[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear Musicals.Net Posters,

I was out of town visiting my grandma, and while I was at her house, I watched her DVD copy of TSOM. I was bored, so I decided to check out the song "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" in both French and Spanish with English subtitles.

When Rolf sang "Timid and shy and scared are you of things beyond your KIN," the subtitles read "Timid and shy and scared are you of things beyond your KEN." LOL! Was someone on the subtitle team a doll collector, or was there just a prankster in the DVD department?

I'm pretty certain that the word is "kin" and not "Ken". Of course, Rolf could pass for the original Ken, but, then again, there were no Barbie dolls OR Ken dolls during World War 2.

I must also say that I think that the comparison between the non-English lyrics and the English subtitles is interesting. The non-English song lyrics didn't sound as though they matched with the exact English subtitles that were on the screen. Those subtitles did not represent the exact non-English words, did they?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Rumblepurr]

Although you have some interesting concepts on the wording, the correct word here actually is "ken."

"Ken" is Middle English for kennen - "To teach", or "to make known" (Anglo-Saxon). So the actaul translation of the song lyric would have her scared "...beyond your knowledge." The subtitles are correct.

That is why one hears a Scottish person say "I dinnae ken" in dialect, which means, "I don't know."

Respectfully,
Rumblepurr

[Snow_White]

Yessum...I always thought it was 'kin' until we did SOM and I found out it was actually 'ken'...yes Ken indeed.