this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 19 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I shared it ITT, but basically:

There's that stereotype of gay people being flamboyant, and often hopping in excitement. That created a bunch of associations between hopping animals and gay people; e.g. "gazela" (gazelle), "bicha saltitante" (jumping/hopping beast*), but specially "veado" (deer). Often spelled as "viado".

And there's a gambling lottery called "jogo do bicho" (critters' game, or animals' game). Illegal but extremely popular, to the point some knowledge of the game is part of the popular culture. It associates 25 animals with numbers, and #24 is "veado" / deer.

So: if 24 is veado, and veado is gay, then 24 is gay. Plop it into a macho culture, much like in the rest of Latin America, and you'll see people avoiding the number. Even for their birthdays.

Nowadays it's mostly a joke; but frankly I don't like it, it still treats gay people negatively, as if "gay" was "to be avoided". Roughly in the same level as "we did $thing but no homo!" in English, you know?