Carioca

A person born in Rio de Janeiro. This is a special Portuguese word.

Carioca is a concept that involves other cultural aspects besides birth place. The Carioca is known to be beautiful, happy and sexy. The reasons behind this might be worth a thesis, but I risk to say that it is well know that most Cariocas loves beaches.

There are many songs on the subject, but "Cariocas" by Adriana Calcanhotto reflects the idea very well.

Another interesting cultural aspect of Cariocas is the accent: very different from other Brazilian places and usually instantly recognized.

Carioca is a method of movement used traditionally in conditioning, sport maneuvers, and marching bands specifically by drummers. The person doing the carioca moves (runs) sideways crossing 1 foot over the other foot in front and behind.

As a high school lacrosse coach, part of our lacrosse conditioning requires the ability to run cariocas for a 1/2 mile. These type of conditioning trains a player for defensive slide situations and trains agility.