Hi there all ,

am coming on my 1st holiday to the algarve in oct , staying in a privatly rented villa on the edge of sesmarias, so whilst checking out the local hostelries I found your website priceless.
But the boss who must be obeyed keeps asking what is the name of the place we're going? I have now pronounced the 2 names in so many different ways I not sure myself now.
Please help , I need to tell the taxi driver where to take us without giving away the fact that I am a grockle.

Mmm, good question. It's been asked before. CLICK HERE. Go to the 2nd page and help yourself

And HERE.

My friend who lives near Carvoeiro and is married to a Portuguese (shes fluent in Portuguese) pronounces it Carv-where-oo (not oh)
I always forget to say the oo bit when asking taxi to take me there and end up saying Carv-where O.
But don't worry too much Im sure they'll understand you (if they understand me with my Peckham accent they'll understand you )
and majority speak English.

Whats a grockle please?

Thanks for your help michael , enjoyed reading all of those, but now i think they will take me away, Ive been wondering round my cycle hire shop going car-vwer-o then car-vew-roo followd by many other variations , I sound like manuel out of fawlty towers.

If you heae a stranger wandering around cvo from the 16th oct onwards
dont feed him , the docs told me to lose weight , but he said nothing about alcohol, mind i did have my fingers in my ears for some of the time .
So many thanks.

ciderman

Ellie wrote:Whats a grockle please?

What is the origin of the word 'grockle'?
This slightly dismissive term for a 'tourist' was, as several of our readers have noted, first popularized because of its use by the characters in the film The System (1962), which is set in the Devon resort of Torquay during the tourist season. Some older dictionaries suggested that this might be a West Country dialect word.

Other scholars have suggested that it might originate in a comparison of red-faced tourists (in baggy clothing with handkerchiefs on their heads) to 'Grock', the famous clown. The word grockle was indeed picked up by the script-writer from the locals during filming in Torquay. However, it was apparently not an 'old local dialect word'. According to research by a local journalist in the mid-1990s, the word in fact originated from a strip cartoon in the children's comic Dandy entitled 'Danny and his Grockle'. (The grockle was a magical dragon-like creature.)

A local man, who had had a summer job at a swimming pool as a youngster, said that he had used the term as a nickname for a small elderly lady who was a regular customer one season. During banter in the pub among the summer workers, the term then became generalized as a term for summer visitors. This seems to have occurred in, or only shortly before, the summer in which The System was filmed: we know of no instances of the word dating from before the release of The System (though one or two people from the south-west remain convinced that they knew it before then).

Grockle....a disparaging term for a tourist or holiday maker

Hi Ellie,

A Grockle is what we call a tourist , as in someone who is outside there noral enviroment and cannot function properly .
I live on a small island called Sark in the channel ilsands and we rely on tourism , so during the summer the population doubles from 600 to sometimes 1200 in the daytime and as the island is only 3.5 miles by 1.5 miles you are literally tripping over grockles.
But they seem harmless and all dissapear at night when the boat takes them home

Thank-you Michael, Bruce and Ciderman for definition of grockle..I really must get out more

You come from Sark Ciderman? Is that the island without cars/traffic?or have I got that wrong?

I remember a tv series that was made there....think it was called ' Mr Pye' starring Derek Jacobi (he alternately grew wings or devils horns) in the 80s I think?

oh and a warm welcome to Carvoeiro.com

yes that correct on all counts on sark we have no cars , the only motorised transport are a few tractors for commercial use only even electric bikes have to be o.ked by the doc if you have a disability.
so I rent and sell bikes , its the only way to get around.
www.avenuecyclessark.com
You were also correct about mr pye being filmed here , bergerac also filmed here.
Next week ITV are filming martin clunes learning to drive a horse and carriage , they want to film from a tandem !!!
That will be ITV rates for the hire of course.

Ellie wrote:Thank-you Michael, Bruce and Ciderman for definition of grockle..I really must get out more

You come from Sark Ciderman? Is that the island without cars/traffic?or have I got that wrong?

I remember a tv series that was made there....think it was called ' Mr Pye' starring Derek Jacobi (he alternately grew wings or devils horns) in the 80s I think?

oh and a warm welcome to Carvoeiro.com

Thanks for confirming that Ciderman

Sark looks a beautiful place and I bet its peaceful too without cars/traffic.

Are you still going around practising Carv where ooo ?

I wish you a lovely time there..Im sure you & family will have a super time!
best wishes

My son who is English but in Portuguese school for four years learnt to pronunce from the Carvoeiro song.
Which pronounces it Carve oo way row emphasise the secound sylable
then say fast.

I pronounce it "KAR-VEER-RO" but then again I'm scouse

White Rabbit 2 wrote:My son who is English but in Portuguese school for four years learnt to pronunce from the Carvoeiro song.
Which pronounces it Carve oo way row emphasise the secound sylable
then say fast.

Then that must be the correct way Mandy

Hub has just reminded me that when we lived /worked in Algarve, our Portuguese carpentry lads always cut the end off and said 'Carvwhere', as did old Miguel who ran the orange/lemon groves.

There was also same ?mark over the pronunciation of Silves. I heard many call it Silvesh but my Portuguese friend Maria told me it was pronunced 'Silvsh'.

But I suppose, like here in UK, there are different accents in different parts of Portugal ?
Language & accents are fascinating.

Some friends of Hub's visited us from Newcastle, 3 fellas and one said something to me and I thought he was asking for a beer. I said I didn't have any....but then my astute son said "Mum, hes asking for paracetamol"!..
was my face red

now I have been up all night trying all these different ways of pronouncing
cvo my lips are numb and my tongue very tied but in my best essex accent I think I might just get away with somthing that sounds like carv-where-oo , now I must try sesmarias for the taxi back to the villa after going into cvo of an evening.
Not wanting to start you all of again bt I am wandering round now going ses-mar-e-as .
Next!!!!