Shoemaking

The twenty-first entry is o período de amaciamento, the few weeks in which a stiff new shoe stops fighting the foot, and the two languages describe those weeks with opposite verbs. Portuguese builds its noun on macio, soft, by way of amaciar, to make soft — the same verb that is used of meat left to rest and of hard water treated until it no longer scratches. The thing grows gentler, and nobody is doing anything to it. English says the shoe is « broken in », and the picture is of force applied until something gives way. The phrasal verb keeps company that shows where it came from: a horse is « broken in » before anybody rides it, a house is « broken into » by a burglar, and a new engine used to be « run in ». Only « broken in » is said of footwear, and the participle has turned into a term of praise, so that « a well broken-in pair » is a compliment. The same fortnight is a softening on one side of the shop and a small act of violence on the other.