Agarrar

[Bobbert]

I like watching animated cartoons in Spanish because they usually have very good close captions in Spanish at the bottom of the screen. If I don't understand something, I can always refer to the close captions.

I'm currently watching " Huevitos Congelados," but there is a passage that I can't figure out why the character uses the verb "agarrar." How is "agarrar" translated in the following dialogue?

Carácter 1: ¡Otra vez, ya empezaron esos pingüinos!

Carácter 2: Sí, cierto. ¿Y sí les "dijistes" que no empezaran tan temprano?

Carácter 1: Sí, el otro día que agarro, y que le digo: “No pongas musica tan temprano.” Y que agarra, y me dice, “¿Por?” Y que agarro, y le digo: “Porque es temprano.” Y que agarra y me dice: “¿Y?. Y ya no supe qué agarrar y qué decirle.

The above is from minute 2:58 to 3:17 of the animated cartoon. When I couldn't figure out what was being said, I referred to the close captions. The above is what I heard and what was written in the close captions.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[aleCcowaN]

Usually "agarrar y -some action-" means to do that action in an untimely manner. But there's some sudden or out of a whim quality in that phrasing that makes it sound daring and "alpha" hence proper to use in a tough neighbourhood or among chavs. But overuse makes it lose strength so it's reduced to only jargon and a filler word. And this is what I get from this example.

The regional accent those characters use is the typical accent given to hillbillies and the like in media dubbed in Mexico. The unpolished "dijistes" confirms that.

[Bobbert]

Thank you, aleCcowaN.

Yes, this animation is definitely in the Mexican dialect. The accents of the characters and the use of words like “ándale, chuza, esquincle, guácala, etc.” are some of the things that give it away.

Thanks again for your input.

[aleCcowaN]

You're welcome!

Just one thing. Mexico is a huge country, with millions of people and dozens of regional accents. The unpolished accent used for hillbillies is, I've been told and if I remember well, a mix of a Veracruzan accent and another regional accent.

In the fragment of that animated movie you ask about, both the adult polar bears and the coolest penguin use accents that sound to me more as made up neutral Latin American Spanish, invented for dubbing. Especially the penguin, who has no cantito at all, the peculiar distinctive rythm of every Spanish localized accent, that rushes and hold the horses in different parts of the speech of what's basically a language dominated by a syllabic rythm, unlike every variety of English, always dominated by a rythm marked by the tonic accent (just compare good-a-book with buenœs liibrœs)