dar mancada

Portuguese

Meaning

to mess up, to slip up

Example

Desculpe amigão... eu dei mancada interpretando mal a situação.

Sorry man... I messed up by misreading the situation.

Origin

The expression dar mancada comes from mancar, "to limp", which traces back to Latin mancare, from mancus ("maimed, lame"). A mancada is literally a misstep, and many languages tie a stumble of the feet to the idea of erring or failing.

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Source: Diário de um Linguista.

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