# What did Matlin say?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-matlin-say/651212>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 24, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-matlin-say/651212 "2013-02-24T00:12:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-matlin-say/651212/1 "2013-02-24T00:12:39Z")

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Marlee Matlin speaks in only one scene in _Children of a Lesser God_, in which she takes William Hurt’s character down a notch by demonstrating to him that her refusal to speak is not motivated by her desire to manipulate hearing people, but by her shame over the fact that her voice sounds like a cat with its tail caught in a garbage disposal. Disregarding when she screams “aah” before the first and fourth sentences, she speaks a total of [five sentences](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_RaNOd2E6w#t=3m15s):

1). “See my mouth?”

2). Unintelligible

3). “Hear my voice?”

4). Unintelligible.

5). “I’m not afraid!”

The subtitles on the DVD only parse the first “aah,” and the first, third, and fifth sentences. Can anybody hazard a guess as to what she says in the second and fourth sentences?

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-matlin-say/651212/2 "2013-02-24T20:26:54Z")

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No answer since all of the online versions of the screenplay say the same thing, but if you can find a copy of the original play (available in most large libraries) and if the same scene is found in there, it should tell you. You might even be able to google up an online copy- I couldn’t (google books has some pages of it digitized but not enough).

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**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-matlin-say/651212/3 "2013-02-25T04:48:04Z")

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According to the quotes section of IMDB:

“Here you go! Hear my words! Hear my voice! Ah, you want more than that? I’m gonna scream!”

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**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-matlin-say/651212/4 "2013-02-25T04:51:31Z")

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According to scriptorama:

“Aah! See my mouth? Aah! Hear my voice? Aah! Aah! I am not afraid!”