Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The Cocktail Party






Be times she no understan a ting dey sayin
dem allous talkin’ bout stuff in dere eads
An comin’ out wit stuff she ain’t nare erd of, or
kere ‘bout. ‘special at dos four ta eight clock
cockteal tingys where ya spos ta get gussied up an et
 funny fud and talk lak ya knows sumtin. Fer four rs straat
oo the heck can keep up wit dat . All thet talkin’ bout
de color yeller and how meny coats a paint dis feller get
on 'is convertbull,  an er dress be to durn short an show up dat
spec tattoo en she sit an en she try to pull it dun
wee bit she miss de guy wit de drinks and der ain’t no way she
 gonna walk up to de bar wit all dos guys standin' roun' an
 makin jokes an lookin at er likes she come rights out de candy
 store an dey got dis sweet toot, and what dey doin at dis sort
ting anyhu cause all dey talks bout is crank oil an car racin ,
oo let dem in, but den oo lets er in; be times dey do dat jus so
dey can hark onto er ways of talkin dat dey figger be funny, er ta
fetch de look on er face when she no gets it,
enertain demself
‘cause dere be dem days 'tis truth, she jus don get a ting dey sayin




"ellecee"

translation

Sometimes she doesn't understand a thing they are saying
They're always talking about stuff in their heads
and coming out with stuff she has never heard of or
cares about. Especially at these four to eight o'clock
cocktail parties where you are supposed to get dressed up and eat
funny food and talk like you know something. For four hours straight,
who the heck can keep up with all of that. All that talking about
the colour yellow and how many coats of paint this fellow has
on his convertible, and her dress is to darn short and shows that
special tattoo when she sits and when she tries to pull it down
a little bit she misses the guy with the drinks and there isn't any way she
is going to walk up to the bar with all those guys standing around and
making jokes and looking a her like she came right out of a candy
store and they've got a sweet tooth, and what are they doing at this sort
of thing anyway because all they talk about is crank oil and car racing,
Who let them in, but then who let her in; Sometimes they do that just to
catch the look on her face when she doesn't get it,
entertain themselves
because there are those days, it's true, that she just doesn't understand a thing they are saying






"feel free to write a poem
containing some kind of
local vernacular, slang, or
pronunciation. 
Yinz guys have fun!"



Day 19



7 comments:

  1. Ha.. I have to say I had to read it loud to grasp it... My knowledge of dialects is limited...

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  2. Hank couldn't possibly understand some words let alone write this way. Still it is wonderful to read ellecee!

    Hank

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  3. That was fun to read. Thanks for the translation, too.

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  4. Lovely! I pretty much got it, and love the music in the original, but was glad of the translation too for some of the finer points.

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  5. Love this:
    lookin at er likes she come rights out de candy
    store an dey got dis sweet toot

    ReplyDelete