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The incorporation of the English language in everyday life in Brazil can also be seen on the T-shirts or blouses worn by Brazilians, many of whom do not know the meaning of what is printed on them. T-shirts with messages written in Portuguese are hardly found on the streets in Brazil and messages in English are as common as is the practice of wearing T-shirts. Needless to say, the very word “T-shirt” is a consolidated loan word in Brazilian Portuguese. A samba composer, João Nogueira, refers to that fact with the following verses: [Gerusa bought a blouse / These were made in USA and she did the translation / The sentence she had on her chest / When she looked closely it was a bad word]. According to Lima (1988:45), Brazilian people’s habit of wearing clothes with statements printed in English may signal a desire to become part of what they see as the most important part of the world, the American consumer society, which for them epitomizes the global consumer society.

Paiva (1991) interviewed printing f irm representatives to verify their attitude towards the English language and found that their preference for that was supported by their prejudice in regarding Portuguese as an inferior language and certainly by the gross profits they envisage by selling shirts with English on them. Interestingly, some of the representatives explained the use of English on T-shirts as a status symbol pursued by some groups who feel the need to differentiate themselves from the popular sectors. On the other hand, if Brazilian people use Portuguese on their T-shirts, they will be linked to the desires of certain groups to differentiate themselves from the large number of people who now wear English on their T-shirts.

(AMMON, Ulrich.The dominance of English as a Language of science. Mouton de Gruyter, 2001. Disponível em: https://www.veramenezes.com/outlook.htm#:~:text=English%20circulates%20in%20Brazil%20as,presti ge%2C%20culture%20and%20technological%20development. Acesso em: 1 nov. 2024. Adaptado).