'7-1 Wasn't Enough': World Cup Loss Enters Brazilian Lexicon Ahead Of Olympics

When Brazil hosted the World Cup two years ago, the men's national team suffered an epic 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals. Now "7-1 wasn't enough" has entered the lexicon as a slang phrase to represent Brazil's many misfortunes.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

NPR's Melissa Block is also in Rio where she's picked up a handy bit of Brazilian slang.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE: It's a phrase spun out of an infamous Brazilian defeat. Two years ago, Brazil's men's national soccer team was playing Germany in the World Cup semi-finals. Brazil was hosting the cup.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: El goal, goal, goal, (speaking Portuguese).

BLOCK: Final score - Germany seven, Brazil one. Brazil's team was left weeping on the field. It was national humiliation on an epic scale.

RENATO DE ALEXANDRINO: I don't know why you're trying to remember that actually, but...

BLOCK: Sports reporter Renato de Alexandrino with O Globo told me the phrase that's entered the lexicon.

DE ALEXANDRINO: (Speaking Portuguese). Seven-one wasn't enough.

BLOCK: In other words, when things are bad - say, the Olympic arenas aren't finished or the athletes village is a mess - 7-1 wasn't enough.

DE ALEXANDRINO: Because the Brazilians have a good sense of humor, so we make fun of our tragedies.

BLOCK: Melissa Block, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.