angry and inspired the hashtag #goldenshowerpresident. golden shower is a sexual act involving urination.
lf it’s for a jellyfish sting, it’s not a golden shower. it’s just urinating.
londoño identifies a political motive behind the tweets…
bolsonaro sees value in stoking [the] societal debates over sexual orientation and morality that turbocharged his rise to power.
stoke means agitate, incite. societal is the adjective for the noun society. rise means ascent. turbocharged gives the idea that inciting social tensions gave bolsonaro the political strength to ascend to power quickly.
a turbocharged snail
additionally, londoño mentions brazilian journalist malu gaspar who said she was…
dumbfounded and saddened by the twitter post and the controversy it set off. at a time when investors are trying to gauge whether mr. bolsonaro’s brazil is a worthwhile bet, incidents like these are sure to undermine confidence in the country and turn brazil into a punch line
dumbfounded is amazed. sadden is a verb for the adjective sad. means activate. gauge means measure, calculate. worthwhile means valuable, productive. in this context is option. undermine is damage. turn into means become, convert. punch line is the final line of a joke, the funny part.
trailer park boy bubbles looking dumbfounded
marina lopez at the washington post that the tweet was intended to draw outrage (evoke extreme anger).
once a fringe, right-wing politician, bolsonaro was propelled to office last year through a social-media-heavy campaign that tapped into voter frustration with establishment politicians. he has long shunned traditional news conferences in favor of speaking directly to his base on twitter, not unlike president trump, whom bolsonaro has said he admires.
once in this scenario means in the past, formerly. fringe means extreme, not mainstream. right-wing means politically conservative. propel, like turbocharged, refers to the power that pushed bolsonaro into power. tap into means access, use effectively. shun means refuse. ignore. speaking is in the -ing form because it follows of, a preposition. whom is the equivalent of who, but is an object, not a subject. this is a huge point with grammarians, but in daily conversation, not so important. if u only use who and never use whom, most people won’t care.
are they shunning the blonde guy because he said “who” when he should have said “whom”?
lopez (identifies) some of the issues bosonaro’s tweets present…
now as president, his off-the-cuff comments have become a political liability to cabinet members and allies in congress, who scramble to play down his remarks.
off the cuff means spontaneous. political is the adjective related to the nouns politics (activity) and politician (person). scramble means adjust quickly (but not necessarily effectively). play down is minimize.
a white shirt with a black collar and black cuffs (itailor.co.uk)
and lopez closes her article with bolsonaro’s political opposition slamming him like this…
[president bolsonaro] shows a lack of poise and responsibility. he is completely out of touch with reality. it is unacceptable.
lack means he doesn’t have it. poise is composure, self-control. out of touch means not connected.
what do u think about president bolsonaro’s tweets and his opinions about carnaval? was he reacting to being mocked in the carnaval parades? or was he trying to stoke social divisions in brazil? maybe both? share your views under leave a reply
