Brief Analysis of Nonsense Stock Witticisms in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

In this manuscript, I discuss the linguistic traits, the effect, and the function of combinations like “do not confuse X with Y”, commonly found in Brazilian Portuguese (não confunda X com Y). For that, I touch on issues related to phraseologisms, situational formulae, and stock phrases. Due to their peculiar syntax and semantics, I also discuss the presence of bisociative and absurd humor in such combinations. The study corpus consists of 40 occurrences extracted from the internet, mainly from blogs. My analysis has both reiterated the highly colloquial status of such structures, as a type of stock phrase used in a specific situation (warning someone about a possible confusion) and revealed that they make use of different linguistic mechanisms associated with nonsense, especially, through spoonerisms and wordplays, the result of which are illogical and absurd constructions.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0022/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>