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Enfiar o pé na jaca

Portuguese

Meaning

To go overboard / To go off the deep end

Example

Na festa de ontem, ele enfiou o pé na jaca e bebeu demais.

At yesterday's party, he went overboard and drank too much.

Origin

Despite the modern wording, enfiar o pé na jaca ("to stick one's foot in the jackfruit") was originally enfiar o pé no jacá. A jacá (from Tupi) was a basket of bamboo or vine slung on the flanks of pack animals. Drovers would stop at roadside taverns and, once drunk, miss their footing when remounting and plant a foot right in the jacá.