who finds a way to pay his employees less than what he owes; the player who manipulates his cards and wins the hand. A malandro could be defined as someone who: Never works and lives off scams; a con man Has shallow, uncommitted romantic relationships; Leads a bohemian life of only fun and pleasure; Is lazy, sluggish; Cheats and deceives in order to prevail; a trickster. But, despite this apparent egocentrical, lying and malicious nature, the person who makes use of malandragem is not necessarily selfish. He could possibly be lazy, but the malandro is not careless with the people around him. He generally doesn't use malandragem to take advantage of another person intending to harm others, but rather only to find a way out of an unfair situation even if this means resorting to illegal methods. In fictional contexts, malandragem is often a device used to introduce wit, a typical plot device/characteristic of an antihero. See also Gérson's law Jineterismo Jeitinho References Brazilian cultural conventions Slang terms for men Stereotypes Stock characters Subcultures Crime in Brazil