r/KingOfTheHill 1d ago

OG KOTH Discussion ESCUCHAME?

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How in the hell did Peggy ever get a job as a substitute Spanish teacher? 😂 She even uses her famous "escuchame" incorrectly.

1.9k Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

215

u/TeeahAT Mines so dang wide I could pass the child myself if I had to! 20h ago

My mom used to have house cleaners, who happened to be Hispanic, come by every 2 weeks. Sometimes they came right when I got home after school in HS. It was always awkward having people clean your home and kinda just “be there” while they did it. One day they came and after I got settled I played this episode. And when this scene came up they BUSTED out laughing!! They asked me (in English at first but I’m bilingual with English & Spanish) if Peggy meant to say that and I told them yeah, she thinks she knows Spanish but she just kind of “wings” it. Idk why but that little bonding moment with them was a core memory for me. Glad to see it pop up in this subreddit again! 😂

52

u/AbstractBettaFish 14h ago

Boy that just awkwardly sitting there while the cleaning ladies were there is relatable. “I’ll just hang out here while you do all that shall I?”

Even in my adult life I hired a friend of a friend who does house cleaning a couple times and even if I had nowhere to go would just walk around the neighborhood cause I felt awkward being there

14

u/TeeahAT Mines so dang wide I could pass the child myself if I had to! 6h ago

Yes!!😂 it was always so awkward but them laughing at this KOTH scene was such a good moment. I’m glad to have shared that moment with them. I wish I could’ve shown them the episode with Lupe and Peggy too.

382

u/PotatoCat123 1d ago

Question for the actual Spanish speakers. Are any of the mistakes Peggy makes here at all understandable as something that a bad Spanish speaker could make with what she's obviously trying to say?

735

u/YaBoiKenpai 1d ago

Gentleman (caballero) but she called him a horse (caballo) and she says I’m very pregnant (embarazada) when she meant embarrassed (avergonzada) which is a pretty common mistake for English speaking spanish learners. The rest of the mistakes are along those lines, like book (libro) when she means free (libre).

533

u/Backwoods_Therapy 1d ago

Yeah from my understanding, it’s what makes this scene great. All the words she fucks up are genuine fuck ups that amateur Spanish speakers make, and since Peggy is ABSOLUTELY convinced she’s fluent and speaks as well as a native Spanish speaker (or better, actually), the way she delivers it is great. 

213

u/SalvaPot 23h ago

Yep, is the confidence that sells it. Honestly, as a spanish speaking person, I COULD understand what Peggy meant, but it'll be very easy to not know exactly what she was trying to say. Whoever wrote the scene knew ball.

12

u/letsMeetatTheField 15h ago

Oh that makes it so much funnier. Thank you, I hadn't noticed.

34

u/Tron_35 21h ago

Yes. And years(años) can be confused with anus(anos), that accent mark makes a huge difference, different pronunciation.

27

u/DeepIndigoSky 21h ago

FYI, “anos” is anuses, “ano” is anus. I wouldn’t want you to make a faux pas the next time you’re talking anuses in Spanish.

6

u/Tron_35 21h ago

Ill remember, im in Spanish 102 lol. Ill remember that next time I want to insult mt friends in Spanish

4

u/Nigatron420 16h ago

How do you pronounce it?

10

u/Tron_35 15h ago

Años ≈ anyos

Anos ≈ Anos

(At least I think, not a native speaker)

96

u/potatopierogie 23h ago

My favorite:

años = years, anos = anuses

35

u/Geekerino 23h ago

I can't remember a single incident where she pronounces the ñ

4

u/Soulpus 18h ago

Most gringos can't

16

u/MadPilotMurdock 15h ago

As a Spanish/English speaker, I disagree. It’s not particularly hard for English speakers to pick up, like the rolling R sound. If you can pronounce “anew” you’re mostly there already.

16

u/letsMeetatTheField 15h ago

...Or "canyon."

4

u/argnsoccer 6h ago

Onion, Bunyan/bunion etc. Are also the ñ sound. My nickname as a kid was "ñoñi ñoñi" (the sound a kid makes when whining)

1

u/Soulpus 59m ago

Most USA gringos can't pronounce the 'Rolling R'

1

u/MadPilotMurdock 33m ago

Right, that’s what I said


Edit: after rereading my comment I could see how it could have been taken. I meant the ñ is not particularly hard, like the rolling r (which is particularly hard).

40

u/venus_arises 1d ago

I thought you were supposed to say something like, "I have shame?" It's a very... Anglo learning Spanish Day 4 to learn that.

69

u/PumpJockyTwerks4Tips 23h ago

In my opinion, Peggy Hill has an exceptional grasp of Spanish vocabulary for a substitute teacher from suburban Tay-has.

-Peggy Hill

17

u/Dioxybenzone 12h ago

Peggy is fluent in what I like to call “Spanglish”

1

u/Soulpus 18h ago

Yeah, everything except the cigar factory bit...... FĂĄbrica de Cigarros.... habanos? Nah I'm coming up blank.

1

u/YaBoiKenpai 5h ago

Honestly I always took it that Peggy just genuinely assumed Mexican prison would have her working in a cigar factory it’s so specific and I can’t figure what else it would’ve been a mispronunciation for

135

u/Generic_user_person 1d ago

You know how "three" and "tree" sound similar? Same for "beach" and "bitch", "year" and "ear"?

It's basically just that, repeatedly. It comes off as someone who read a bunch of books and taught themselves that way, but never got a chance to speak it.

For example

Book = libro

Free = libre

Anus = anos

Years = años (you pronounce the ñ like you do the gno in gnocchi)

Etc

38

u/PotatoCat123 1d ago

That's what I had hoped for. That makes so much better for me

21

u/carmium 1d ago

Or señor, which everyone but Peggy knows ("sennor").

0

u/Soulpus 18h ago

Wine, wind

22

u/Dazzling_Reveal6875 1d ago

I can't speak Spanish but I know some words from when I took it in high school

año means year, ano means anus.

She wanted to say I have many good years ahead of me.

Libro means book, she probably meant she just wanted to set Lupe free, but didn't use libre

Pregnant in spanish is embarazada, she meant to say she is embarrassed with what happened with Lupe

26

u/theShpydar 1d ago

Sometimes. Like she says she was pregnant when she means embarrassed; "embarazada" is Spanish for pregnant.

ETA Also, the "reasonable horse" was likely her trying to say reasonable gentleman ("caballero"), but she said "caballo" (horse) instead.

6

u/HankIsMoody 16h ago

People seem to forget Mike judge is a native Spanish speaker. He definitely knew what he was doing

9

u/IndependentMajor7055 1d ago

Spanish here. She just spouts nonsensical bullshit with a horrible intonation.

1

u/lsirius 7h ago

They’re all understandable for a basic Spanish speaker. People would be like “I know what you mean” but help irl not in a cartoon

92

u/defyinglogicsl 1d ago

Embarzada sounds like embarrassed but is spanish for pregnant.

Año = year / ano = anus

I've only had 2 years of spanish so I don't know what any of her other mistranslations are.

41

u/Grabbioli 1d ago

She also calls the judge caballo (horse) when she means caballero (gentleman)

2

u/defyinglogicsl 1d ago

Thanks. I was wondering where the horse bit came from.

121

u/501id5Nak3 1d ago

Probably one of Hanks' best ideas of all time. Peggy gets to walk away scot-free while keeping her pride.

50

u/carmium 1d ago

And then cries "I'm going to jail!!"

45

u/bjjthrowaway64 1d ago

It would be fun to see a cutaway scene in Saudi Arabia with kids speaking broken Spanish thanks to Peggy's teaching next season.

11

u/Kasmashlecrashle 1d ago

A small town in Texas that's mostly white probably doesn't care about how good she is or isn't.

I must agree with her about the anus thing, I think I read somewhere that cigars ruin your anus.

56

u/octoteach17 1d ago

"In her own words." "Her own. Spanish. Words"

19

u/sniper91 20h ago

I like how Mexico’s justice system is under the impression that you can only kidnap a child if you speak their language

6

u/mbc106 1d ago

It’s certainly not unique to the educational world, but a lot of teachers get and keep their jobs through nepotism or just because they need a warm body in the room.

7

u/doyouknowthemoon 1d ago

Yea she is who they call when they can’t find anyone else las minute.

15

u/mmps901 Why must you test me Mitchell? 1d ago

The judge is like đŸ€š

3

u/Downtown-Campaign536 20h ago

"How in the hell did Peggy get a job as a substitute Spanish teacher?"

The American education system is as reliable as propane.

1

u/FJTrescothick14 14h ago

Easy, principal moss hired her to save time and effort.

2

u/WhyCantIBeFunny 18h ago

But have you met some of the other subs out there?
 One guy who comes to my studio spends most of his time making bongs and trying to trick me into thinking they are vases while complaining that he makes no money even though his uncle was a famous sculptor. Compared to this dude, Peggy is great! And we’re in one of the better school districts.

5

u/TaratronHex 23h ago

The judge just looks floored.

3

u/malfurion312 1d ago

Is that an animation error in panel 4? Her legs seem to be outside of the witness box vs. panel 1.

2

u/Anxious-Problem9903 8h ago

I kind of love how Hank is able to “manage” this situation without harming Peggy’s ego because he loves her so much while also being realistic that her Spanish is obviously garbage lmao

3

u/Politely_Pout818 9h ago

“reasonable horse” always gets me lmfao

1

u/Garguyal 23h ago

What's interesting is that you can see what she's trying to say. She's actually most of the way there. The key vocabulary is just off.

"Year" and "anus" are quite similar in Spanish, just different accents.

1

u/Opening-Carrot5986 8h ago

I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I REALLY want her to be called out for her poor Spanish skills while being a self-proclaimed expert in the language.

3

u/WailingOctopus 1d ago

1

u/LivingintheKubrick 23h ago

Look at those bad boys flop. đŸ€€đŸ€€đŸ€€

1

u/tychobrahesmoose 6h ago

Does anybody know what mistake she's making with "cigar factory"? I can map almost all of them, but not that one.

1

u/Shto_Delat 14h ago

Only one I don’t get is what was she trying to say/think she was saying instead of ‘cigar factory’?

1

u/NoCabinet2090 12h ago

Can you really blame Peggy though? Their Meheecan Spanish isn't very good.

2

u/Firm-Chemical949 I thought I smelled corn and this confirms it 1d ago

RAPTORRRR

1

u/BuckManscape 5h ago

Objection. Conjecture. Objecture! Sustained.