Tools and renovation

Near the end of the list stands o suporte, and the sentence beside it — o suporte da televisão não aguenta o peso — is the kind that catches a translator out, because « support » looks like the answer and almost never is. In English the piece screwed to a wall to carry a television or a shelf is « a bracket ». The assembly a screen is clamped into is « a mount ». Something that carries a load from underneath and stands on the floor is « a stand ». The frame that holds several things at once is « a rack ». Our « support » has retreated into the abstract — the support of a family, technical support — and into one physical corner, the surface a painting is painted on. Portuguese hands the whole field to one noun and lets the sentence decide, so o suporte can be a bracket in one line and a helpline in the next. Reading this list, look at what is holding what: fixed to a wall it is a bracket, standing under a load it is a stand, and only in a report is it a support.