“BAH” is an expression used to add emphasis to or express a wide range of emotions whether good or bad. It’s usually associated with excitement and positivity. BAH works for almost anything: depending on the intonation, it can be used for surprise, rejection, approval, admiration… It has no direct translation and it’s uttered at the beginning of sentences, or all by itself!
You can use “BAH” as an interjection of surprise, like “Wow!”.
Or maybe say “BAH” in a different phonetic way, more like “Aaargh!”, when you can’t handle something anymore.
TCHÊ
/tchae
It’s a friendly expression used to emphasize almost anything. It’s like BAH, a typical gaucho slang.
The Brazilian Mate Pronounced “shim-a-how”
Throughout South America, the leaves of the erva-mate plant are used in a variety of drinks – some hot, some cold, some with green fresh leaves, some with dry leaves, some bitter, some sweet.
Known as Erva (herb) in Brazil, the yerba is very different to the other yerbas (herbs) – it is bright green in colour and it is a mixture of extremely fine powder, and large stems.
Erva-mate is most commonly drunk in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul – in the drink known as Chimarrão, a very hot type of tea, which is shared among friends. Many Gauchos drink erva-mate daily; indeed, to be honest, all day long.
Drinking chimarrão with family, colleagues or friends is a social activity. It fosters one’s identity as a Gaucho.
The essential equipment, other than the tea itself, is a thermos of hot water, a cuia (gourd/cup) and a bomba (a special straw). It’s best brewed in a large cuia with a wide open top and drunk, using huge long bombas (bombillas) with big round headed filters, which are often carved or decorated in gold or silver.
As Chimarrão is a social drink, there is a very detailed etiquette and ritual for drinking it.
The host/hostess, who prepares the drink, must be the first person to pour hot water over the tea, and also the first person to drink. Take care because the first infusion is the strongest, bitterest and hottest.
Each person in the group is passed the cuia, filled with chimarrão, in turn. They drink it, refill the cuia with hot water from the thermos and pass it on to the next person.
It’s, therefore, considered extremely bad manners not to drink all the chimarrão and leave some in the cuia for the next person. In order to show everyone, you have drunk it all, it’s culturally polite to drink until the bomba makes a snorting sound that shows all the liquid in the cuia has gone.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A RESERVATION?
BAH YES, PLEASE!