Safety and emergencies

Entry thirty is ter cuidado com, three words carrying a verb, a noun and a preposition — to have care with. It is the ordinary way to warn somebody, and Tem cuidado com o degrau is a sentence a Portuguese parent says without thinking. English warns with one word, and the word is about attention rather than about care: « Mind the step », « Mind the gap », « Mind your head », « Mind how you go ». The verb is the same one that gives the noun in « make up your mind », and the imperative means keep this in view, so the warning points at where the listener is looking rather than at how carefully they are behaving. Two things follow. This « mind » is British; an American sign says « Watch your step », which matters to anyone writing for one side or the other. And the verb does two further jobs that ter cuidado com does not do at all: « mind the children » is to look after them, and « I do not mind » is to raise no objection.