coyote trickster

If the physicist Feynman is the coyote of physics, then the physicist Hofstadter might be the roadrunner of physics.

Isn't coyote an adjective here?

rpshIsn't coyote an adjective here?

"coyote trickster" is a "noun + noun" compound. Possibly you could parse "coyote" as an attributive noun (a noun modifying another noun in the manner of an adjective).

I guess you're not familiar with the roadrunner cartoons. With the mention of "coyote trickster" the analogy could only mean the coyote-roadrunner conflict in those cartoons. The coyote pursues the roadrunner in the cartoons. The coyote is always coming up with tricks to catch the roadrunner, but the roadrunner alway eludes them. The coyote is serious, tenacious, inventive, but a little quirk

The coyote is represented as a trickster in many Native American stories, as the fox and jackal are in other parts of the world.

It seems that I grammatically mistake the phrase at the beginning. No wonder I can't get the hidden culture implication! Thank you so much!

Your reference of jackal reminds me the story my mum had ever told when I was young. It seems, to some extent, that we share the same experience from the perspective of Nida's 'isomorph' theory. Thank you so much!

Sorry, I even don't know what roadrunner is without a wiki hit. But with such detailed description of you, the implication sinks in. Thank you so much!