# tête à claques



## patrickr

Moderator note:  Several threads on the same subject have been merged to create this one. 

theres a funny quebec site/show that is called Têtes à claques... can anyone tell me what that means?


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## Gil

Loc. fam. TÊTE À CLAQUES : personne déplaisante, agaçante. 

Le Petit Robert.


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## Jean-Michel Carrère

What would that be in English ?


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## Gil

Je n'aime pas la proposition de Harrap's:


> Familier c'est vraiment une tête à claques! he's got a face you just want to slap!
> Copyright © 2000, Harrap's Multimedia, © 2000, Havas Interactive



Sur le modèle "punching ball", peut-on composer "slapping face"?


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## RocketGirl

Gil said:


> Sur le modèle "punching ball", peut-on composer "slapping face"?


 
Nice try Gil, but no.   

I'm not so sure we have a comparable expression in English.  We sometimes say "I just don't like the look of that guy"... but I'm not so sure that it's the same thing.  I get the feeling you would just have to explain in regular words how the guy is just so bloody irritating that just looking at him makes you want to slap him across the face.

I'm still a bit confused by this expression though.  Does it mean that the person is making faces that you don't like (like maybe he's smirking at you), or does it mean that you're just bothered by his regular face ??

It seems like a funny (odd) thing to say ...


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## RuK

It's not a face thing - just someone who's really annoying, who makes you want to slap him. T'es une vraie tête à claques, you're being really irritating, you're getting up my nose.


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## RocketGirl

RuK said:


> It's not a face thing - just someone who's really annoying, who makes you want to slap him. T'es une vraie tête à claques, you're being really irritating, you're getting up my nose.


Thanks. I looked up several definitions (French and English) and they all defined it as disliking someone's face to the point of wanting to slap it. I just couldn't think of anything remotely similar in English.

If it's got nothing to do with a face and everything to do with being annoyed, then there are heaps of expressions.
"He gets on my nerves"
"He drives me mad/nuts/crazy/up the wall"
"He grates on me"
"He annoys the hell out of me"

I can come up with a few more off the top of my head, but they all have some colourful language...


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## Gil

RocketGirl said:


> Does it mean that the person is making faces that you don't like (like maybe he's smirking at you), or does it mean that you're just bothered by his regular face ??
> It seems like a funny (odd) thing to say ...


It meand that you're just bothered by his regular face and behavior


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## Nicomon

RuK said:


> It's not a face thing - just someone who's really annoying, who makes you want to slap him. T'es une vraie tête à claques, you're being really irritating, you're getting up my nose.


 
I would say that it's not *only *a face thing. When I hear _Il a une vraie "tête à claques",_ I definitely think of this definition_:_

- tête à claques : [Familier] personne antipathique, à la physionomie désagréable.

In a Canadian context, (without naming any ... wouldn't want to start a fight) I can think of a few politicians who have a "tête à claques".


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## RuK

Maybe I'm wrong? Always possible. I guess I must have assumed that nobody would be so superficial as to call their own KID "une tête à claques" just because they have a funny nose or something - I swear I've heard mothers say this though...


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## Gez

RocketGirl said:


> I'm not so sure we have a comparable expression in English.



"He just plain needs a beating," maybe?


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## RocketGirl

Gez said:


> "He just plain needs a beating," maybe?


How about "I'd like to jab a fork in his eye" ? Although I suppose it's not so much an expression as it is a statement 

Or better yet, "I feel like jabbing a fork in my own eye so I don't have to look at him anymore".


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## RocketGirl

Nicomon said:


> This is it, when you don't have one... you invent one... and a new word becomes a trend. I think _slapping face_ says it all.


Ok then smarty, how would you use it in a sentence ?

"That guy's a real face-slapper" (pointing to the idiot)
or maybe
"He's got a face ripe for the slapping"

??


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## viera

I think it's a kind of euphemism, an almost hypocritical way of venting your frustration, shifting the blame from the stupid or annoying thing the person said or did, to the supposed appearance of their face "just asking to be slapped".


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## Jean-Michel Carrère

Does anyone know an English phrase for the colloquial French phrase "c'est une vraie tête à claques" ?

A "tête à claques" is someone you always feel like slapping in the face because you find them annoying.


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## CARNESECCHI

Hello,
The most reasonable equivalent I found is "He's got the sort of face that asks to be slapped"
Hope it helps!


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## Pedro y La Torre

We don't really have a phrase for that. Annoying person is the best I can think of.


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## egremoq

Whatever you do, don't confuse with the English "smackhead" which means a heroin addict!


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## Keith Bradford

And don't confuse with _*slaphead*_ which is slang for _bald _!


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## GEmatt

Hello all,

Is it _être_ or _avoir une tête à claques _? Or can it be both?

Thanks!
G.


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## DearPrudence

Hi!

I think you can say both though I prefer "*être une tête à claques*" : 
*"C'est une vraie tête à claques, ce mec ! / Quelle tête à claques, celui-là !" *


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## Longlord

Half a decade late, but ...

He's a pain in the neck.


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## lamy08

Pour moi, la connotation n'est pas la même dans: _avoir une tête à claques _et être _casse-pieds _(= to be a pain in the ...).

_Quel casse-pieds, celui-là ! _= how boring he is!
_Il a une vraie tête à claques, celui-là ! _= He's so getting on my nerves that I feel like slapping him in the face!


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## PCM (Seattle)

viera said:


> I think it's a kind of euphemism, an almost hypocritical way of venting your frustration, shifting the blame from the stupid or annoying thing the person said or did, to the supposed appearance of their face "just asking to be slapped".



This strikes me as the best general translation so far. A possible variant:
_Just begging for a good slap_​
Other possibilities, depending on context:
_A pain in the neck_
_A pain in the ass_ [informal, slightly vulgar]
_A noodge_ (also spelled _nudzh _or _nudge_) [from Yiddish, meaning irritating nag or pest]​
In contexts where a person's physical appearance or expression, rather than their actual observed behavior, suggests an irritating nature, I would go with Harrap's:
_He's got a face you just want to slap. _​


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## Timmy C

How about:

T'es une vraie tête à claques = You're really asking for a slap.


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## Uncle Bob

Perhaps past posts have concentrated too much on the literal "head" and "slap". RocketGirl's answer (#8), which doesn't, gives some possibilities.
Also, perhaps, "he/she just asks for a thump", to return to the violent aspect.


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## Lester B

"His face is asking for a beating"
"His face makes me want to slap him"
_Super_ vernacular: "his face makes me want to vom."


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## petit1

"Une tête à claques" can be someone you really want to slap because he or she always wears a "malignant" expression. But it is not always a matter of "face" and "slap". It can be a stuborn person you would like to knock some sense into.


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## Forbane

Comment dit-on "tête à claques" en anglais ?
Merci.


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## wildan1

Perhaps _He's just slapworthy_ or _He just wants to make you slap him upside the head. _(Both of these expressions are widely known in AE.)


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## Itisi

When/as soon as I see X I want to hit him/her


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## Forbane

Thank you Wildan1 and Itisi


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