A line from Friends

[welldone]

Dear teachers,

This is a scene where Joey and Chandler couldn't decide whom to take to the Knicks game, and Monica suggests them to take Richard, who is her doctor boyfriend

Here are the lines:

MONICA: I meant, why don't you take Richard to the game? What?

JOEY: I don't know.

MONICA: C'mon. Keeps his fingers to himself and he's always minty fresh.

The one I don't understand is this last one. What does Monica means by that?

[Casiopea]

If I can remember correctly--it's been a few years--before that scene takes place, the guys are talking about who they know, and I think it's Chandler who mentions some guy who uses his fingers to pick food off your plate--I think that was it-- and some guy who has bad breath (minty fresh refers to mouthwash).

[shane]

You're almost there, Cas (good memory!); one guy had bad breath, and another prodded you and asked questions.

Monica says that Richard doesn't prod anyone, and his breath is always nice-smelling.

[welldone]

so funny...I got it.

You guys are brilliant. I should've known it since couple of lines above they were talking about the two annoying friends...

thanks a million

[Marylin]

Dear teachers,

This is a scene where Joey and Chandler couldn't decide whom to take to the Knicks game, and Monica suggests them to take Richard, who is her doctor boyfriend

Here are the lines:

MONICA: I meant, why don't you take Richard to the game? What?

JOEY: I don't know.

MONICA: C'mon. Keeps his fingers to himself and he's always minty fresh.

The one I don't understand is this last one. What does Monica means by that?

I have never watched Friends myself with the exceptions of a few episodes.
I have a reasonable explanation for you welldone and all you need to do is look for a synopsis of that particular show on the web.

http://www.geocities.com/vspramod/Links/friends/220.htm

What you gave us is taken out of context and doesn't make much sense by itself.

CHANDLER: Yeah, Ross can't go so it's between my friend Eric Prower who has breath issues and Dan with the poking. [starts poking Monica in the shoulder] 'Did you see that play? Do you want some more beer? Is that Spike Lee?'

Dr. Richard Burke, played by Tom Selleck is a dentist and that's why she mentions his minty fresh mouthwash on his breath ( as opposed to Eric Power's).
The poking thing is in reference to Dan that did the poking on her shoulder on previous occasions. She tells them there won't be any issues with poking from Richard: "he keeps his fingers to himself".

[welldone]

couldn't be more clear
I just hope that somewhere I can find some notes/comments on "Friends" script like what you did here so that I can understand it better.

Anyway, I really appreciate all you guys' help

[Marylin]

couldn't be more clear
I just hope that somewhere I can find some notes/comments on "Friends" script like what you did here so that I can understand it better.

Anyway, I really appreciate all you guys' help

You are welcome from all of us.
Now, you can find most everything on the net nowadays, especially when the show like Friends has gone through so many re-runs. I just typed in Monica's line and there it was.
Here is another one for you.
http://www.good-friends.net/scripts/archive.shtml
Enjoy!

[shane]

I'm a big fan of Friends. I have all ten series on DVD. Just thought I'd mention it.



It's HUGE in China!

[welldone]

Marylin, thanks for the tip. Sometimes even when I look at the script I am not sure what they are talking about. It might be because lots of jokes/puns is related to American culture, which foreigners sometimes don't know/understand. I don't know. But has any native speaker done anything trying to help non-native speakers to really understand what's going on? I once saw this ESL teacher's website. She explained every line in the script that she thought non-native speakers might get lost. It was really nice and I found even after watching Friends so many times, I'd never understand it at this level or from certain prospective if it were not for her comments. Unfortunately she only did this for couple of episodes.

Shane, I can tell that you are a big fan...You showed up at almost all friends posts here.

[Marylin]

Marylin, thanks for the tip. Sometimes even when I look at the script I am not sure what they are talking about. It might be because lots of jokes/puns is related to American culture, which foreigners sometimes don't know/understand. I don't know. But has any native speaker done anything trying to help non-native speakers to really understand what's going on? I once saw this ESL teacher's website. She explained every line in the script that she thought non-native speakers might get lost. It was really nice and I found even after watching Friends so many times, I'd never understand it at this level or from certain prospective if it were not for her comments. Unfortunately she only did this for couple of episodes.

Shane, I can tell that you are a big fan...You showed up at almost all friends posts here.

You are welcome Welldone.
I can help you with a few lines here and there but translating the entire script is a little much. Maybe Shane can pitch in with a little help too?