# you dish off the top of your brain



## GamblingCamel

I'm translating into Portuguese a rap about "hip hop cuisine."



> Just free style
> You dish off the top of your brain
> with just what you got on your shopping list



~ "Dish out food" = to serve food from a large bowl or plate. _I began to dish out the food when the guests arrived._
~ "Dish off a pass" (basketball) = pass the ball. _Eric Snow dished off a pass to Allen Iverson for the layup._
~ "Dish advice" = _The legendary Diana Ross dished advice to T.I._

The WR dictionary has no entries for DISH as a verb.
Any ideas for translation into PT? Please keep in mind that this is a rap. So stay close to street BrPT.

I suppose that literally "top of your brain" = "o alto/topo do seu cérebro" but I'm guessing that the PT translation can not be _pé da letra_.
"Dish off the top of your brain" is similar to "talk off the top of your head". Being improvisational, resourceful.


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## Johannes

Camel, There is "puxar pelo miolo" something like :to pain your brain. Any good?
Miolo is very much the physical brain.


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## GamblingCamel

Johannes said:


> Camel, There is "puxar pelo miolo" something like :to pain your brain. Any good?
> Miolo is very much the physical brain.



Hmm, you think it very much refers to the physical brain? In Aulete, I see lots of figurative meanings.
But TO PAIN one's brain is not at all what the rapper is saying. "The top of the brain" suggests "ease of access" to cooking ideas, ingredients. Free style = "to be in a loose, improvisational flow" like two futebol players passing the ball back and forth on the way to scoring a goal.



> MIOLO
> 1. Parte do pão contida entre as côdeas. (_meal_)
> 2. A parte interna, o interior de qualquer coisa: miolo da noz/ do bairro/da zaga.. (_core, middle_)
> 3. Medula, tutano. (_pith, marrow_)
> 4. Fig. Pop. Massa encefálica; CÉREBRO [Nesta acp., mais us. no pl.]
> 5. Fig. Juízo, razão, inteligência.
> 6. Fig. A parte essencial, principal, mais importante; ESSÊNCIA
> *9. Bras. Fut. Meio do campo.*


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## Johannes

_I see lots of figurative meanings. _
Yes, of course. A literal "puxar do miolo" would  be/leave you brainless 
By to pian the brain I meant something like trying very hard. Anyway that´s not a loose, improvisational flow.


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## GamblingCamel

"Shopping list" btw refers to what is actually available at the store, what is on hand. It's not a "wish list". 
Rap is about "keeping it real" -- turning everyday experience into art.


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## Joca

Aproveitando a "deixa" do Johannes:

_Põe os miolos p'ra funcionar _
_(e se vire) com aquilo que está na sua lista de compras._

Em vez de *miolos*, também serve *caixola/cabeça/neurônios*.

_Virar-se = to make do_


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## Casquilho

Miolos meaning smartness/intelligence/pia mater/our grey little cells (Hercule Poirot!) I think you say "brains", in plural. 

Sendo criativo/improvisando
Põe a cachola pra funcionar
Com o que estiver na sua lista de compras

For some reason, I find the colloquial "cachola" more soundy in this context than "miolos".

Better than "sendo criativo": "Só na criatividade/só no improviso". I can imagine a Brazilian rapper singing a verse like this.


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## GamblingCamel

Joca said:


> _Põe os miolos p'ra funcionar _
> _com aquilo que está na sua lista de compras._



_Põe os miolos p'ra funcionar _ ~~ works great in terms of syllabics, syntax !!

The second line _com aquilo que está na sua lista de compras_ needs tweaking. 
"With just what you GOT" is forceful, strong, active. Está (to my ears) seems weaker, more passive.


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## Casquilho

Hey Camel, you know the expressions "raspar o tacho/raspar a tigela"? You know, when your mother was making a cake, and she let you to lick what remained of uncooked mass (that mixture of milk, flour, sugar, eggs, butter) from the bow with a spoon?

A Brazilian mother would say, "Você pode raspar a tigela".

Maybe "dish off" in some contexts has something to do with that?


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## Joca

*... com o que você tem na sua lista de compras.*


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## Casquilho

_with just what you got on your shopping list_

May I paraphrase it? 

_com tudo o que tiver à mão na sua geladeira_.
"with all that is at hand on your refrigerator."

Here "tiver" is colloquial contraction of "estiver". It is weird to mix the idea of cooking impromptu, so trickery, with the idea of shopping list, a thing typical of organized and methodical people.


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## GamblingCamel

_posted before I saw the most recent comments from C & J_



Casquilho said:


> Só no improviso
> Põe a cachola pra funcionar
> Com o que estiver na sua lista de compras



I like "Só no improviso". It's declarative, simple. 
I thought a Brazilian rapper might actually say "free style" in EN. Não?

My North American ears have a huge problem with the verb ESTAR. I know that in PT it can convey "activeness", but I hear/interpret it as TO BE which comes across as abstract, indefinite.
Casquilho, I don't understand the verb tense for "estivar". _And thank you_.


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## GamblingCamel

Casquilho said:


> Hey Camel, you know the expressions "raspar o tacho/raspar a tigela"? You know, when your mother was making a cake, and she let you to lick what remained of uncooked mass (that mixture of milk, flour, sugar, eggs, butter) from the bow with a spoon?


"Scrape the bowl" definitely evokes a similar meaning.
Do you think that the RASPAR conceit can be poetically stretched --> _scrape off the top of the brain._


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## Casquilho

Yes, free style may be used by a Brazilian rapper, since it is a term widely spread in untranslated English as a subgender of rap and of the culturally near sport of skateboarding.

estiver... that's somewhat hard to explain.

Indeed ser/estar, although in most cases translated simply as to be in English, are different verbs, and the misplacemente of them can make a phrase nonsensical.

"Estar" has a connection with the idea of state, a situation which presupposes transience. You may estar nervoso/be angry, you may "estar" in some place at a certain time (like, agora estou no trabalho, now I am at work; estou em São Paulo, I am in São Paulo), the classical o livro está sobre a mesa/the book is on the table.

"Ser" presupposes the inherent quality. Eu sou alto, sou bondoso, sou temperamental - I am tall, am kind, am temperamental.

"estiver" is subjuntive mood, third person singular. You must expect for another member come and explain it, I don't feel myself capable of it.


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## Johannes

_Here "tiver" is colloquial contraction of "estiver"._
Tiver também não pode ser do verbo ter? Aí fica mais perto do "have got".
Outro : é caixola ou cachola ?


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## GamblingCamel

Is ESTIVAR the verb relating to ESTIVA (ship's hold, groceries) ?

ESTIVAR: 1. Levar carga para o interior de (embarcação)
2. Fazer a estiva ou a pesagem de mercadorias



Casquilho said:


> It is weird to mix the idea of cooking impromptu, so trickery, with the idea of shopping list, a thing typical of organized and methodical people.


I understand what you mean. But I'm picturing a messy shopping list lol. 
Sometimes it's disorganized people who most need to make lists.

Anyway, it's what the rapper said for real, so it made psychological sense to me. 
If you want to watch the rap, PM me and I'll give you the address. Out of respect for the guy's privacy, I didn't want to post a link here in WR.


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## Casquilho

GamblingCamel said:


> "Scrape the bowl" definitely evokes a similar meaning.
> Do you think that the RASPAR conceit can be poetically stretched --> _scrape off the top of the brain._



Yes, it is a metaphor, not strange at all. Times ago a Brazilian magazine published:

_Nem mesmo um ano tão pobre de atuações femininas justifica que a Academia raspe o tacho para indicar [uma certa atriz] a Melhor Atriz._
"Nor even an year so poor of female performances justifies the Academy scraping the bowl to name [some actress] for Best Actress."

"Raspar o tacho das idéias", literally, scrape the bowl of ideas, although it's not an established proverbial phrase (on the contrary, I just invented and wrote it), for us Brazilians would sound like "to struggle to bring forth some idea, some criativity, some impromptu". "Raspar o topo do cérebro" - to scrape off the top of the brain - makes no sense in Portuguese.


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## Joca

É *cachola*. Erro meu. Desculpe. Obrigado, Johannes. Fico a te dever uma...


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## GamblingCamel

Casquilho said:


> "estiver" is subjuntive mood, third person singular. You must expect for another member come and explain it, I don't feel myself capable of it.


But my verbix.com chart gives ESTIVAR as 3rd person future subjunctive.


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## Johannes

_But my verbix.com chart gives ESTIV*AR* as 3rd person future subjunctive. _
I believe that is indeed  the 3rd person future subjunctive of the verb estiv*ar*. 
But  esti*VER* is the 3rd person future subjunctive of estar.


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## Casquilho

"Estiver", subjunctive of verb "estar".
"Estivar", a verb (in impessoal infinite) beyond our discussion.
An digitation error in verbix.com, methinks.


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## GamblingCamel

Johannes said:


> But  esti*VER* is the 3rd person future subjunctive of estar.


I remain confused.  
http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?D1=2&T1=estar&H1=102

Okay, as C. suggested, I'll just view it as a digital typo on the part of verbix.


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## Casquilho

Indeed! Here are the right forms:
Eu estiver
Tu estiveres
Ele/ela estiver
Nós estivermos
Vós estiverdes
Eles/elas estiverem


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