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ia dando nele

English translation: stopped short of taking a swing at him

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Portuguese term or phrase:ia dando nele
English translation:stopped short of taking a swing at him
Entered by: lexical

14:02 Nov 19, 2010
Portuguese to English translations [PRO]
Slang / português de Portugal (Açores)
Portuguese term or phrase: ia dando nele
Another battered woman talking about her experience of the police:
"“Da segunda vez, como eles [the police] viram a situação lá em casa e depois viram os miúdos a chorar que ele [the husband] ainda tentou empurrar, ele empurrou a minha filha, a minha filha **ia dando nele**.

Can anybody cast any light on this usage? My guess was "my daughter was carrying on" (not "carry on" in the sense of "continue" but in the colloquial sense of "making a scene/crying and screaming") but it's only a guess from the context.
lexical
Spain
Local time: 15:23
stopped short of taking a swing at him
Explanation:
this is my reading

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2010-11-19 16:19:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

'ia' (followed by gerund) means often: to almost do something but failed or decided not to, as in: 'o teu pai ia tendo um ataque quando soube' (ia tendo = quase teve).

however, the same construction ('ia' followed by gerund) may also mean: to keep doing something, in which case the text could mean "she kept beating him up". it's hard to say without some more context.
Selected response from:

José Crespo
Local time: 14:23
Grading comment
Many thanks, José.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3stopped short of taking a swing at him
José Crespo
3 +2was hitting back
Gilmar Fernandes
4she was going to have a go at him
Verginia Ophof
4was continuously hitting him
Katarina Peters
4went after him
Nick Taylor
3waling on him
T o b i a s


  

Answers


33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
was hitting back


Explanation:
just a sense from reading your explanation and these last questions about this episode of the battered woman

I could be wrong, but that's what I understood.

Gilmar Fernandes
United States
Local time: 09:23
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Adriana Maciel
1 hr
  -> Thanks Adriana. Have a great weekend!
agree  Amy Duncan (X): she was hitting him (not back, because he wasn't hitting her...he was pushing her)
3 hrs
  -> Thanks Amy for your agreement and the correction. You're right. Bom FDS :)
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46 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
waling on him


Explanation:
'he shoved my daughter, who was waling on him'

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wale

e.g.
"Grandma was standing in front of the television, yelling at a wrestler on television who was waling on her favorite heavy weight."
p. 340, The Women of Troy Hill: the back-fence virtues of faith and friendship.

Example sentence(s):
  • Grandma was standing in front of the television, yelling at a wrestler on television who was waling on her favorite heavy weight.
T o b i a s
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
she was going to have a go at him


Explanation:
she was going to beat him up

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Local time: 07:23
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
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32 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
stopped short of taking a swing at him


Explanation:
this is my reading

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2010-11-19 16:19:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

'ia' (followed by gerund) means often: to almost do something but failed or decided not to, as in: 'o teu pai ia tendo um ataque quando soube' (ia tendo = quase teve).

however, the same construction ('ia' followed by gerund) may also mean: to keep doing something, in which case the text could mean "she kept beating him up". it's hard to say without some more context.

José Crespo
Local time: 14:23
Does not meet criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Many thanks, José.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ivan Rocha, CT
1 hr
  -> obrigado ivan
agree  Cristina Pereira: I believe it has to do with your first explanation (almost doing something)
2 hrs
  -> obrigado cristina. também acho o mesmo.
agree  Renita Miguel: she wanted to but didn't actually do it
2 hrs
  -> obrigado renita. acho que é isso.
neutral  Amy Duncan (X): I don't think "ia" here means she was going to do something...it means she was already doing it, as it, "she was hitting him"
3 hrs
  -> you could be right. that's close to my second option. hard to be sure anyway. thanks amy.
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
was continuously hitting him


Explanation:
or "letting him have it", but not in this context.

Katarina Peters
Canada
Local time: 09:23
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
went after him


Explanation:
went after him

Nick Taylor
Local time: 14:23
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 15
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