arrumar sarna pra se coçar

Portuguese

Meaning

to ask for trouble

Example

Você sabia que ela era casada, agora o marido sabe de tudo, você arrumou sarna para se coçar!

You knew she was married, now her husband knows everything, you asked for trouble!

Origin

Sarna (scabies) is an itchy skin disease no one would wish for, so to arrumar sarna pra se coçar ("to get yourself scabies just so you can scratch") paints the absurdity of deliberately courting trouble you could easily have avoided.

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Source: Revista Pesquisa Fapesp.

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More idioms

arrastar as asasto hit on someone, to flirt abrir o jogoto come clean, to open up arregaçar as mangasto roll up one's sleeves, to get to work agarrar com unhas e dentesto hold on for dear life, to seize an opportunity bater as botasto kick the bucket, to die bater na mesma teclato beat a dead horse, to harp on boca de sirito keep a secret, mum's the word