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Me: There's no way that's true
Me, after web searching: Huh...
Context: They have a betting game called "Jogo do bicho" (Animal game, direct translation). Number 24 corresponds to deer, which is "veado" in portuguese - which is very similar to"viado", which is a slur for gay people persons.
I still doubt these candles are popular though.
Number 24 corresponds to deer, which is “veado” in portuguese - which is very similar to"viado", which is a slur for gay people persons.
The slur isn't just similar to the name of the critter — it is the name of the critter. You also see people using "gazela" (gazelle), "Bambi" (that Disney critter), "biba saltitante" (jumping… "biba", dunno what was supposed to be) as slurs for gay people, always under the "flamboyantly jumping" stereotype.
The reason it gets spelled with an "i" is that slurs and swearing often get misspelled in Portuguese. It's the same deal with boceta→buceta (pussy), caralho→caraio→carai (dick), foder→fuder→fudê (to fuck).
Thanks for the explanation mate, that makes a lot more sense.
I'm portuguese and I always thought that veado was the word, just that "e" was "stressed" to sound like "i". I didn't know until today that there were actually two words
Some prescriptivists would argue "viado" isn't an actual word, and that even the slur should be spelled "veado". But just like "buceta" the misspelling has become way more popular than the original word.
They're popular enough for them to have been mass-produced, as opposed to, say, just writing the text on the cake with frosting.
as a Brazillian, I have never seen the correlation of the number 24 with "gayness"
É literalmente uma idiotice que tem aqui em Salvador (Não sei se surgiu aqui), vinte e quatro / vim de quatro
It's literally an idiocy that has here in Salvador (I don't know if it came from here), twenty-four / I came from four
Funny, because straight men worry about whether they might be or might be perceived as being gay all the time.
Having candles on your birthday cakes at all is it’s gay at that age
I've never seen a sentence use the same dumb logic it criticizes so succinctly before
You don't have candles on your birthday cake just because you're grown up? What a sad life.
No homo, but I love to blow a big candle on my b-day.
Big candle sounds like a plausible euphemism like bull or twink.
It is an most joyful occasion for gaiety...
It’s a joke
Yep thanks, picked up on that, so was my reply. Whoosh, I guess.
Just going to say that looks way more gay than the number 24....
The more you try to avoid looking gay, the more gay you look. It's funny coming from a place as gay as Brazil.
If you’re not gay, you must prove it by wearing a birthday tiara and listening to nothing but Judy Garland the whole day.
Aside from the homophobia, they still get birthday cakes with candles that say their age when they are 24?
What else should they get? Birthday cakes with candles that say someone else's age? That wouldn't make any sense.
Only if you are gay.
/s in case someone misses the "homophobic-phobic" joke.
are you kidding? gran was a party animal. if she got them why wouldn't I?
Straight men have a 23+1 hr schedule every day. The extra hour is for secret gay time.
“No homo but happy birthday! Anyway which one of you fellas is up for some hotdogs and whipped cream?”
23 + 1 assholes, totally not gay /s
Can confirm, I was gay that year.
Can someone share some lore what is the connection between being gay and 24 in Brazil?
There's an illegal betting game that has been extremely popular for decades called the animal game (jogo do bicho), in which each number represents an animal. 24 is the deer (veado). There's also a derogatory word for gay men, viado. The two words sound the same. So 24 is "the deer's number" but it sounds like "the fag's number".
Viado comes from desviado, which means someone who was driven off the proper path. It's just a matter of homophony (and homophobia).
homophonophobia?!
Wow it's like a homophobic lasagna. My heart goes out to you, gay Brazilians
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?
So if you want to look extra gay, your candle says 24+/-x to get your age.
TIL my birthday is gay
Every birthday can be gay if you're gay enough
If they are worried about seeming gay, why are they decorating their cake with 23+1 sparkly magic Spanish anuses? Seems preeeetty gay....
For those confused, in Portuguese (which they speak in Brazil), "ano" is year. But in Spanish "año" is year, and "ano" is anus. Also the blue seems speckled or glittery (unclear in the picture) and it says in the corner that it has a magic wick.
