You have troubIe working the pumps

[diegoandrade]

No one's gonna beIieve
you're a nucIear physicist.

You have troubIe working the pumps
on your shoes.


What "working the pumps on your shoes" mean?

[emsr2d2]

No one's gonna beIieve
you're a nucIear physicist.

You have troubIe working the pumps
on your shoes.


What "working the pumps on your shoes" mean?

I'm not entirely sure but I believe it's possible to buy trainers (sneakers) which have a pump so that you can make the soles more or less springy, by changing the amount of air in them using the pump.

I can't be completely sure that's what was meant bit it seems to be a possible fit. I imagine the pumps are very easy to use so the suggestion is that if the person is not clever enough to use the pumps on his shoes, no-one will believe he is clever enough to be a nuclear physicist.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=diegoandrade;811597]


NOT A TEACHER


(1) I am probably 100% wrong and will immediately delete this post as soon as

someone shows me that my thinking is flawed.

(2) I know no thing about women's shoes. But I googled and confirmed my

guess that the word "pumps" refers to a type of women's shoes.

(3) So I guess the speaker is being really sarcastic. I do not know whether the speaker

is speaking to a woman or man. I guess it does not matter. The speaker is trying

to emphasize how stupid the listener is. So the speaker uses the expression

"to work the pumps" (such as a gas pump at a gasoline station) to compare it to

the word "pumps" referring to women's shoes.

(4) Do you get what I am trying to say in a very clumsy manner? I do not have the

ability to explain it more clearly.

[~Mav~]

*** NOT A TEACHER ***

...the word "pumps" refers to a type of women's shoes.

Being a man who can easily be "slain" by gorgeous women wearing eye-candy thingies (Yep, I like this word - especially when I can't come up with a better one. ), that was my very first thought. I just couldn't (wasn't able to) decipher the meaning of that sentence, which, by the way, came from an episode of the TV-show, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". (I had to Google it, of course.) Season 2, episode 14, to be more specific. I did a search on YouTube, but alas with no success.


@emsr2d2

Here is the subtitle with the exact line highlighted. I'm not sure it helps, but I've tried my best.




PS: While writing this post, I downloaded this particular episode.

I do not know whether the speaker

is speaking to a woman or man. I guess it does not matter.

Dear Parser, you were 100% correct. The speaker is an African-American dude talking to his pal.

[TheParser]

Thank you so much, Mav, for your wonderful post. This old man feels really cool now!