Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Portuguese term or phrase:
um balaio de gatos
English translation:
a place of wrangling
Portuguese term
balaio de gatos
Balaio de gatos
Num sentido mais amplo, é também local onde existem encrencas, confusões e ninguém se entende. Há partidos políticos em que tal é o tumulto reinante e as brigas entre seus membros em busca de mais poder ou da conquista de postos de mando que o ambiente vira um verdadeiro balaio de gatos.
Enfim, traduz uma situação enrolada onde ninguém ata nem desata coisa alguma, a confusão se instala e quem paga o pato é o cidadão, que não tem nada a ver com as lutas dos políticos e acaba envolvendo-se nelas, sem vantagem alguma, só antipatia, contrariedade e aversão.
Márcio Cotrim, Balaio de gatos, Diário de Pernambuco, 3 de novembro de 2014, http://mpt.ninja/C04n.
balaio de gatos: Tumulto envolvendo muitas pessoas; ROLO (Aulete)
L2: EN-US
Register: idiomatic
5 -1 | nest of vipers | Mark Thompson |
3 -1 | cat's cradle / a can of worms | Pedro Henrique Lemos |
Feb 20, 2023 16:45: Oliver Simões changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/2407412">Oliver Simões's</a> old entry - "um balaio de gatos"" to ""a place of wrangling""
Feb 20, 2023 16:45: Oliver Simões Created KOG entry
Feb 20, 2023 16:50: Oliver Simões changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/2407412">Oliver Simões's</a> old entry - "um balaio de gatos"" to ""a place of wrangling""
Proposed translations
cat's cradle / a can of worms
As far as I know, "cat's cradle" is a game and has nothing to do with the idiom in question. "Can of worms" has a different meaning. Thanks for trying. |
disagree |
Lara Barnett
: Both these terms mean completely different things, and have completely different usage. You need to decide which one you are posting!.
11 hrs
|
nest of vipers
Thank you. I concur with Phil. This expression translates as "ninho de víboras", meaning a group of treacherous individuals. See https://www.google.com/search?q=%22nest+of+vipers%22+%22ninho+de+víboras%22 |
Discussion
balaio de gatos: a place of wrangling
The phrase in question would be something like:
"The reigning turmoil and fights within [some] political parties for more power or for command posts are such that the environment becomes a place of wrangling."
I have also applied the translation in reverse order, from EN to PT, and it worked really well:
"In spite of its idyllic setting in the Black Mountains of North Carolina, the college itself was no idyll; it was a place of wrangling and struggle, where enormous personalities clashed enormously" (Glasfryn Project). (Apesar de seu cenário idílico, a faculdade em si não era nenhum paraíso; era um balaio de gatos com suas brigas, onde egos enormes se chocavam enormemente.)
place of wrangling: https://www.google.com/search?q="place of wrangling"