I’m Burning the Midnight Oil Because I’m a Singer

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, Marta. Hello, Grant. My name is Eduarda.

I am calling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

From Rio.

Tudo bem. Tudo bem, tudo bem.

Tudo bem.

Welcome.

Amazing. Thank you.

Eu não posso falar muito bem, mas algum dia.

Oh, that’s so amazing, so amazing, amazing Portuguese.

Oh, Martha’s got a million tricks.

That’s one of my favorite ones.

Eduardo.

And Portuguese is a very hard language, right?

Oh, I don’t know, but it’s so beautiful.

Yeah, it’s beautiful.

Yeah.

I love a Brazilian accent.

Eduardo, what is happening in Rio?

What do you want to talk about?

Yeah, well, I’ve been studying English to be a visiting PhD student researcher.

And I had this amazing teacher that has been encouraging me to study expressions in English.

And he put me on this Jeopard game that we came across through this expression that was burn the midnight oil.

And I got very curious about it because I understood the expression about working until too late.

Past your original hours, I guess.

But I wanted to understand, where does it come from?

Who speaks this expression?

And if there is any connection with old lamps, I guess, that could be based by oil.

I think that’s it.

So burn the midnight oil.

Yeah.

Yeah, you’re right.

It goes back a very long time, hundreds and hundreds of years, back to the days before electric lights.

And you’re right.

It has to do with oil lamps.

You know, people have used lamps that burn different kinds of oil, whether it’s fish oil or nut oil or later kerosene.

Because in the days before electric lights, if you wanted to see at night, you had to either burn a candle or use an oil lamp to light up a room.

So if you’re burning the midnight oil, then you’re working very late into the night.

You’re burning oil at midnight, basically.

And that goes back several hundred years.

You know, it kind of reminds me of the Spanish phrase, and I think there’s a similar one in Portuguese, queimar las pestañas, meaning literally to burn the eyelashes.

But isn’t there a similar phrase in Portuguese that means to study really hard?

Yeah.

Yeah, I think it’s kind of an antiquated expression now.

It’s pretty old.

I don’t know that it’s used that commonly.

But I like that image there of, you know, you’re studying so late at night and you’re working so hard that you burn your eyelashes.

I must say that’s something I do it a lot.

You burn a lot of midnight oil.

If you’re getting a doctorate, I’m not surprised.

Yeah, so your teacher was right.

It has to do with oil lamps.

So, Eduarda, what are you studying?

What are you getting your doctorate in?

Yeah, I am a psychologist and neuropsychologist.

Oh.

Neuropsychologist.

Wow.

Yeah.

I’m trying to take some time in America to study emotional regulation.

So that’s why I’m studying English.

It sounds like it’s going very well.

And we are so delighted.

I really hope so.

Call us again sometime, Medroida.

We appreciate it.

Thanks so much for having me.

Thank you.

All right.

Oh, we’re glad to have you.

Até logo.

Até.

Ciao.

Ciao.

Ciao.

Well, Samuel Johnson called them candle wasters, someone who burns the midnight oil who carouses late at night.

And if you’re not studying and not carousing, you can call us, 877-929-9673.

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