Regional vocabulary in São Paulo

bro, dude, man

The paulistano vocative par excellence: 'mano' opens or closes a sentence to any friend, or literally means brother. Heard nationwide now, but it reads as São Paulo speech.

Mano, me passa o sal, por favor.Bro, pass me the salt, please.

dude, hey

A paulistano vocative or attention-getter, also written meu. The study classifies it as a regional use spread across social class, age and gender rather than a narrow in-group slang.

Meo, você viu aquele gol?Dude, did you see that goal?

how cool, awesome

'Daora' (from 'da hora') means cool or great, and 'que daora!' is the admiring exclamation. Youth slang that started out paulista and is now heard nationally; it can sound a bit dated to the youngest speakers.

Esse seu boné é que daora, onde você comprou?That cap of yours is so cool, where did you buy it?

slick streetwise guy

Names a sharply dressed young man from the urban periphery — designer clothes, fresh haircut, funk-scene attitude. It is a style label as much as a personality one, and can be admiring or mocking depending on who says it.

Aquele mandrake conhece todo mundo na área.That slick guy knows everyone in the area.

local bread-roll name around Ibitinga

A small-sample local response around Ibitinga, São Paulo. It should not be generalized to the whole state.

A padaria separou duas bengalinhas ainda quentes para o café da manhã.The bakery set aside two still-warm bread rolls for breakfast.

hustle, errand, mission

'Fazer o corre' / 'dar o corre' is to go and get something sorted — an errand, a side job, a hustle. Very common in São Paulo youth and rap speech and now spreading nationally.

Tenho vários corres pra fazer hoje.I have a bunch of errands to run today.

headlight

Everywhere in Brazil farol means a lighthouse or a car headlight. Its use for a traffic light is regionally marked: Priberam labels that sense "[Brasil: São Paulo]", and it is what paulistanos say day to day.

O farol esquerdo do carro queimou.The car’s left headlight burned out.

teasing, mockery, lie

São Paulo periphery slang for a row or a beef — 'arrumar um perreco' is to start trouble; applied to a person it means a troublemaker or a bullshitter. Very informal.

Ele veio de perreco pra cima de mim na frente de todo mundo.He came at me with mockery in front of everyone.