Brazil & Elevators

When entering an elevator I always get a kick out of seeing the cultural differences and the different abbreviations used. In the US and Canada, for instance, you will rarely see a building with a 13th floor. Typically, it goes from 11, 12, 14, .... Brazil doesn't have such superstitions and there was a time I worked on the 13th floor.
Another interesting cultural difference is that building's in North America typically don't have a zeroth floor. The ground floor is often (but not always) considered the 1st floor. Typically, in an elevator in North Americal you'll see L, 2, 3, ....
In Canada the ground floor is often labelled "L" (for Lobby) or "RC" (for rez-de-chaussee). In Brazil it varies even more you'll see P for Portaria (although sometimes it means Parking, or Playground, or Pilotis), S for Saída (or Solo, Salão de Festas), T for térreo, the number 0, L for Lobby, and sometimes A for asfalto or atrium.

Comments

Anonymous said…
hi, Scott. Do you have any other info in the suerstitions of Brazil? I am doing a research paper on Brazilian superstitions, so I need a bit more info!

THANKS!--- Tay
Scott Kirkwood said…
I know some:
- If you are female accidentaly pass a broom over the feet of a male you're not going to get married.
- Similarly if you eat the last morsal on the plate - you're not going to get married.
- Instead of crossing their fingers for luck they make a fist with the thumb between the middle and ring fingers.
- If you have "pé frio" (cold feet), you are bringing bad luck. "pé quente" is the opposite.

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