"Accents" by Denice Frohman
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0:01 - 0:02I'm Denice Frohman,
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0:02 - 0:05and this is "Accents."
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0:07 - 0:12my mom holds her accent like a shotgun,
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0:12 - 0:15with two good hands.
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0:15 - 0:16her tongue, all brass knuckle
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0:16 - 0:18slipping in between her lips
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0:18 - 0:21her hips, are all laughter and wind clap.
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0:21 - 0:25she speaks a sanchocho
of spanish and english, -
0:25 - 0:27pushing up and against one another,
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0:27 - 0:28in rapid fire
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0:28 - 0:31there is no telling my mama to be "quiet,"
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0:31 - 0:34my mama don't know "quiet."
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0:34 - 0:38her voice is one size better fit all
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0:38 - 0:40and you best not tell her to hush,
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0:40 - 0:42she waited too many years for her
voice to arrive -
0:42 - 0:45to be told it needed house keeping.
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0:45 - 0:48English sits in her mouth remixed
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0:48 - 0:51so "strawberry" becomes "eh-strawbeddy"
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0:51 - 0:53and "cookie" becomes "eh-cookie"
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0:53 - 0:57and kitchen, key chain, and chicken
all sound the same. -
0:57 - 0:59my mama doesn't say "yes"
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0:59 - 1:01she says, "ah ha"
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1:01 - 1:05and suddenly the sky in her mouth
becomes a Hector Lavoe song. -
1:05 - 1:08her tongue can't lay itself
down flat enough -
1:08 - 1:10for the English language,
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1:10 - 1:11it got too much hip
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1:11 - 1:13too much bone
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1:13 - 1:14too much conga
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1:14 - 1:15too much cuatro
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1:15 - 1:16to two step
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1:16 - 1:17got too many piano keys
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1:17 - 1:19in between her teeth,
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1:19 - 1:20it got too much clave
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1:20 - 1:22too much hand clap
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1:22 - 1:24got too much salsa to sit still
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1:24 - 1:26it be an anxious child wanting to
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1:26 - 1:29make Play-Doh out of concrete
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1:29 - 1:31English be too neat for
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1:31 - 1:33her kind of wonderful.
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1:33 - 1:35her words spill in conversation
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1:35 - 1:38between women whose hands are all they got
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1:38 - 1:41sometimes our hands are all we got
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1:41 - 1:44and accents that remind us
that we are still -
1:44 - 1:45bomba, still plena
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1:45 - 1:47you say "wepa"
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1:47 - 1:49and a stranger becomes your hermano,
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1:49 - 1:51you say "dale"
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1:51 - 1:54and a crowd becomes a family reunion.
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1:56 - 1:59my mother's tongue is a telegram
from her mother -
1:59 - 2:02decorated with the coqui's of el campo
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2:02 - 2:04so even when her lips can barely
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2:04 - 2:06stretch themselves around english,
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2:06 - 2:09her accent is a stubborn compass
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2:09 - 2:10always pointing her
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2:10 - 2:13towards home.
- Title:
- "Accents" by Denice Frohman
- Speaker:
- Denice Frohman
- Description:
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View full poem: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/accents-by-denice-frohman
This animation is part of TED-Ed's series, "There's a Poem for That," which features animated interpretations of poems both old and new that give language to some of life's biggest feelings.
Poem by Denice Frohman, directed by KAPWA / Robertino Zambrano.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 02:22
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
Maricene Crus commented on English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
Elise Haadsma approved English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
Elise Haadsma accepted English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for "Accents" | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for "Accents" |
Maricene Crus
Hi,
I'd like to suggest a correction at 0:21.26:
she speaks a sanchocho => sancocho (as it appears on the video)
of spanish and english,
Thank you!