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This is the most heartwarming thing I've read in a long time! It's like a real-life Pixar short. I know I will come back to this article many times in the future. Thank you very much for sharing.

"Dindim" is a slang for money in Brazil, but in a very cute way. "Money" is "dinheiro" in Portuguese so Dindim is like saying the first part of the word twice.

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Dindim is also how people call those ice-cream-like things inside a plastic bag. At least that's the first thing that came to my mind when I read the article. Really don't know if it exists or has a name in other parts of the world, but in Brazil I've also heard "geladinho", "cremosinho", "sacolé" and probably many other names. But to me, it's always gonna be "dindim".

Really? That makes a whole lot more sense!

Geladinho -> geladim -> dindim

I never heard of that! I always called it sacolé, but then again slangs are very much regional in Brazil

"It's like a real-life Pixar short."

A bit off-topic, but there's actually something very similar: A 2008 animated short called 'Lost and Found' about a lost penguin and his friendship with a young boy. It's based on a children's book of the same name. The book and film are both charming and feature lovely visuals. The film was made by London-based Studio AKA:

https://www.studioaka.co.uk/OurWork/lostandfound

Edit: Just saw the comment from timthorn mentioning the same book.

> It's like a real-life Pixar short.

You mean Lost & Found, by Oliver Jeffers?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Found-DVD-Philip-Hunt/dp/B001C...

It predates this real life story, but has very strong echoes...

> "Dindim" is a slang for money in Brazil, but in a very cute way.

Just curious, the way it is pronounced in the video it sounds similar to "Ching ching", which is also slang for money in English (sounds like a cash register opening). Is that the same idea in Portuguese?

I don't think it's purposefully so... "Di" sounds more like "Ji" (with a short i) in most accents

It's only a Ji in Brazilian Portuguese accents. In other accents (most notably continental Portuguese), Di is pronounced like Dee.

reduplication[1], in case you find that sort of thing interesting. Almost exact reduplication, bar the ending - is ending in -in or -din allowed in Brazilian Portuguese?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduplication

Words can't end in "n" in Portuguese (Brazilian or otherwise), so the "n" is replaced with an "m" with very few exceptions like pólen (polen). It's worth noting that in Portuguese we don't pronounce the ending "m" or "n" for that matter. In other words, your lips don't touch at the end of "dindim". Both the "n" and the "m" in that word only serve to turn the short i into a nasal i. Try pronouncing the word "inn" without letting your tongue move at all and you'll get the idea, if you're not familiar with the sound.

"N"s also can't come before "P" or "B", in which case they also get replaced by "m". This is true in Spanish as well, though the first rule isn't.

makes sense, so it's really exact reduplication, but represented with the orthographic constraints you describe. thanks :)

I may be wrong but I guess that we don't have any words in portuguese that ends with in or din.

In Brazillian portuguese, the only words ended with "n" are scientific names (neologisms?) with a latin radical, e.g. elétron, próton, nêutron, pólen, plâncton, necton, etc.

In European portuguese, while the above forms are also common, the alternatives "electrão, protão, neutrão" are often found.

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