DOGS, DOGGIES AND PUPPIES

DOGS, DOGGIES AND PUPPIES (please, correct my English if you wish)

In Brazilian Portuguese, we have two words to designate the canis lupus familiaris, the scientific name for that animal known as "man's best friend". The first, also used in Portugal, is "cão": the second is “cachorro”. In my country, the first word is used more formally, almost solely in written form: “Cuidado com o cão” (Beware of the dog); “Abrigo para cães abandonados” (Shelter for stray dogs); “Vendem-se cães de raça” (purebred dogs sale), and so on. The second term - and more popular nowadays - is used colloquially: “Eu adoro cachorros” (I love dogs); “Meu cachorro se chama Billy” (My dog is called Billy) and on and on.

For ordinary/every day speakers, although both terms mean exactly the same thing, it’s obvious that "cachorro" is the preferred name, almost unanimous among Brazilians. In everyday life, almost no one says “Eu amo meu cão” (I love my dog); It sounds much more affectionate “Eu amo meu cachorro”! As if that were was not enough, many times we even add the diminutive, "cachorrinho", to designate a small dog, a puppy, or even to emphasize the intensity of the love we feel: it is not impossible that some Brazilians call "cachorrinho" their pit bull  or a their 40 kilos german shepherd, "cachorrinho".

However, there is something very curious with respect to this word. Originally, "cachorro" refers to mammals cubs in general, not only the dogs. Bear, lion and tiger cubs are also “cachorros” in Portuguese. The word "cachorro" comes from the Latin catulus, whose final ending was changed to "orro" by the Basques, this fascinating people who live in Spain. In ancient Rome, catulus designated the puppy of any warm-blooded animal.
As well far as I know, Spanish speakers of Spanish and our brothers from Portugal are well aware of this fact: the Spanish call the dog “perro”, and their puppies “cachorro”. Once, an Argentiniane friend laughed when he saw the sign on the door of a residence in São Paulo: “Cuidado com o cachorro” (Beware of the cachorro);, he was amused imagining a puppy attacking an adult person.

But what Brazilian cares? This word is so rooted in our daily lives that most of us have forgotten its original meaning. "Cachorro" is here to stay, and not even myself I would give it up to use it to refer to my rotweiller.
By the way, I must go now because my cachorro is calling me to a walk! See you soon!