"Eles são legais?"
Translation:Are they legal?
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In English we use a similar word for cool, or at least we did in the 80s and 90s - 'legit'.
"legal" literally means legal or lawful. "cool" is a translation of a slang usage.
in Portuguese both work. Legal = legal, cool. The first usage is the original but over the time this slang came up..
As <legal = cool> is merely slang (albeit possibly widely used), I find it wrong that the translation hint in this sentence doesn't include the primary meaning ie. legal/lawful (although the situations in which you characterize people as cool/nice instead of legal (such as visitors, travelers etc.) are probably more common).
It's not so slang like that. It's waaaaaay common and it's not like avoided in formal contexts.
It's actually the preferred way to say "cool" over any other.
well I can't think of any situation in English where legal = cool. Legal has a very specific meaning and cool verges on slang with many different meanings. Perhaps it's different in Portuguese but this meaning for cool is not listed in the OED.
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That's mad that it's not in the OED....it's gone way way past slang. It is in most other dictionaries: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/cool_1#cool_1__5
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I think the comment from Peter is referring to the word "legal" in English not being used in this way i.e. it is not a synonym for cool in English, even though it carries this meaning in Portuguese. The slang definition of "cool" is definitely listed in the OED.
Well if we look at it this way, the word "cool" itself means at low temperature, slangs have this randomness to them.
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Oh, do you mean that 'cool' goes with 'legal' because something illegally obtained is called 'hot'? Sorry, Slow-on-the-uptake should be my middle name!
Are they cool, is a correct answer. In the same group of exercises legal = cool (um cara legal = a cool guy).
Without any context, are they legal and are they cool must both be accepted.