Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Portuguese term or phrase:
costas quentes
English translation:
friends in high places
Portuguese term
costas quentes
Ela não encontrou nenhuma dificuldade, afinal de contas ela tem as costas quentes.
Obrigado a todos!
| 3 +3 | she had the boss on her side |
David Warwick
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| 4 +1 | back covered |
Amy Duncan (X)
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| 4 +1 | well-connected |
Braz
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| 4 | well looked after |
Amilcar
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| 4 -1 | was in the good old boys network |
airmailrpl
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| 3 | to feel safe/secure/protected by someone |
Lia Fail (X)
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PRO (1): Amy Duncan (X)
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Proposed translations
she had the boss on her side
You could even say, ironically, "She had friends in high places"
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Note added at 17 mins (2004-09-22 15:35:50 GMT)
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In view of the context added by the asker, I would go for \"She had friends in high places\"
| agree |
Lia Fail (X)
: I like "friends in high places":-) Boss is too specific, maybe too colloquial for the type of text, time period etc
2 hrs
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thanks Ailish.
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| agree |
DavidHardy
4 hrs
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thanks David
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| agree |
airmailrpl
: friends in high places
3 days 14 hrs
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well looked after
One of many poss. As others have suggested, more context could lead to a better fit.
Brazil
Technical - Fast - good price - accurate
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
, Portuguese (Variant: Brazilian)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, English, and 1 more.
was in the good old boys network
| disagree |
Lia Fail (X)
: An old 'boys' network is precisely that, but she's a 'she', so it jars a bit
1 hr
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so it is an old girls network - don't think the old girls would like to be called that though.
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to feel safe/secure/protected by someone
Ela não encontrou nenhuma dificuldade, afinal de contas ela tem as costas quentes
(...no particular difficulty?), after all, she felt safe/secure/protected...
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Note added at 2 hrs 3 mins (2004-09-22 17:22:25 GMT)
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Ela era uma pessoa protegida pelos militares, e através da ajuda deles conseguiu estabelecer seu próprio negócio...
I cannot think of any suitable/equivalent metaphor in English, but here are some suggestions for translation:
She had no difficulties, after all, she could.......
feel secure in the protection of the military/militia
count on the protection of the military(militia
rely on the favour of the military/militia
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Note added at 2 hrs 19 mins (2004-09-22 17:38:23 GMT)
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I favour David Warwick\'s answer, fits in well, IMHO.
well-connected
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Note added at 18 hrs 7 mins (2004-09-23 09:26:07 GMT)
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another possibility: \"had friends in high places\"
Discussion