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There's an expression in Portuguese "para você não dizer que eu sou ruim/mau", which literally translates to "in order for you not to say that I'm bad/evil", where "you" or "I" can be replaced by "him/he", "her/she", a specific person and so on. I think it'll be more clear if I use two dialogue examples:

Son: Can you give me some money, Mom?
Mother: Why should I? You spent all you had, last week.
Son: But Mom... Please.
Mother: Ok, "in order for you not to say I'm bad", I'll give you 15 dollars. But don't go spending it with useless things!

Second dialogue:

Boy: Hey, will you watch his match tomorrow? He said he'll be playing and really wanted you to go. Girl: Well, I don't like sports very much, but "in order for him not to say I'm bad", I'll go watch the first half.

Remember that I'm translating literally the expression - my question is: is there a similar valid expression in English?

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  • Valeu, cara, manda mais.
    – Centaurus
    Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 22:51

4 Answers 4

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For a somewhat literal translation, I would suggest:

  • "Here you are, but only because I don't want to be labeled a scrooge."
  • "Ok, I'm going to see him play. But I'm doing it only because I don't want him to think I don't care."

A more literary construction might be:

  • "Ok, Ok, here you are. but I'm only doing it because I'm a nice guy/dad/mom.
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There is a fairly common phrase, against my better judgment, which is used when reluctantly taking an action to appease someone.

TheFreeDictionary.com

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It is possible to express that sentiment in idiomatic English, but there is not a particularly common phrase that says everything you're trying to say. The closest would probably be something like for the sake of our friendship or to keep the peace. You would use these when you were giving in, but making it clear that it was only for the asker's sake.

For example:

I hate sports, but for the sake of our friendship, I'll go to your game anyway.

You had your allowance already, but just to keep the peace I'll give you another five bucks.

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An often used phrase is:

Just so you can't say I never...

In your example:

Son: Can you give me some money, Mom?
Mother: Why should I? You spent all you had, last week. Son: But Mom... Please.
Mother: Ok. Just so you can't say I never gave you anything, here's 15 dollars. But don't go spending it on useless things!

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