Are they calling you a ‘nota dez’ or simply a ‘um-sete-um’ -?
You better know. Brazilians love to use numbers with hidden meanings. Let’s look at the most common;
zero = brand, spanking, new.
> Ele ganhou um carro zero para trabalho.
10= really, really good.
> Ela é linda, inteligente e simpatica — Ela é NOTA dez!
22= maluco. No Tarô há a carta do ARCANO 22 – O LOUCO.
> Ela deu uma de 22 e começou a gritar igual um macaco.
24= gay (veado). This comes from the betting game “jogo do bicho” which is played with numbered cards, each with the image of an animal. No. 24 is the deer or, veado. Not totally sure why deer = gay, but it does.
> Olha, eu vi ele saindo de uma boate gay no centro então, acho que ele deve ser ’24.’
171= rip-off, con (estelionato). Comes from the código penal in which 171 is that which deals with cons and fraud.
> Aquele home é maior 171, vive dando golpe.
0800= grátis, de graça. 800 is the toll-free prefix!
> Antes das 10 horas a entrada na boate é 0800.
mil= really, really great. Just like ‘dez’ only more so.
THta’s sucha a good question! It’s no doubt to do with the Bambi thing but, we nee a brazilian scholar to tell us why exactly the deer is associated with gay. It’s likely something like you said – bambi was sort if a momma’s boy etc. The stereotypes for gays here are pretty old and out of date. Also, the terminology for the 24 – deer = gay comes form a long, long time ago.
I have a couple Paulista friends: one roots for SPFC, and the other for the Corinthians. The Corinthian fan jokingly calls our other friend “Bambi” (the deer). I’m not sure that this comparison (calling SPFC or any other futebol team, Bambi) is well-known in Brazil, but the explanation I got was that, Bambi never fought back and always cried back to his mother whenever he got hurt, obviously insinuating that SPFC is a weaker team than Corinthians (according to the Corinthian fan at least!) Now, it’s not necessarily saying that deer = gay, but I’m now wondering why deer in general doesn’t seem to have a strong reputation in Brazil.