Find English Teachers
Monick
What means "playing with forces beyond your ken" and "your ken can kiss my Barbie"
I was watching The Big Bang Theory and then I saw theses phrases that I could not understand. In the context, Sheldon and Penny are fighting:
Penny: Oh, no, are all the machines taken? What are you gonna do?
Sheldon: No problem, I’ll just do my laundry another night.
Penny: Another night? Well, I guess you can try, but deep inside your heart you’ll know that laundry night is always Saturday night.
Sheldon: Woman, you are playing with forces beyond your ken.
Penny: Yeah, well, your ken can kiss my Barbie.
May 8, 2020 3:49 PM
Answers · 4
1
"playing with forces beyond your Ken" means "playing with forces beyond your knowledge", which means "you have no idea what/who you are dealing with". "your Ken can kiss my Barbie" is a witty play on words: Ken=knowledge but it is also Barbie's boyfriend: Ken. Penny is basically telling Sheldon to bring it, that she's not afraid of him.
Hope this helps :)
May 8, 2020
Thank you all for the explanations!
May 10, 2020
Its a play on words, Ken has a different meaning in each of the sentences
May 9, 2020
'Kiss my Barbie" is also a deliberate word play on a ruder expression. See. https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/kiss-my-ass
May 8, 2020
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
Monick
Language Skills
Chinese (Other), English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Learning Language
Chinese (Other), English, French, Spanish
Articles You May Also Like

Speak More Fluently with This Simple Technique
27 likes · 5 Comments

How to Read and Understand a Business Contract in English
21 likes · 4 Comments

6 Ways italki Can Help You Succeed in Your School Language Classes
18 likes · 9 Comments
More articles