Dom Casmurro 15.21 · 15.21

The credit is assigned precisely: 'que José Dias lhe poz' — the nickname José Dias fastened on him. The verb 'pôr,' to place or pin, treats the label as an object hung on a man's back, and the agregado is its maker. Machado quietly builds the case for José Dias as the household's coiner of mocking names.

The qualification that follows is just: 'ninguem lhe chamava assim' — no one actually used it. The nickname existed but was not spoken to Pádua's face, which locates it exactly where such things live, in the private malice of a dependent rather than in open speech. José Dias mints the cruelty; decency keeps it half-buried. It is a miniature of his whole method — the barb produced in confidence, never quite owned, doing its damage from the shadows of the family he serves and secretly appraises.

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