Identidade SP creates a logo for every São Paulo neighbourhood

You may not have noticed before but although the city has a coat of arms, the neighbourhoods of São Paulo do not. Or at least, they didn't until now.

Identidade SP have now created a logo design for each and every São Paulo neighbourhood. The initiative aims to creatively, rediscover the city through neighbourhood pride and etymology.  It has its inspiration in Pedro Campos, a graphic designer and photographer who dared to wonder what the name of his neighbourhood (Butantã) actually meant back in 2009. Once he had discovered its meaning he wanted to reflect it in a logo.

Soon he began researching other neighbourhoods and creating an emblem for each one as well as a simple webpage sharing information about its history and naming. Sé was the first neighbourhood quickly followed by Santa Ifigênia, Moema, Santo Amaro, Jaçanã, Pinheiros, Itaim Bibi, Higienópolis, Mooca, Canindé, Liberdade, Cambuci, Casa Verde, Pacaembu, Limão e Vila Madalena.

Pedro and his wife now curate the project and look after the Facebook fanpage. They still have a lot of work ahead of them (there are no less than 450 different neighbouorhoods in São Paulo) but even so plan to give a more practical use to the newly created logos. This year they will create souvenirs and clothing branded with the neighbourhood badges so you can wear your neighbourhood with pride.

Check out some of the designs already done:

The etymology of São Paulo’s neighbourhoods

What is the origin of your neighbourhood’s name? 

Below is a quick and dirty list of some São Paulo districts and where their names come from:

Bixiga (Bela Vista)

The saying goes that an infection of the bladder ("bexiga" in Portuguese) was common in the farmland area of Bela Vista in in the late nineteenth century and residents were labelled Bixigas as a pejorative term. Another possibility is that an Italian resident known for drinking heavily at the bars and taverns of Bela Vista, had a belly as round and big as a party balloon (which is also called "bexiga" in Portuguese), so, the area was nicknamed after him.

Ipiranga

Ipiranga comes from the indigenous language Tupi. It means red river which is the colour the rivers take when containing a lot of the local red coloured earth.

Itaim Bibi

Itaim Bibi the portuguese word bebê (baby) was adapted to Bibi by slaves referring to the son of famous doctor Leopoldo Couto Magalhães. Magalhães was also the owner of the Chácara Itaí. Hence th eneighbourhood name Itai(m) Bibi.

Jardins

Jardins means gardens in Portuguese not many of which seem to have survived the passage of time.

Moema

Moema is a reference to a chracter in the poem Caramuru by Santa Rita Durão

Perdizes

Perdizes - Joaquim Alves was one of the better own breeders of partridges (perdizes) who live din the area at the end of the 19^th century. He lived in what is now known as Largo Padre Péricles. Hence the área became known as Campo de Perdizes (partridge fields) and later simply Perdizes.

Pinheiros

Pinheiros literally means pine trees and this because the land which this neighbourhood occupies used to be an area of dense forest which contained a Brazilian subtropical species of pine, Araucaria angustifolia, which incidentally is very common in Curitiba and is the symbol of Paraná state.

Tatuapé

Tatuapé is another Tupi name meaning the path (apé) of the armadillos (tatu). 

Cute words in Portuguese Part 5

An alternative way of saying “where is” in Portuguese is “cadê?” It’s used as an equivalent to “what’s up” as well as in “cadê você”?

I learnt this relatively late. It confused me at first because it is not intuitive and doesn’t have a twin word in other Latin languages. So where does it come from?

Nobody really knows. One theory is that it is derived from “Que e de” – literally “what is of”. So “que e de sua mae” would be “what is of your mother” and this over time would have become “Cadê sua mae” i.e. where is your mother:

“Que e de sua mae?"

"Quede sua mae?"

"Cadê sua mãe”


The other somewhat less plausible theory is that there has somehow been some Slavic influence in Brazilian Portuguese as the word “where” as in “where is” is very similar to “cadê” in various Eastern European languages:

Bulgarian: къде (pronounced: [kâ`dé])
Polish: gdzie (pronounced: [gdjé])
Russian: где (pronounced: [gd(i)e])
Czech: kde (pronounced: [gdé])

This does seem more of a coincidence than a theory as there would surely be other Slavic influences in the language. Plus, there has been no significant immigration between these two areas of the world.

Either way it’s become one of my favourite words!

More cute words in Portuguese here:

Cute Words in Brazilian Portuguese Part 3

"Para inglês ver" means for the English, or Englishman to see and it's used, quite frequently, in Brazilian Portuguese to describe something that is just for show. I found this quite a funny expression and was curious to find out if there was an interesting etymology behind it, and indeed there is:

Back in 1831 the Brazilian goverment came under pressure from England to abolish slavery. At the time England exerted influence on Brazil due to manufacturing, trade and financial dependence. Bowing to the pressure then, a new law was introduced which would severly fine importers of slaves and which made slaves free upon arrival on Brazilian shores. 

However most people including the deputies in parliament did not believe the law was enforceable and didn't think it would be effective and it would be only for the English, or Englishman to see. Therein was born the expression para o inglês ver.

In fact as predicted Brazilian slavery continued despite the change and until a new law was passed some twenty years later in 1852. 

  
See other cute words entries here: