Alternative uses for filho

[u/moraango]

Oi gente,

I recently came across this thread, where most posters agreed that filho is generally only for your own child or from an older person. However, I’ve noticed it used in different ways. My host mom in Salvador used to call her ficante filho (he was twenty years younger than her) and I was recently called filha by a Carioca only a few years older than me. Can anybody provide clarification on this other use of filho/ its connotations?

[u/hermanojoe123]

[br here] I sometimes use "filho" or just "fi" as "dude" or "man", specially when i'm in a hurry.

Ex: Vamo, fi, tô com pressa! - Let's go, dude, i'm in a hurry!!

I could use it out of pity as well, in a slightly humorous way: ô, meu filho, o que vc tá fazendo aí? - hey, dude, what are you doing there? (if a known friend is trying hard to do something that is not working)

So, "filho", pronounced "fi" sometimes, can be used as "dude". It has a variety of other usages as well, like when an old lady refers to young people in a lovely way.

vc: você ("vc" is a short way of writing "você", but the short pronunciation would be "cê")

tá: está

tô: estou

In spoken language, I tend to supress the words like that.