BARRISTER / SOLICITOR

       In the UK, the legal profession is divided into two kinds of lawyers: solicitors, who generally advise clients and prepare legal documents, and barristers (called advocates in Scotland) who argue cases in court.
      In cases where a trial is necessary, a client has to hire a solicitor, who will advise them and then retain a barrister on their behalf.
      Solicitors have traditionally dealt with any legal matter other than conducting proceedings in court, although nowadays solicitors may appear in the lower courts and also if they have higher “rights of audience” (i.e. the right to appear in court on behalf of another person) in the higher courts.
      Barristers, who have a general right of audience in all courts, represent clients in court and provide specialist advice on complex legal matters.
      The easiest way to distinguish the two is to look at how they dress – barristers are the ones wearing wigs and gowns (yes, even in the 21st century), whilst solicitors will invariably be decked out in a dark suit.
Source: Translegal

BLACK

1. black box – "To some extent, the Austinian common-law judge was a "black box" already containing all the prior law and into which the new facts were put. 38 Almost magically, or, at least we might say, mindlessly, out came the proper legal answer to the instant dispute: caixa preta, mistério.

2. black codes – "The specific problem facing policymakers was to negate the black codes passed by the former Confederate states in an attempt to settle the question of the freed people's status and rights": leis americanas de discriminação racial estaduais e municipais aprovadas após a guerra civil.

3. black deed – "The black deeds are also attributable to nations": ato ilícito

4. black eye – "Former President George Bush broke his silence in January on Clinton's first term in office saying the U.S. presence in Somalia evolved from a humanitarian mission to a stumbling peacemaking effort that gave the United States a black eye all over the world": macular a reputação, perder o respeito.

5. black eye – "She came to work with a black eye": olho roxo

6. black gold – "Thanks to black gold, rapid affluence would be attained without resorting to the forced savings": ouro negro, petróleo

7. black letter law – "The term "black-letter law" is also used commonly in the American legal system to mean well-established case law²": jurisprudência pacífica

8. black letter laws – "Moynihan is not satisfied with the Reagan administration's compliance with the black letter laws pertaining to executive-legislative relations": princípios gerais [de direito]

9. black letter rules – "Assume that what we are after is some more-or-less general way of understanding what happens in the law that has more generality than the flat statement of black letter rules. 3 It is clear that law and economics offers some people a way of gaining that understanding": normas técnicas

10. black list – "Moreover, the Gulf states are said to maintain a so-called black list of Arab journalists who criticize their monarchies. lista negra
11. blackmail – "The battle for readers has created a proliferation of what is commonly referred to as "garbage news" - stories about crime, blackmail, corruption, kidnappings, and sex": chantagem
12. black market – "Because economists are unable to fit this phenomenon into their rigid framework, the vast majority of unregulated, tiny, family-owned businesses in developing countries are lumped into a category called the "informal sector". It is also called the "black market" and the " unregulated economy": mercado informal
13. black market – "Cubans receive a bar of soap every six months from the government, at a price of 20 Cuban centavos each, when there is soap to be had. In the dollarized black market, imported soap is easily available for 50 U.S. cents per bar, or 12.50 Cuban pesos": mercado negro
14. black money – "Some black money becomes legitimate through amnesty schemes announced periodically by the government to attract black money": dinheiro sujo
15. black rage – "That's exactly what San Francisco lawyer Paul Harris has been doing since the early 1970s when he developed the "black rage" defense, the subject of his 1997 book, Black Rage Confronts the Law": racismo contra negros
16. black robe – "Goodmark tells of one 5-year-old child who was so intimidated by the judge in his long, black robe that she refused to raise her head and look at him during her testimony": toga
17. black robe fever – "A Walla Walla, Wash., judge calls a defendant a "smart aleck" and yells, "Shut up before you go to jail". In St. Tammany Parish, La., a judge explains to a witness that she is on his turf and, in his venue at least, he is God. # From the odd to the bizarre, these are only a few examples of" black robe fever, "as Judge V. Robert Payant, president of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., has dubbed the behavior of some of his peers": juizite
18. black treason – "He looked like a professor, with his scholar's stoop, high forehead, black-rimmed glasses and short redish sic hair... but what he told was a tale of black treason in act and intent": traição      
Source: Migalaw

CONTÍNUO / COURIER / ESTAFETA / MENSAGEIRO / OFFICE-BOY / MOTOBOY / MOTOCICLISTA / MOTOQUEIRO

CONTÍNUO: Funcionário encarregado de transportar papéis e documentos, ir a bancos etc.; BÓI; OFFICE-BOY
COURIER: Coleta e entrega rápida de correspondência e encomendas. Mensageiro.
ESTAFETA:  Indivíduo que faz serviço de correio (transporte ou entrega de cartas, encomendas etc.). MENSAGEIRO.
MENSAGEIRO:  Aquele que entrega mensagens. Estafeta.
OFFICE-BOY:  Funcionário encarregado dos pequenos serviços (pagamento de contas, distribuição de correspondência, compra de lanches etc.) em escritório ou empresa [e se o office-boy é um aposentado? Office-man?]
MOTOBOY: Funcionário encarregado de fazer entregas rápidas de motocicleta, para bancos, empresas comerciais, farmácias, restaurantes etc
MOTOCLISTA: .1.  Pessoa que dirige motocicleta, motociclo.  2  Esp.:  Desportista que pratica motociclismo.
MOTOQUEIRO – V. Motociclista. [acho que o termo "motoboy" é melhor aceito]

EUFEMISMOS

Figura de linguagem baseada na substituição de palavra ou expressão que possa ter sentido triste, grosseiro, ou seja apenas desagradável, por outra de sentido mais suave ou conveniente (p.ex.: traseiro no lugar de bunda, esguio no lugar de magro, descuidado no lugar de irresponsável etc.). Palavra usada como eufemismo: Usou o eufemismo 'forte' para não chamá-la de 'gorda'
         A faixa em letras garrafais dizia:

Mercadorias

ABANDONO

         Seria um leilão de mercadorias abandonadas, confiscadas, perdidas? De perto lia-se:

Edifício Bolsa de Mercadorias

TREINO DE ABANDONO

         Abandono? O prédio até parece bem cuidadinho... Aí caiu a ficha: Treino de Evacuação (e para evitar piadinhas, usaram um eufemismo: ”Abandono”)
       A fire drill is a method of practicing the evacuation of a building for a fire or other emergency. Generally, the emergency system (usually an alarm) is activated and the building is evacuated as though a real fire had occurred. Usually, the time it takes to evacuate is measured to ensure that it occurs within a reasonable length of time.

TREINO DE ABANDONO = TREINO DE EVACUAÇÃO = FIRE DRILL

Outros eufemismos:

colaboradores = funcionários = associates

secretária do lar = empregada doméstica = maid

differently abled, physically challenged/disabled: These rather awkward euphemisms for “disabled” have attracted widespread scorn and mockery. They have achieved some limited currency, but it’s generally safer to use “disabled.”

ODD

Expressions like “twenty-odd years,” “a dozen-odd people,” and “two hundred-odd mistakes” are usually written with a hyphen before the “odd” to indicate that the exact number is unknown—perhaps a bit higher than the stated number.
        If you omit the hyphen, as in “a dozen odd people attended my birthday party,” you risk giving the impression that the people who came were odd rather than that you can’t be sure of the precise number of your guests.

THANKSGIVING DAY IS TODAY IN THE USA

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada.  Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.
         In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the United States. Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is celebrated.
        At the White House today, President Obama gave one lucky turkey a second chance at life, saving it from ending up as Thanksgiving dinner. Obama issued a presidential pardon to Courage, a 20-week-old, 45-pound turkey from Princeton, N.C .
        It has become tradition that every year around Thanksgiving, the President of the United States issues a pardon to a turkey. While no one seems to be sure as to the history or reasoning for pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey, the custom has many roots in various aspects of American history.
        The Harry Truman Presidential Library says that the earliest claim of presidents pardoning turkeys was mentioned by George W. Bush in 2001. According to Bush's statement, the origins of the president pardoning a turkey date back to Abraham Lincoln, who pardoned his son Tad's pet turkey while Lincoln was president.
          The most popular belief is that the first presidential pardon of a turkey was in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman. However, the Harry Truman Presidential Library debunks that myth due to the lack of papers or other documents saying that Truman actually pardoned a turkey.
Source: Answers.com

BEHAVE YOURSELF!

Santa Claus is writing his notes in his book on who has been naughty or nice!

BLACK FRIDAY (USA) / BOXING DAY (UK)

             Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In 2011 it is on November 25. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black". In recent years, retailers have been trending towards opening on Black Thursday, the evening before Thanksgiving.
            O Boxing Day acontece no dia 26 de Dezembro e é o início das liquidações em praticamente todas as lojas de Londres. Nesse dia, a Oxford Street (rua de compras de Londres, uma espécie de – mal comparando – 25 de março que é a alegria dos turistas) vira simplesmente um mar de gente com sacolas.

CONTINUAL / CONTINUANCE / CONTINUING / CONTINUOUS

Many times continuous and continual are treated as interchangeable, but they are not. They are commonly used whenever the passage of time is involved in legal documents, for example, in contracts of employment or loan documentation.
          continual (adj): happening repeatedly; always happening - The company will not tolerate an employee's continual absence for reasons other than disability or sickness.
          continuance(n): to delay an event such as a trial and to decide that it should happen at a later date; a postponement; an adjournment - To change your trial date you must file a Motion for Continuance along with a $40 fee.
          continuous (adj(: without interruption - Investor's continuous employment shall cease when Investor ceases to be actively employed by the Company.
         continuing (adj): continuing shareholder
Fonte: Lexmail

WATCH OUT FOR OVER-USING THE PASSIVE VOICE

There are legitimate uses for the passive voice:
           “This absurd regulation was of course written by a committee.”
But it’s true that you can make your prose more lively and readable by using the active voice much more often.
         “The victim was attacked by three men in ski masks” isn’t nearly as striking as “Three men in ski masks attacked the victim.”
The passive voice is often used to avoid taking responsibility for an action:
         “My term paper was accidentally deleted” avoids stating the truth: “I accidentally deleted my term paper.”
Over-use of passive constructions is irritating, though not necessarily erroneous. But it does lead to real clumsiness when passive constructions get piled on top of each other:
           “No exception in the no-pets rule was sought to be created so that angora rabbits could be raised in the apartment” can be made clearer by shifting to the active voice: “The landlord refused to make an exception to the no-pets rule to allow Eliza to raise angora rabbits in the apartment.”
Visit Paul Brians’ Common Errors in English Usage Web site: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

EDITOR’S NOTE: A sentence that does not emphasize the important actor in it is not necessarily passive. The passive voice is constructed by using the verb “be” or “get” with what is known as the past participle form of the verb, as in “Hamburgers are served at Wendy’s” or “Elaine’s flight got delayed.” It is surprising how many people, even professional educators and writers, do not understand the grammatical structure of the passive voice. Geoff Pullum of Language Log discusses one recent example here [Drones and passivity]:  http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3549.

CHARACTERIZE / TYPIFY

    CHARACTERIZE - tr.v., -ized, -iz·ing, -iz·es. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. To be a distinctive trait or mark of; distinguish: the rash and high fever that characterize this disease; a region that is characterized by its dikes and canals.
    TYPIFY - tr.v., -fied, -fy·ing, -fies. To serve as a typical example of; embody the essential characteristics of: a painting that typifies the artist's work. To represent by an image, a form, or a model; symbolize or prefigure.

LEARN TO DANCE THE "SHIM-SHAM"

Dancers from around the world dance a Shim Sham as a tribute to Frankie Manning on his 95th birthday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_k_BIA_unI&feature=player_embedded
Frankie Manning (May 26, 1914 – April 27, 2009) was an American dancer, instructor and choreographer, considered one of the founding fathers of the Lindy Hop. The Shim Sham is danced regularly at social swing nights all over the world. Swing dancing represents a variety of dance forms that are tied with the development of jazz music in the early 20th century.

TAD BIT / TAD / BIT

        A “tad” was originally a small boy, but this word evolved into the expression “a tad” meaning “very small” or “very slightly”: “The movie was a tad long for my taste.”
          Some people combine this with the equivalent expression “a bit” and say “a tad bit.” This is redundant. Just say “a bit” or “a tad.”
Source: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

BRUSCHETTA

          "Flanagan says he was in a posh Italian restaurant in London and ordered the bruschetta for a starter, and the waiter had the nerve to correct his pronunciation. He had said -sh- for the -sch- part, and of course there were glottal stops where the geminate [t] should have been: [bɹʊˈʃɛʔɐ] is how he said it.
          "Bruschetta, said the waiter; "Not broo-SHET-a: [bruˈsketta]. In our-a language, it is pronounced, [bruˈsketta]."
          And in a flash Flanagan retorted: "Yeah? Well, in our language [English] it's pronounced 'tomatoes on toast'."
Source:http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/

ENTER / KEY / PRESS / PUT IN / TAP IN / TYPE

Enter:    He entered his PIN and retrieved the card.
Key:      He keyed his PIN into the security pad.
Press:   He pressed the keys of the keyboard.
Put in:   He put his PIN in and retrieved the card.
Tap in:  He tapped in his PIN number.
Type:    He typed his PIN into the machine.

SUBMISSION is better than SUBMITTAL

“Submittal” is the act of submitting; it should not be used to describe the thing being submitted, as in “clip a five-dollar bill to your submittal and it will receive our earliest attention.” In almost all cases “submission” is clearer and more traditional than “submittal.”
Source: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

TIA, TIO et al

         O Aulete já mostra (em que ano surgiu?): "Tio ( s.m.): 3  Bras.  Modo carinhoso de as crianças pequenas se dirigirem aos professores, e as crianças e jovens aos amigos dos pais e aos pais dos amigos"
         Acabo de ouvir na TV: "Vi você e a sua PP." (Personal Periguete, um novo nome para "amante"). Vai pegar? Vai entrar para o Aurélio? (By the way, "periguete" ou "piriguete" ainda não consta do Aulete - deve ser uma questão de tempo...)

NO SUCH A THING or NO SUCH THING?

“Eric told me the grocery store was handing out free steaks. No such a thing.” It sounds better to most people to say instead “no such thing.”
Source: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

MOTHERLODE VS. PARENTLODE

Novas palavras surgem todos os dias.
             “On October 1st, 2008, XXX began a blog entitled Motherlode for the YYY. …  The blog focuses on matters surrounding parenthood; topics range from what is the appropriate amount of sleep for a new parent to how to determine if you are bragging about your children. XXX headed up the Motherlode blog for three years, and in late September of 2011 announced she was leaving to join ZZZ, but that the Motherlode blog would still exist as a YYY product.
             On October 24th of this year, the ZZZ launched its parenting blog, Parentlode, authored by XXX. XXX  wrote that the new website’s name is a nod to readers who have e-mailed about equal parenting. The e-mailers commented that fathers, just as much as mothers, are involved in the parenting process.” [Source:http://www.ipbrief.net/2011/11/10/battle-of-the-blogs-new-york-times-sues-the-huffington-post-over-parenting-blog/]

“Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver ore. The term probably came

from a literal translation of the Spanish veta madre, a term common in old Mexican mining.

O jornal YYY entrou com um processo na Justiça dos EUA para obrigar o ZZZ a renomear um blog que tem nome similar a um blog seu. O blog "Parentlode", do YYY, pode confundir os leitores do "Motherlode", do ZZZ. Ambos os blogs tratam de assuntos relacionados a problemas de família.” [Fonte: Exame - http://exame.abril.com.br/negocios/empresas/noticias/nyt-processa-huffington-post-por-plagio]

LOTS, PLENTY, LOAD (number)

The expression “a lot” takes a singular verb when it refers to an amount of something that can’t be counted: “a lot of water has gone over the dam.” But it takes a plural verb when it refers to a countable number of things: “there are a lot of fish in the sea.” “Lots” works the same way: “there is lots of room left in the theater, but for some reason lots of us are still waiting to be seated.” Remember that “there’s” is a contraction of “there is”; so instead of “there’s a lot of flowers in the garden,” say “there are a lot of flowers.”

The same rule applies to “plenty” and “load.” “There is plenty of turkey left,” but “there are plenty of pecans in the pie.”

“Loads of dirty dishes are in the sink,” so “there is loads of washing up to do.”

Source: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html 

11 November: Remembrance Day (UK)

The 11th hour of the 11th Day of the 11th month
Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day and Armistice Day) commemorates those who died fighting in World War 1, World War 2 and other wars. Many people wear poppies (a red flower) in memory of those who died. At 11 a.m. there is a two-minute silence.

                                                    

WATER DOWN

to make a speech or written opinion weaker and less controversial. (This phrasal verb has more than one meaning and it can be separated)
- I found some of his views rather extreme.
- And I heard that he watered down that version of the speech so that it would appeal to more people!
- I prefer to read strident, forceful opinions that I can disagree with; the articles in that newspaper have all been watered down and checked for political correctness. Source: Knights English

GÍRIAS

Traduzir gírias não é moleza (a piece of cake?)
a concorrência não vai dar mole nos próximos anos.= competition won’t relent in the coming years
pegar pesado  nos preços = to be though on prices
o modelo não mudou sequer uma vírgula = this model has not changed at all, not even one bit,
menina dos olhos = dream product, the cherry/icing on the cake, "piece de resistance", the beloved/favourite child,  brainchild, blue-eyed child

RED

1. red flag – "Consecutive days billing more than 10 hours each is generally a red flag for legal auditors".  Tradução: ponto que chama atenção, ponto suspeito

2. red handed – "Now another "New York Times" reporter has been caught red handed for plagiarizing". Tradução: em flagrante

3. red herring – "The latter assertion is a red herring". Tradução: pista falsa, pista errada, pista enganosa, distração

4. red hook – "A Department of Justice Audit Report from March 2006 described Red Hook as "a system to collect voice and data calls and then process and display the intercepted information in the absence of a CALEA solution". Tradução: Red Hook, sistema de interceptação telefônica e de dados do FBI

5. red light – "He cursed the officers and drove off, running a red light and a stop sign". Tradução: sinal vermelho

6. redline – "First, the decision to redline is based on a subjective assessment of the likely effects of the race or ethnicity of potential buyers, the age of the housing stock, and the potential for financial loss in a given community". Tradução: negar hipoteca, deixar de aprovar hipotecas

7. redline – "If Duke is elected, Louisiana wouldn't just be redlined by business around the world; we'd be X-rated". Tradução: cortar, eliminar

8. redline – "We're going to load it to the max, at the redline, for six or seven seconds". Tradução: velocidade máxima do motor

9. redlined – "Rather than drive there, I call in through my notebook computer and download the settlement, make some editorial changes and send the redlined version via fax directly to the EPA to be on the right desk first thing Monday morning". Tradução: com revisão, com alterações

10. red scare – "American labor walked away from the macroeconomics of internal decision making in the work place during the Red Scare of the 1950s".  Tradução: perigo vermelho, ameaça vermelha, perigo/ameaça comunista

11. red tape – "They are also increasingly willing to travel, live and work abroad, in part out of frustration with the corruption and red tape that continue to stymie entrepreneurial ambitions inside Russia".  Tradução: burocracia

Source: Migalaw English 

CUIDADO! WATCH OUT!

Definition: to be careful because something dangerous or unpleasant might happen.
E.g.1. Watch out! There’s ice on the road!
E.g.2. If you don’t watch out, you’ll be in serious trouble!
This phrasal verb can’t be separated.
Source: Knights English

WHILE AWAY

tr.v., whiled, whil·ing, whiles. To spend (time) idly or pleasantly: while the hours away.
How to  while away a Saturday afternoon...
Oh how I long to while away the hours sipping tea on that couch.
We can while away the hours with some cupcakes.
But:
How To Trade While Away - Many have asked me over the years how I trade while on vacation. Here are my two rules: 1) I don’t trade during vacation, and 2) I close out all positions no matter what their upside potential before I leave.
       “Waiting for my physical at the doctor’s office, I whiled away the time reading the dessert recipes in an old copy of Gourmet magazine.”
         The expression “while away the time” is the only surviving context for a very old meaning of “while” as a verb meaning “to spend time.” Many people mistakenly substitute “wile,” but to wile people is to lure or trick them into doing something—quite different from simply idling away the time.

SHIVER WITH JOY / SHUDDER WITH HORROR

He reveals what stories make him shiver with joy or, conversely, shudder with horror.

For every problem

Under the sun                                       If there's a solution,
There is a solution,                               Go and find it!
Or there is none.                                   If there isn't....        Never mind it!    (Anon)