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Encher linguiça

Portuguese

Meaning

To beat around the bush / To pad out

Example

Não vá encher linguiça só para deixar sua resposta mais impressionante.

Don't pad out your answer to make it seem impressive.

Origin

The phrase comes straight from sausage-making: a linguiça is made by stuffing a natural casing with meat, fat and seasoning. In leaner times it was common to "stretch" the filling with cheap padding — flour, bread, scraps — so the sausage looked plump while holding little real meat.

Source: Escreva.ai.