paarse krokodil

Dutch

FWOTD – 5 February 2024

Etymology

Literally, “purple crocodile”. From a 2005 television commercial by Dutch insurance company OHRA, in which a swimming bath employee refuses to return a lost inflatable purple crocodile to its owners unless they comply with several pointless lost and found regulations, even though their object is sitting right next to him.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpaːr.sə kroː.koːˈdɪl/
• Hyphenation: paar‧se kro‧ko‧dil

Noun

paarse krokodil m or f (plural paarse krokodillen)

1. (Netherlands, idiomatic) inordinate bureaucracy, red-tapism
   • 2016, Sheila Sitalsing, Mark. Portret van een premier, Prometheus:

     Er hangt een praktische, doenerige sfeer — de mensen van wat het Veereberaad is gaan heten willen ‘problemen oplossen’. De paarse krokodil te lijf, blootleggen waar de bureaucratie verstikkend wordt. Op zondagmiddagen Nederland fiksen, dat idee.

     A practical, can-do atmosphere looms — the people of what has come to be called the Veere advisory group want to "solve problems". Taking on red tape, laying bare where bureaucracy becomes suffocating. To fix the Netherlands on Sunday afternoons, that kind of idea.

Further reading

• paarse krokodil on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl