καρεκλοκένταυρος – a politician or civil servant determined to hold onto his or her position. Where civil servants are concerned “jobsworth” could be a reasonable translation. In it for their own good, and generally unhelpful with regard to Joe or Jo Public.
As we know, in mythology the centaur had the head, torso and arms of a man, while the rest of him (maybe including the “πάρτον βίλλα” [cf GW24/007]) was equine.
One portrayal looks like this:
In Greek, the usual word for a parliamentary seat is έδρα; καρέκλα, the humble chair, is always used pejoratively in political or bureaucratic contexts. So, to be called a “Chair Centaur” is anything but a compliment as it implies that one’s grim determination to remain glued or chained to a job entails being all out for oneself, possibly betraying colleagues, and doing fuck all to help the public. The graphics below are good examples.
I think many Greeks would like to see the above as an exhibit in a Museum of Modern Greek History. And here is an image of a “Chair Centaur” – very classical in style.
Time now for a real live image:
Panos Kammenos of the now defunct Independent Greeks, chained to his seat and putting up with any shit his SYRIZA coalition partners threw at him. And now from the cartoonist ARKAS:
First Speaker: Talk about love! You’ve got know idea what he’s done for it.
Second Speaker: Is he crazy?
First Speaker: No, he’s a government minister.
Finally, my wife and I went to the EFKA (National Social Security Fund) office a couple of days ago, an experience I was dreading based on previous interactions with government officials. Maybe those we met were καρεκλοκένταυροι, but they were polite, helpful and efficient.