This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
tajada
Núcleo de Estudios de Gobierno y Seguridad

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

cartones engrasados

English translation:

pieces of cardboard stained with grease/ greased pieces of cardboard

Added to glossary by Rosario Meriles
May 29, 2015 23:41
8 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

cartones engrasados

Spanish to English Art/Literary Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
From an interview with an Argentine artist talking about a school where he worked

Trabajábamos con cartones engrasados, cajas usadas, un botón, y a eso le poníamos purpurina… Era hacer la fiesta de lo pobre y lo tonto

Thanks
Proposed translations (English)
3 +2 pieces of cardboard stained with grease/ greased pieces of cardboard
3 +2 greasy cardboard
5 Greased up cardboard
4 dirty / filthy / mucky cardboard
3 +1 grease drawings
References
la fiesta de lo pobre y lo tonto
Change log

Jun 12, 2015 04:11: Rosario Meriles Created KOG entry

Discussion

Danik 2014 Jun 3, 2015:
I think so too, James. Poor art can be very rich sometimes.:)
Jacob Z. (X) Jun 2, 2015:
Thanks for posting that link Danik. Cool stuff. There are lots of artists who might talk about being inspired by making art with kids using garbage, but this guy obviously means it.
Danik 2014 Jun 2, 2015:
I found another link with a selection of his works of art. It probably includes some of the cardboard pieces he worked on with the children at the school.
http://www.barro.cc/pdf/ABA-Marcelo.pdf
Charles Davis Jun 2, 2015:
Wouldn't that be "cartón encerado"? All the references to "cartón engrasado" I can find (there aren't that many) seem to refer to cardboard with grease stains from food (pizza boxes, for example).
Wendy Gosselin (asker) Jun 2, 2015:
I went with wax-coated cardboard, I think that's it thanks!
Charles Davis May 31, 2015:
But this is talking about the materials they used at school, and it's followed by "cajas usadas". The implication (expressed in "lo pobre y lo tonto") is that they used poor-quality materials. I am sure that "cartón" means "cardboard" here, not "cartoon".

In the source (identified by Danik) he refers immediately before this to "la extrema pobreza de los materiales", and he's talking about "manualidades". So "trabajábamos" refers to making things rather than doing pictures.
Muriel Vasconcellos May 30, 2015:
I don't think this is about cardboard I think that "cartón" means 'cartoon' in this context. See the *primary* meaning of the word from my paid-for version of Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry:1car£toon
Pronunciation:(*)k*r|t*n, -*|t-
Function:noun
Inflected Form:-s
Etymology:Italian cartone pasteboard, cartoon, aug. of carta card * more at CARD

1 : a preparatory design, drawing, or painting (as for a fresco, painting, mosaic, or tapestry); especially : a drawing in full size usually on paper which is traced or copied on a surface to be used for a final work *tapestry weaves that closely follow the modeling in the cartoon*
2 a : a drawing that is often symbolic and usually intended as humor, caricature, or satire and comment on public and usually political matters *a political cartoon* b : COMIC 3a
3 : ANIMATED CARTOON

Proposed translations

+2
12 mins
Selected

pieces of cardboard stained with grease/ greased pieces of cardboard

... or boxes of cardboard, may be.
Reference:

http://www.earth911.com/food/the-pizza-box-mystery/

Peer comment(s):
agree Jacob Z. (X) : In Buenos Aires used cardboard is quite thoroughly collected by the cartoneros, so if the person speaking is referring to using cardboard as free art supplies, the unrecyclable greasy cardboard/pizza boxes, etc. may have been all they could find?
51 mins
Yes, I think so. It conveys the idea they created art with any material at hand, used material,actually, recyclable and unrecyclable.
agree Charles Davis
1 day 3 hrs
Thanks Charles
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+2
11 mins

greasy cardboard

One possibility
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis
1 day 3 hrs
Thank you Charlicito, un abrazo!
agree Sergio Kot : On the button
1 day 6 hrs
Something went wrong...
57 mins

dirty / filthy / mucky cardboard

I don't think "engrasado" should be taken too literally here.
Peer comment(s):
disagree José J. Martínez : Nice day in Arizona.
1 hr
So what?
neutral Muriel Vasconcellos : I can't believe you gave this a level 4 certainty!
1 day 1 min
It comes from reading the question, as posed: "cartones engrasados, cajas usadas ... hacer la fiesta de lo pobre ...".
agree Charles Davis : You may be right. In any case, it's clearly cardboard (and level 4 is perfectly justified).
1 day 2 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
4 hrs

grease drawings

I couldn't find many examples, but I think this is a lot closer than 'cardboard'!

Michael Glassman - **Grease Drawings**
michaelglassman.format.com/sweaty-palms-and-ink
Pixel Sorter · Grease Drawings · June/July/August · Chapel · Stamps. Photography. The Gentleman Bear · Men in ... Grease Drawings. © Copyright.

www.senate.gov/.../art/.../GraphicArt_38_00964.htm
United States Senate
Dating to the end of the 18th century, lithography originated as a "poor-man's" print process of **transferring grease drawings** to limestone and then pressing ...

archive.org/stream/.../joelshapiro00shap_djvu.txt
Internet Archive
... 1983, supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. ..... **beautiful expression in Shapiro's grease drawings from the same period**

prezi.com/s0mznupv8z_a/application-materials-for-james-greene/
Prezi
Jan 11, 2015 - **grease drawings on limestone, wooden chairs, blackboard,** chalk, eraser, mirror, dimensions variable, 2009. Custer, SD acrylic on canvas,

https://www.pinterest.com/blom44/art/
Different crayon drawing/coloring techniques! ... Art Journals, Creativity, Drawing Colors Techniques, Photos Shared, Exploration Pattern .... **grease drawings**

Peer comment(s):
agree Danik 2014 : There are some examples in the reference link. They are beautiful!
8 hrs
Thanks, Danik!
neutral Charles Davis : In this context, I very much doubt it.
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
5 days

Greased up cardboard

If you say greasy, you are giving up a description on the texture. It would be like saying 'oily', when you really mean that they are covered in grease.
Example sentence:

The street was covered with greased up cardboard pieces.

La calle estaba cubierta de cartones engrasados.

Something went wrong...

Reference comments

2 hrs
Reference:

la fiesta de lo pobre y lo tonto

Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Muriel Vasconcellos
22 hrs
Thanks, Muriel! I think this is the source text!
agree Charles Davis : Note that immediately before the part quoted in the question he mentions "la extrema pobreza de los elementos". This surely gives us a clue to the likely meaning of "cartones engrasados".
1 day 1 hr
I think you are right about the materials. I got confused because of the pictures that ilustrate the interview.
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search