Comments

July 18, 2008 at 9:47 am

(1) Raime says:

When would you use this phrase, only in anger? Or is it appropriate when playing a board game with a friend who is beating you?? Would a police officer say this if I ran into trouble and got belligerent? hahaha not saying that I would, but you know!!

July 18, 2008 at 11:43 am

(2) Laura K Lawless says:

Anger or annoyance. I don’t think I’d say “you’ve got some nerve” to someone beating me at a game, so I wouldn’t use “tu ne manques pas d’air” either. It’s more like when someone mouths off or does something that they really shouldn’t. As for the police officer, while s/he might want to express that sentiment, I think the expression is a bit informal for that sort of situation.

Laura K. Lawless
Learn French at About

July 18, 2008 at 2:07 pm

(3) Sonia says:

Other synonymous expressions I remember from a few years back are:
“Tu as du front” (You’ve got **hollow courage**)
and
“Eh, que t’es effronté” (Wow! Are you (ever) bold!) usually with negative implications.
The two might be used by an older person (parent, sitter, sibling, etc) to a younger person about behaviour / words that have a double entendre unknown to the younger person. The speaker may have wished to express the sentiment but knows better than to do so while the younger person may be less aware of the audacity in expressing whatever had been said.

July 19, 2008 at 5:51 pm

(4) Elayne says:

I really enjoy your blog!