English Version | Backstage: Quote Issue

What happens backstage at Vogue Portugal, doesn't stay backstage at Vogue Portugal. Here's your all-access pass to The Quote Issue.

Did you know that…

…it is said that women pronounce about 20 thousand words a day and men only seven thousand? But a team of researchers from the University of Texas and Arizona, whose work was published in the journal Science, found that the difference is only 500 words longer for women, a statistically insignificant difference.

…the longest word in Portuguese is Pneumoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiotic, with 46 letters? It concerns a disease caused by the inhalation of volcanic ash that attacks the lungs.

…according to linguist Fernando Venâncio, author of the book Assim Nasceu uma Língua, there are words that are unique to the Portuguese language? There is a lot of talk about “saudade”, but did you know that these verbs – engonhar (to delay something), acabrunhar (to feel sad), espatifar (to break) or açambarcar (to take everything for yourself) – are just ours?

The backstage of popular phrases

There are common expressions that became part of our vocabulary without us realizing why we say them – or how they came to us – because their content does not seem to match their intention. For example, “This is not Joana's”, when it is insinuated that it is a place where chaos reigns, without rules, where anything goes. The expression comes from D. Joana I (1326-1382), Queen of Naples and Countess of Provence, who led a busy life: at 21, she regulated all the brothels where she was a refugee (after getting involved in a conspiracy in her native city), imposing that “the place will have a door through which everyone can enter” – in Portugal, they became known as Places-of-mother-Joana. Another peculiar expression is “taking the horse out of the rain”, when it is best to give up on something, to put aside any illusion, because the goal is time consuming. The saying comes to everyday life because in the 19th century, when visits were short, the horse (means of transportation) was left out in the open, only being protected from the rain and sun when the stay was prolonged and the conversation was good. “Where Judas lost his boots” designates situations in which we look for something without success and it is said because, after betraying Jesus and winning 30 coins that signed the agreement with the Jewish priests, Judas ended up falling into a deep depression and committed suicide, hanging himself up in a tree. The strange thing is that his body was found with no money – and no shoes. Therefore, the soldiers looked for the boots, assuming that the amount would be there, without ever finding them. “Crocodile tears”, to say someone is false, has a justification in nature: the crocodile, when it devours its prey, makes an extremely strong pressure on the roof of its mouth, stimulating its tear glands, looking like it cries in the greatest act of being a predator. There are more examples, but it is better to “keep these under lock and seven keys”, an expression that derives from the four-key system in chests of jewelry and important documents, used by the kings of Portugal in the 13th century. The quartet of commissioners would each have a key, for security reasons – and the expression adopted the seven because it is a mythical number throughout the ages.

“When they attack us, it will be our faces that they will see, not our backs”

In war, there is a power that can be as or more preponderant than the military arsenal: the power of the word. Despised by many, in the current scourge that is ravaging Europe, the President of Ukraine has been able to use communication as a weapon in the war against Russia. Eloquent, direct, concise, there are already some quotes from him that will go down in history, such as “The war is here. I need ammunitions, not a ride.” But not only that: it will be above all certain that mastering the word is also a lethal tool – Volodymyr Zelensky, with his assertive speech and full of already emblematic phrases, has known not only to captivate the international community, but to move powers and bend policies. “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

Don't mess with a winning team

But take the opportunity to ask for a list of quotes. Lighthouse Publishing staff, that is, the teams that make up Vogue and GQ Portugal, share their favorite ones. To start on paper and end up here.

Leonor Centeno, Commercial Director Lighthouse Publishing

“You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” – Plato

Ismael Jesus, Video Director Lighthouse Publishing

“Follow what you feel.” – Optimus

Joana Rodrigues, Vogue & GQ Journalist

“Let's love each other quietly, thinking that we could, If we wanted, exchange kisses and hugs and caresses, But what's better to be sitting next to each other.” – Ricardo Reis

Paula Bento, Editorial Assistant

"Let's not hurry, but let's not waste time either." – Jose Saramago

Pedro Vasconcelos, Journalist Vogue & GQ

“Everything is worth it if the soul is not small.” - Fernando Pessoa

José Santana, Editor in Chief of GQ Portugal

“If you have a dream that seems impossible, climb a high hill. Jump and build it before you hit the ground.” – Jose Santana

João Oliveira, Art Director of Vogue Portugal

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein

Gloria Alafarga, Vogue Fashion Assistant

“What we do is more important than what we say or believe.” – bell hooks

Leonor Andrade, GQ Fashion Intern

“A great purpose in life is the only fortune worth finding.” – Jackie Kennedy

Sara Andrade, Director of New Editorial Projects

““I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” - Anais Nin

Larissa Marinho, Vogue Fashion Editor

I'm not sure if this sentence is from a thinker, a poet... but my father always said it and I always loved it: "The first sign of intelligence is to be humble."

Diego Armés, Editor-in-Chief GQ

“Stones in my way? I keep them all, one day I will build a castle.”

Ana Caracol, Vogue Accessories Editor

"It's smile and wave, boys, smile and wave." – Captain Penguin, Madagascar

Bandana scarf from the capsule collection Billabong X Madi (french artist), in printed eco-cotton, a special gift on our e-shop. Find out more on it, here.

Translated from the original on The Quote Issue, published in April 2022. For full credits and stories, check the print version.