pollo electoral

English translation: Cristina's protegé / Cristina's man / Cristina's guy / Cristina's boy

16:58 Jun 28, 2017
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Government / Politics / Elections in Argentina
Spanish term or phrase: pollo electoral
Estoy traduciendo un artículo de Página 12 (https://www.pagina12.com.ar/46429-las-elecciones-en-cinco-cl... acerca de la opinión de varios consultores sobre las próximas elecciones en Argentina.

Pero hay una frase que no me cuadra y no logro entender a qué se refiere. Es la que está entre asteriscos más abajo.

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Roberto Bacman: Randazzo hizo cálculos sobre la base de que CFK no se iba a presentar. Massa cortó la relación con Cristina hace mucho más tiempo que él. En cambio Randazzo en 2015, hace solo dos años, quería ser el *****pollo electoral***** de Cristina y ni siquiera aceptó ir en otra lista contra Scioli.
===========================================
¿Se refiere a que Randazzo es mucho más joven en edad? Ni idea. :(

¡Gracias!
María Teresa Taylor Oliver
Panama
Local time: 09:20
English translation:Cristina's protegé / Cristina's man / Cristina's guy / Cristina's boy
Explanation:
Based on context. See also: https://mx.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201002212050...

The specific expression "pollo electoral" does not seem to be at all common.

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Note added at 20 mins (2017-06-28 17:19:02 GMT)
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Or even, possibly: "Cristina's surrogate"

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Note added at 1 hr (2017-06-28 18:09:51 GMT)
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Spelling correction:

As Kathryn notes: "protege" or "protégé."

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Note added at 6 hrs (2017-06-28 23:57:10 GMT)
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FWIW, none of the additional information regarding the meaning of "pollo" has led me to change or remove my suggestion. No one says "I have a horse in this race" in reference to a political contest. One could say, "I have/don't have a dog in this fight," but I don't see where that fits here.
Selected response from:

Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 10:20
Grading comment
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4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +3Cristina's protegé / Cristina's man / Cristina's guy / Cristina's boy
Robert Forstag
4candidate
Virginia Koolhaas
4horse in the upcoming race
Marcelo González


Discussion entries: 11





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
candidate


Explanation:
"pollo" is Arg/Urug slang (or rather, colloquial language) to refer to one's protégé, man/boy (like Robert suggest), favourite, candiate, etc. In this case, I think "candidate" suits better.
I would translate it as CFK or Kirchner's candidate (rather than Cristina's)

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/189449/scioli-cfk-h...


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Note added at 1 hr (2017-06-28 18:44:53 GMT)
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Definition of "pollo" taken from "Diccionario del español del Uruguay" (Academia Nacional de Letras). Pollo/a: En una competencia de cualquier naturaleza: persona favorita de alguien.

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Note added at 6 hrs (2017-06-28 23:42:02 GMT)
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Del Diccionario de Argentina:
pollo. m. lunf. Persona o animal en quien alguien tiene confianza de que tenga éxito en su actividad, y lo ayuda y protege. (“¡Ese es mi pollo!”).
http://geocities.ws/lunfa2000/aal3.htm

Virginia Koolhaas
Uruguay
Local time: 11:20
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 8
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17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +3
el pollo electoral de Cristina
Cristina's protegé / Cristina's man / Cristina's guy / Cristina's boy


Explanation:
Based on context. See also: https://mx.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201002212050...

The specific expression "pollo electoral" does not seem to be at all common.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 mins (2017-06-28 17:19:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or even, possibly: "Cristina's surrogate"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2017-06-28 18:09:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Spelling correction:

As Kathryn notes: "protege" or "protégé."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs (2017-06-28 23:57:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

FWIW, none of the additional information regarding the meaning of "pollo" has led me to change or remove my suggestion. No one says "I have a horse in this race" in reference to a political contest. One could say, "I have/don't have a dog in this fight," but I don't see where that fits here.

Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 10:20
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 269
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you so much, Robert! (and everyone else who contributed to the discussion!) I apologize for taking so long to close the question, but now I see the system chose for me (and very wisely, too! :)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  12316323 (X): Yes to protege (or protégé, less common). I might turn "electoral" into "political" here.
44 mins
  -> "Political protegé" would work. This phrase also doesn't have the disparaging connotations of the other options that I suggested. Thank you, Kathryn.

agree  Muriel Vasconcellos: Cristina's protege, Cristina's boy ("protege" doesn't have any accent in US English, per Merriam-Webster Intl.
1 hr
  -> I'm getting a much-needed education on the spelling of "protege" today. Thank you, Muriel. 😊

agree  AllegroTrans: protegé; surely Americans can cope with a French accent mark? We British have "café" and it doesn't seem to bother us....
1 hr
  -> Both "résumé" and "resumé" (in addition to "resume") are considered correct in US English. So go figure. Thank you, AT.
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
horse in the upcoming race


Explanation:
to maintain the (favorable) allusion to a farm animal

...just two years ago wanted to be Cristina's horse in the upcoming [electoral] race, and even declined to run...

This suggestion would include an extended metaphor (horse, race, run) commonly found in political discousre, at least in the US.

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Note added at 5 hrs (2017-06-28 22:07:17 GMT)
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And the horse race metaphor is used in the UK as well, as the article below suggests:

"In this General Election horse race, the favourite is skittish and the lame old nag is coming up fast"
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3716679/in-this-general-electi...

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Note added at 7 hrs (2017-06-29 00:12:20 GMT)
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To the extent that a strictly denotative approach might be deemed appropriate, I'd say Virginia's 'candidate' would appear to be a good option.

That said, some translators may feel it's their option, if not their duty, to seek to convey not only the meaning but also any stylistic effects including, in this case, those produced by the idiomatic use of 'pollo.'

I hope this helps! ¡Cuánto tiempo, María Teresa! Saludos :-)

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Note added at 7 hrs (2017-06-29 00:52:30 GMT)
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Following Virginia's latest post in Discussion, del 'Diccionario de lunfardo argentino' ('Persona o animal en quien alguien tiene confianza de que tenga éxito en su actividad, y lo ayuda y protege), I wonder if 'political lapdog' would be consistent with the author's intent and the tone of the article:

...wanted to be Cristina's **political lapdog**...

Marcelo González
United States
Local time: 04:20
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 219
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