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Julia
"There ain't no I in team'
Hi everyone, can someone please explain the meaning of this part of a song?
The song is called "Me", by Taylor Swift, and the part I don't understand is:
"""Girl, there ain't no I in "team"
But you know there is a "me""""
I guess she's saying that there is literally no letter "I" in team, and also she means that, in a team, people should work together instead of individually. But still I don't get why "there is a me" in team.
Thank you for your help.
May 2, 2019 5:16 PM
Answers · 9
2
The answers given show you her literal meaning. The context is that it's a widely used saying that "there is no "I" in team" . This is used to encourage collaboration, teamwork and putting the collective effort first, ahead of personal ambitions and desires. Taylor is fighting back in favour of the individual, of doing what you want for yourself, by pointing out that there is a first person pronoun hidden in " team", in the form of the letters m and e. So it's a little bit an individualist's battle cry against too much conformism, a little bit an egotist's cry against sublimating her desires in collective creation ... however you prefer to understand it is probably good :). There's some discussion of the song's meaning overall at https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a27311476/taylor-swift-me-lyrics-meaning-shade-brendon-urie/. https://www.bustle.com/p/who-is-taylor-swifts-me-about-her-new-songs-meaning-is-deeper-than-you-think-17143916
May 2, 2019
1
You are absolutely right.
But... there is a me in team.
tEaM -> EM -> ME
Get it? :)
May 2, 2019
1
there is an "m" and an "e" in the word team. The singer is just being clever.
May 2, 2019
Hi! I have a question about this quote by Taylor. I get "that there is no I in team" and "there's me" but my question is , is it grammatically correct? Just confused about the Ain't no part.
February 4, 2022
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Julia
Language Skills
English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish
Learning Language
English, French
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