roach motel
[/roʊtʃ moʊˈtɛl/]
nounpl: roach motels
hotel degradado; hospedaria infestada de baratas
1. A cheap, run-down motel or hotel with poor conditions, often infested with cockroaches
The only accommodation we could afford was a roach motel near the highway.
O único hospedaria que podíamos nos permitir era um hotel degradado perto da estrada.
2. Figuratively, any place or situation that is dirty, unpleasant, or of very poor quality
Working in that office felt like being trapped in a roach motel.
Trabalhar naquele escritório parecia estar preso em um lugar repugnante.
3. A reference to the famous advertising slogan 'You check in, but you don't check out' (implying you can't escape)
This job is like a roach motel - once you're in, you can't get out.
Este emprego é como um hotel de baratas - uma vez dentro, você não consegue sair.
The term became popular in American English through a 1980s advertising campaign for Roach Motel pest traps with the slogan 'Roaches check in, but they don't check out.' It has since evolved into a metaphorical expression for any undesirable situation or place from which one cannot easily escape. In Brazilian Portuguese, the term is less idiomatic and typically translated literally or replaced with colloquial terms like 'hotel de quinta categoria' or 'hospedaria imunda.'
NYC Slang
Flophouse; also used metaphorically for any undesirable place in NYC
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