寻找适合你的 英语 教师…
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.
2020年5月8日 15:49
回答 · 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 :)
2020年5月8日
Thank you all for the explanations!
2020年5月10日
Its a play on words, Ken has a different meaning in each of the sentences
2020年5月9日
'Kiss my Barbie" is also a deliberate word play on a ruder expression. See. https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/kiss-my-ass
2020年5月8日
还未找到你的答案吗?
把你的问题写下来,让母语人士来帮助你!
Monick
语言技能
中文(其他方言), 英语, 法语, 葡萄牙语, 西班牙语
学习语言
中文(其他方言), 英语, 法语, 西班牙语
你或许会喜欢的文章

Same Word, Different Meaning: American, British, and South African English
11 赞 · 8 评论

How to Sound Confident in English (Even When You’re Nervous)
13 赞 · 10 评论

Marketing Vocabulary and Phrases for Business English Learners
10 赞 · 3 评论
更多文章