A friend of mine recently came to visit Prague, and whilst sitting in a bar told me about a phrase in Portugese that has no consonants. He promised me a detailed explanation by email, and true to his word, later mailed me the following brilliant text. There also a text version if you want to print it or something. Credit to Anthony.
The World-Famous Carioca Consonant-Less Phrase is:
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"ih! o' o aue^ ai', o'!"
(where the "h" is silent and the "i'" and "o'" represent acute accented
vowels)
This expression is used as a mixture of surprise and outrage. For example,
a common situation would be when a bunch of paraffin-blonded surfers
arrives at their favourite beach spot and find it occupied by another
bunch of paraffin-blonded surfers:
Indignant Paraffin-Blonded Surfer (to gang): "ih! o' o aue ai' o'!"
Breaking it down:
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"ih!" sort of like "hey!"
"o'" (1) contraction of "olha!", meaning "look!"
"o aue^" uknown origin. Means, approximately, "the mess", "the
confusion", "that which is happening"... sort of very
generic. See also "trem", "zona" (other regionalisms).
"ai'" "there", "over there"
"o'" (2) also a contraction of "olha!", but in this case just
augments the "ai'" to indicate where "o aue^" is taking
place.
Other examples of possible situations where it would be appropriate to
use the World-Famous Carioca Consonant-Less Phrase:
* someone sneaks into a queue in front of you
* someone steals your drink/girl/surfboard
* the referee make a dubious call in some ballgame
well, and so on. Now you too can be understood in Rio.
STOP PRESS: Mad Portugese Phrase With No Consonants In Update Shocker!
Rodolpho Arruda has kindly sent in the following extra information about our favourite language:
Hi there, I'm Brazilian and I have to confess that this expression (consequently its meaning) is really hard to understand, even for us down here. It is very popular in Rio de Janeiro, in fact, it can only be heard out there. In my case, I live São Paulo (countryside) and rarely listen to people saying that. In Portuguese, especially the one we speak in Brazil which is very different from the one spoken in Portugal, there is a tendency in shortening words, or even linking two or more words into one. In doing this you can speak faster than the usual, thus you can sound less formal or casual. So we change our language structure as we speak it, making it more practical and fast. On the other hand, if you want/need to learn the language, be sure that your teacher is aware of this (look for someone native) detail. Another good example: Formal => O que é que você quer? - What do you want? Casual => Qui é quicê qué? - What do you want? Phonetics: Qui = Kee É = "a" in apple Quicê = Kiss + a Qué = Kea That's is... I hope you find this interesting. Take care Rodolpho
STOP STOP PRESS: Mad Romanian Phrase With No Consonants Bombshell!
Hello! How about a phrase in a related language, Romanian? Oaia aia e a ei, eu i'o iau. translation: "The sheep is hers, I'll take it." No "h", muted ot otherwise :) Cheers! Cosmin ps Portuguese and Romanian share a phrase, which is pronounced almost identically, and means the same thing; here is the Romanian version: Cu carne de vaca nu se moare de foame. translation: With beef meat one doesn't starve. Odd, eh?