krokodili

From krokodilo (“crocodile”). The origin of the expression is unclear. Several suggestions have been made:

• From the fact that crocodiles' extremely large mouths make an apt comparison for carelessly flapping one's jaws without consideration.[1][2][3]
• Ferrari, an Esperantist in Paris in the 1930s, would comment Kion volas tiuj krokodiloj? (What do those crocodiles want?) when noisy non-Esperantists entered the cafe where he was speaking Esperanto with friends.[4]
• Students of Andreo Cseh. When Cseh taught Esperanto, students were only allowed to speak their native language when they were holding a wooden crocodile he always brought with him.

The latter two may be allusions to the idiom rather than its source.

• IPA^(key): /krokoˈdili/

krokodili (present krokodilas, past krokodilis, future krokodilos, conditional krokodilus, volitive krokodilu)

1. (slang) to speak among Esperantists in a language besides Esperanto, especially one's native language or a language not spoken by everyone present (literally, "to crocodile")
   • 2001 April, Hori Yasuo, “Kron-Put: Vjetnama bambua muzikilo”, in Monato, ISSN 0772-456X, OCLC 12892852, page 27:

     Miaj geamikoj, krokodilante, decidis mendojn.

     My friends, speaking their native language, decided on [food] orders.

• malkrokodili (“to speak in Esperanto among non-Esperanto speakers”)

krokodili

1. plural of krokodilo