Que él no es tan petete.

English translation: he is not so smart

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:Que él no es tan petete.
English translation:he is not so smart
Entered by: Robert Forstag

14:02 Jul 10, 2019
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Puerto Rican slang
Spanish term or phrase: Que él no es tan petete.
The phrase occurs in the transcript of a conversation of two women talking. Apparently both were born in Puerto Rico. and now living in the continental US. What precedes this utterance is a long stretch of unintelligible speech, and there are no further clues in the transcript as to what "petete" might mean.

Thank you.
Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 07:09
he is not so smart
Explanation:
If the term comes from the kids' TV program, Petete is a synonym for "smart" as the character had an encyclopoedia and could answer questions on anything.
Selected response from:

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 08:09
Grading comment
I am fairly convinced that this was the intended meaning here. Thanks to all.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
2 +2he is not so smart
patinba
3That he is not so dummy
JohnMcDove


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +2
he is not so smart


Explanation:
If the term comes from the kids' TV program, Petete is a synonym for "smart" as the character had an encyclopoedia and could answer questions on anything.

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 08:09
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 170
Grading comment
I am fairly convinced that this was the intended meaning here. Thanks to all.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  neilmac: Yep! The opposite of J McD's interpretation.
15 hrs
  -> Thank you, Neil!

agree  AllegroTrans
1 day 7 hrs
  -> Thank you!
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47 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
That he is not so dummy


Explanation:
I believe this could be a plausible reading.

https://www.wordmeaning.org/spanish/petete.htm

Saludos cordiales.

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Note added at 54 mins (2019-07-10 14:57:00 GMT)
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Note that the TV program (El Libro gordo del Petete) was also broadcast in Puerto Rico.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petete

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Note added at 1 day 27 mins (2019-07-11 14:29:39 GMT)
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https://www.atlantico.net/opinion/xoan-lopez/el-libro-gordo-...

El libro gordo de Petete te enseñaba, te entretenía y hasta la clase siguiente se despedía. Petete era una especie de pingüino medio rojo muy listo que daba la cara en Televisión Española en los años ochenta para contar de modo simple el porqué de las cosas en dos minutos, como si de una enciclopedia breve se tratase.

[...]

Un libro que recibes a través de la aplicación que más chascarrillos y boberías transmite por segundo en el mundo, se convierte en un chiste más como el de: ELLA: ¿Sabes ese tonto que todos llevamos dentro? ÉL: Sí; ELLA: Pues tú lo llevas por fuera.

As I note in the "discussion" yes, "Petete" is "smart" (or even "smarty" i.e. "smart aleck") as a primary meaning, but depending on the context it could be the opposite, ironically, of course.

JohnMcDove
United States
Local time: 04:09
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 21

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  AllegroTrans: you mean "so dumb" or "such a dummy" surely?
1 day 8 hrs
  -> I guess so. Idiomatically speaking. Again, context is of the essence.
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