The grippy - São Paulo

The evil grippy virus, as shown by my friends at wikipedia.

For the last few days I have steadily been losing my voice. It's very frustrating trying to get anything done when you don't have a voice to explain what is wrong with your car to the Volvo guy (yes, again!) or tell the credit card company that they have had the wrong address for three years and have sent my new credit card into the ether of Avenida Faria Lima.

I have also had an exceedingly bad and constant headache which makes me more than a little cranky. But enough about me, here's my point and one of my favorite words in Portuguese...I am being gripped by the "gripe." No it's not the American gripe, as in a complaint, but pronounced "grippy". Being overcome by something called the "grippy" never fails to make me laugh...then hack...then coughing spasm. It's the flu, folks.

Apparently the Portuguese word came from the French "grippe", pronounced with one of those little smushed mouth pursings that makes French so fun: "oui, j'ai le grippe, alors, quel domage" Or something like that.  All I know is that I am tired of being gripped by it. It makes my blog boring, and makes me quite sleepy. 

Alors...til tomorrow...