It is a delightful book written by the translator, playwright and actress, Ana Zaragoza.
I like unexpected books. This is one. It is those readings that make us nod the head with a grin on the lips. It is above all entertaining, unpretentious and light. I review almost entirely on it, well, the phrases I heard from my very Portuguese mother. The title says it all. Although, there are priceless expressions are limited to a specific geographic area of the country, as in this case the Alentejo, however, everything is so eerily the same. These pearls of the motherhood folklore is one of those steps that consciously we tried to avoid at all costs when we reached adulthood, because we want to always be sooo different from our mothers, more modern, better prepared than them, but like Ana Zaragoza stresses as well in this little compendium unconsciously the same words and expressions come out of our mouth out when least expect! Just like our mothers! And I smile again when I recall my mother saying some are not register of this lovely book, such as: Bad, bad, bad that the cat wants water! What does this mean? For those who've heard it, you must be enjoying it and for those who do not know, is someone in this case implies the child that is presumably doing something that your dear mother disapproves instinctively without even seeing what it is. In short: it is a warning. Its literal meaning escapes me to this day; I never understood the meaning of this sentence! Other: Only God knows what I suffered to have you into this world and this is how you thank me! This particular one, I nicknamed the extremely low blow, but it always worked. The guilt and anger mixed flooded me so that always end up doing the requests / order that came along with this pearl of motherly wisdom, for example, to wear one of the many dresses with balloon sleeves, the princess kind, she loved to sew and I hated dressing up until this day. Now I cannot stop smiling as I recalled it! And I only pity that my mother is no longer here with me, she would laugh as much as me when I read this simple "when you're a mother, you'll see." Happy reading!
