Posted by giveawayboy on June 04, 2001 at 16:52:51:
SAUDADE is my favorite Portugues word. I just LOVE it! It
cannot be easily defined, since every word people have used are
slightly inadequate for the job. It's more of a feeling than a
definition. When you start trying to define SAUDADE among alot of
Brasilians it gets quite interesting reactions. Or if you ask
what it means, they seem to get very interested and playful or
passionate. And then they will all stumble all over themselves
attemtping to express how that word makes them feel. It is one of
the most interesting words I have ever met. Just mentioning it
gets the biggest reactions. I have seen laughter and tears and
frustration result from attempts to define SAUDADE. SAUDADE is sort
of a longing, but it's NOT longing. It's sort of missing someone, but
it's NOT missing someone. It's sort of love, but it's NOT love. It's
this whole other thing beyond all those intersection--and therefore to
me it is like Australia,the one place in the world that is truly the
alternative of the world--where everything that looks like something
else, is not something else and is a marsupial. Everything is hidden
in a pouch but sort of looks familiar. Australia is the incarnation of
SAUDADE. She is a strange feeling that points to God.
Um grande abraço, Bill