Why is this site called uncronopio.org? Simple: I am a big fan of Julio Cortázar’s short stories, particularly of ‘Historias de Cronopios and Famas’ (see Ego Sum for more details). A cronopio is a type of creature invented by Cortázar; cronopios are full of imagination, are a bit anarchic and iconoclastic. Un is the Spanish word for the articles a and an. The name of this site simply means a cronopio.

Los cronopios lo saben, y cada vez que encuentran una tortuga, sacan la caja de tizas de colores y sobre la redonda pizarra de la tortuga dibujan una golondrina.

Translates to:

Now it happens that turtles are great speed enthusiasts, which is natural.
The esperanzas know that and don’t bother about it.
The famas know it, and make fun of it.
The cronopios know it, and each time they meet a turtle, they haul out the box of colored chalks, and on the rounded blackboard of the turtle’s shell they draw a swallow.

Why is this site called uncronopio.org? Simple: I am a big fan of Julio Cortázar’s short stories, particularly of ‘Historias de Cronopios and Famas’ (see Ego Sum for more details). A cronopio is a type of creature invented by Cortázar; cronopios are full of imagination, are a bit anarchic and iconoclastic. Un is the Spanish word for the preposition a. The name of this site simply means a cronopio.

The last story of ‘Historias de Cronopios y Famas’ is called ‘Tortugas y Cronopios’ (Turtles and Cronopios) and goes like this:

Ahora pasa que las tortugas son grandes admiradoras de la velocidad, como es natural.
Las esperanzas lo saben, y no se preocupan.
Los famas lo saben, y se burlan.
Los cronopios lo saben, y cada vez que encuentran una tortuga, sacan la caja de tizas de colores y sobre la redonda pizarra de la tortuga dibujan una golondrina.