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cocodrilos

English translation: academic dinosaurs

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:cocodrilos académicos
English translation:academic dinosaurs
Entered by: Carol Gullidge

16:04 Oct 28, 2016
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Spanish term or phrase: cocodrilos
This is from a letter written by an Argentine abstract artists in the forties to a colleague in Europe.
La revista está construida sobre un pacto de lucha entre surrealistas y concretistas contra nuestros enemigos comunes, los cocodrilos académicos y los camaleones seudo-modernistas.

Old fogies or something like that?

Thanks
Wendy Gosselin
Argentina
Local time: 03:44
dinosaurs
Explanation:
academic dinosaurs; although this is only a cheeky guess, it could fit the context

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Note added at 35 mins (2016-10-28 16:39:14 GMT)
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PS, I think of crocodiles - like dinosaurs - as ponderous and ferocious. Dinosaurs of course have the added implication of also being somewhat outmoded, which may not be what the author has in mind...
Selected response from:

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:44
Grading comment
I think this works! thanks
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +6dinosaurs
Carol Gullidge
3stick-in-the-mud academics
David Hollywood
Summary of reference entries provided
"academic dinosaur"
Robert Carter

  

Answers


32 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +6
dinosaurs


Explanation:
academic dinosaurs; although this is only a cheeky guess, it could fit the context

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 35 mins (2016-10-28 16:39:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

PS, I think of crocodiles - like dinosaurs - as ponderous and ferocious. Dinosaurs of course have the added implication of also being somewhat outmoded, which may not be what the author has in mind...

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:44
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 138
Grading comment
I think this works! thanks

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  franglish
27 mins
  -> thanks franglish!
neutral  Robert Carter: This had occurred to me too, Carol, but on reflection, I'm not so sure. I'll post a reference. Saludos!
1 hr
  -> It was mainly Wendy's "Old fogies" that led me to dinosaurs.... Cheers Robert!
agree  neilmac: Sounds good to me... :)
3 hrs
  -> thanks Neil :)
agree  JohnMcDove: What else it could be? Dinosaurs, sounds totally ad hoc to me. :-)
10 hrs
  -> thanks John :)
agree  Thayenga: :)
14 hrs
  -> thanks Thayenga!
agree  Parrot: love it
15 hrs
  -> thanks Parrot :)
agree  Dr. Mara Huber
5 days
  -> thanks Dr. Mara!
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
stick-in-the-mud academics


Explanation:
might work

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Note added at 10 hrs (2016-10-29 03:01:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

a lot of room for interpretation

David Hollywood
Local time: 03:44
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 72
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Reference comments


2 hrs
Reference: "academic dinosaur"

Reference information:
Not sure this works as "cocodrilos" could have another connotation.

The academic dinosaur describes an older faculty member who, like his namesake, has failed to adapt and is headed for extinction but fails to recognize these facts
https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=9tuJuP_khN8C&pg=PA237&l...

Robert Carter
Mexico
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Carol Gullidge: Robert, you've forgotten to mention what the "cocodrilos" connotations could be! That would be more to the point...
4 hrs
  -> I'm afraid I've never heard the expression before, but I know in Mexico we use "dinosaurios" to refer to the old guard in politics, who have a terribly dated and patriarchal idea of what government is supposed to be.
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