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| Sidney Harris cartoon - The New Yorker magazine |
Today I am having "já te vi" or "I've seen you before" for lunch. What is that, exactly? Leftovers of course, and such a nice way to say it.
Once I heard a comedy routine about how a food item would feel to be called a "leftover". It made me feel very sorry for the food (sorry, I could not find a link to this). I think I'd rather have someone say "hey, I've seen you before" with a tone of voice like "yay! I am seeing you again!" And, by the way, I do love leftovers.
Já te vi is one of my favorite Brazilian expressions but is not universally known. I learned it first from my in-laws who are from the interior of São Paulo state--maybe it's localized there. A few paulistana friends (from the city of São Paulo) have just laughed at my use of it. Something I have also seen before...people laughing at my Portuguese...
