[SOLVED] What is "back it out the county line" supposed to mean?

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Мастер True-to-original translations.
<a href="/ru/translator/michaelna" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1257575">MichaelNa </a>
Регистрация: 29.08.2015

I was hoping you'd use your imagination as the way the songwriter probably actually intended when writing the song but, I'm surmising that the "it" in "I drop it down, I pick it up" is "panties", "I back it off the county line” is a way of saying "I'm out of here". In other word, she was invited in someone's place, she got what she wanted and she's now getting out of Dodge. For "drop low", what do you think she would be wearing low to attract a possible new partner? I really don't want to get too graphic but alternatively it could also be sexual preferences.

Гость
Гость

I'm a down to earth Froggy, I like my Is dotted.
Besides, Mrs Del Rey is not really my type and I already got a glimpse of her ass while trying to make out what she sang, so my imagination has very little left to work with :D
Congrats, your explanation made it to the top of my list.

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

Well it is true that asking what a specific line (without context) means will open up a can of worms and invite everyone's personal interpretation. Unfortunately, English song writers nowadays don't seem to really care much about content. Here's a great example from a Justin Timberlake song, which actually is quite beautiful, but these lines alone (without the context of the song) can be quite vulgar, when they're actually quite sweet.

Actual lyric (with no context):
"And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy
comin' back into you once I figured it out."

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/justin-timberlake-mirrors-lyrics.html

If anyone was to ask me what this meant, without hearing the song, I would say it means:
"And, I'm letting you know that it was easy
ejaculating into you again, once I figured out how to please you sexually." (or something similar)

The whole reason for this is that the song writer needed an extra syllable for the cadence of the song,
so he wrote "into" instead of what he should have written, which was simply "to".

Songs and poetry can do this, and it's all about context, whereas in normal speech, no one would say such things as they are said in songs and poems.

Гость
Гость

I can understand that, but I'd be very glad to have a similar explanation for my original question.

Of all the hypothesis I've seen so far, "county line" could as well be the limit of any place you retreat from after doing whatever you had to do, like "state border" or "city limit" or "danger zone" or whatever.
What she says boils down to "I'm off", so why the heck would she use such a complicated and arbitrary sentence?

Sounds pretty weird to me, as if words didn't really matter and yet there was still a meaning to them.

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

I have to agree. But! In "the South" (as I've explained before) they have some saying that are a little different than the sayings commonly used in the cities. "across the county line" in it's simplest form means "leaving a place that you're familiar with." You know all the people there, you feel at home there. However, just a few miles away (maybe even across the street), it's a new "county" and it's unfamiliar to you. That's the best I can say about "county lines" in the "country" (rural areas).

Гость
Гость

Now we're getting somewhere :D
France is a relatively small country where your "comfort zone" would rather be your village.
The association of a county with familiar territory was not obvious to me.

Banned User PZ
<a href="/ru/translator/pinchus" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1410652">Pinchus </a>
Регистрация: 28.01.2019

Шиpока стpана моя pодная,
Много в ней лесов полей и pек.
Я дpугой такой стpаны не знаю,
Где так вольно дышит человек.

Гость
Гость

Quand reverrai-je, hélas, de mon petit village
Fumer la cheminée, et en quelle saison
Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison,
Qui m'est une province, et beaucoup davantage ?

Alas, when will I see again the smoking chimneys
of my little village, and in which season
will I see again the garden of my humble home
that is worth a province and even more to me?

Гость
Гость

I think these lines are referencing a dance move like twerking, the "it" is her butt. These phrases are all commonly combined with the word "ass" in hip-hop, rap, etc. so it becomes something like "drop that ass" or "back that ass up."

Drop it down means dropping down low (squatting down to the floor), pick it up means standing back up, "back it out the county line" is probably meant metaphorically to say that she's sticking it back so far it goes into the next county.

Since she says this after "I appreciate the way you watch me, I can't lie," I'd interpret it to mean she's showing off her body on purpose to get attention while still saying "...you can't get some." That phrase also goes with "ass," "get some ass" is slang for having sex.

Гость
Гость

That seems to confirm my worst suspicions. It was all about her ass after all :D

What do you make of MichaelNa's and Phil's interpretations?
Might be the last chance to save these lyrics as they hover on the brink of the most disgraceful vulgarity!

Гость
Гость

Yeah, I'm afraid so. :D

As for the other interpretations, of course everyone will have their own perspective and none of us will ever really know for sure what is meant. But I don't think it's about her panties because that would imply whoever she's singing to "got some," and she's specifically saying "you can't get some."

And since all of those phrases are often combined with "ass," it seems to be too great a coincidence to be about anything else.

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

Now Sarah's explanation makes a LOT of sense in context to the song's lyrics!
That's a big ass! But, sounds like hip-hop to me!
Still most likely a hip-hop song made somewhere in the South. LOL

And, yes! Not that you asked, but her explanation of "You can't get some" definitely means that she won't let you have sex with her.

Гость
Гость

When in doubt, ask a native... So much for the blinding flash of the obvious though. This is UD material. :)

I'm not sure I'll gather enough courage to produce another French version of this masterpiece, but at least the German audience will soon learn the truth about Mrs Del Rey's twerking.

Thank you all for this nice team effort!

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<a href="/ru/translator/brat" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1334845">Brat </a>
Регистрация: 13.04.2017
Sarah Rose написа:

I don't think it's about her panties because that would imply whoever she's singing to "got some," and she's specifically saying "you can't get some."

I think, we can connect it with panties because in the given context the 'county line' is, highly likely, that thin line (like that of a fishing rod) stringing out between those Left Hill and Right Hill Counties of her ASSyrian Kingdom, am I right? Though, in such a case it could be also a 'contour line', like on a map...
A nice approach, well, and such a productive one... :D

Редактор (Resident Evil)
<a href="/ru/translator/magicmulder" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1264038">magicmulder <div class="editor_icon" title="Editor" ></div></a>
Регистрация: 26.10.2015

I agree with crimsonDyname and Sarah Rose. That was the first association that popped into my mind as well. Dance moves, booty shaking, twerking.

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

Oh Brat! You're reading WAAAAYYYY too much into it. LOL. If only modern music was so intellectual... But, it's not. Shake that ass! Knock those boots! Werk that twerk! OOOOOOOOOOOOOh, yeah! Jump in the pool! Sweat!

It's been awhile since I heard "Jump in the pool. Sweat!" But, that always got me wondering... "Why in the hell would they sweat, if they jumped in the pool?" I have always thought that maybe they all jumped into the jacuzzi by mistake, and no one noticed. Such is modern English music.

Гость
Гость

French version online.
In case someone wonders, contrary to what GT thinks, the author comments go: "Hey girls! If you earn a living selling your ass to guys, you might not be taken too seriously when you talk about cutting their weenies off, don't you think?".
I must say I enjoyed this discussion a lot more than the actual translation. That's why I repaid myself with a cheeky comment.

Редактор (Resident Evil)
<a href="/ru/translator/magicmulder" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1264038">magicmulder <div class="editor_icon" title="Editor" ></div></a>
Регистрация: 26.10.2015
Phil Ambro написа:

It's been awhile since I heard "Jump in the pool. Sweat!" But, that always got me wondering... "Why in the hell would they sweat, if they jumped in the pool?"

I've seen parties where the pool was actually empty and used as dancefloor. Then again you probably shouldn't "jump" in unless that was meant figuratively. (I'm still mad at the classmate from 8th grade who took "throw me the butter" literally - it's even less of a literal expression in German - and ruined my favourite shirt. *lol*)

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

Reminds me of foam parties. My short friend loved them until he was on the floor dancing and they turned on the foam pump (which he didn't notice he was dancing under). He immediately disappeared under about 10 feet of foam. Later, he told us he almost drowned (luckily, he was wearing a shirt and put it over his face and could breath, although he couldn't see). After that for his birthday I bought him a snorkel and diving mask so he could go back to his beloved foam parties, but by then they had fallen out of fashion. Fashion is so short lived.

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

I hope you understand that in the USA "cutting off a man's penis" is really a rather shocking actual event that happened here. It's infamous! Lorena Bobbit, claimed her husband abused her and she couldn't take it anymore. In a fit of insanity, she cut off her allegedly abusive husband's penis. Then she went driving with his dick in her hands then became sane. Shocked, holding a bloody penis in her hand, she threw it out her car window. It hit the windshield of the car next to her. The man driving the car that hit his windshield put on his wipers, and it was flung into a garden on the side of the road. When it happened he screamed out, "Jesus Christ! Did you see the size of that bug?!!!" And, his passenger said, "Jesus Christ! Did you see the size of the dick on that bug?!!"
Later, the police found his penis and doctors reattached it, and he did a porn movie to show the world what a reattached penis that had been cut off by your disgruntled wife looks like. I'm not lying. It's sad, but so funny that you can't blame me for laughing. Check it out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt

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<a href="/ru/translator/brat" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1334845">Brat </a>
Регистрация: 13.04.2017

It's an amazing story but I wonder whether the dick did actually cross the county line during its journey... ;)

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<a href="/ru/translator/phil-ambro" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1399548">Phil Ambro </a>
Регистрация: 19.10.2018

I can guarantee that it did NOT. This happened in the city. LOL

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<a href="/ru/translator/brat" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1334845">Brat </a>
Регистрация: 13.04.2017

Ok, then it has nothing to do with the song under discussion.
But this 'I drop it down, I pick it up' does resemble the above mentioned story, though not preceded by 'I cut it off' ;)

Новичок
<a href="/ru/translator/jared-hall" class="userpopupinfo" rel="user1461203">Jared Hall </a>
Регистрация: 24.06.2020

Don't overthink it. It's Ariana Grande. The odds are 97% that it is sexual. Thats OK. I was probably thinking about sex 97% of the time when I was her age (alas, so many years ago).

Nor is it a "Southern" term. It is like Elle's famous "Drop and Snap" attention-getting method in Legally Blonde. (The poor UPS guy didn't have a chance!)

The County Line refers to days of old when county cops would not chase you across county lines (not the case anymore).

So she drops something; pencil, book, gun, whatever, then picks it up with a nice flash of butt. Teasingly, she backs off to a safe distance.

In other words, "I'll give you a taste of my booty, but you can't tap that!" Unfortunately, there's no rhyme in my translated version.

Гость
Гость

That was as funny as it was informative. Thank you.

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