# You ain't got shit on me!



## davey_c_02909

Hey everyone, 

I wanted to know how to translate the phrase "you ain't got shit on me!" into French (or its closest equivalent). Thanks!


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## davey_c_02909

hmm, "tu n'as rien sur moi!", peut-être? I really have no clue


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## verbivore

According to forum etiquette, and in the spirit of good sportsmanship, you need to at least make an attempt at the translation yourself before others are permitted assist you. In short, the forum is not a translation service.


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## gillyfr

What's this about, davey? Could we imagine a young person taunting a police officer? Or might it be same young person implying his friend is inferior in some way?


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## davey_c_02909

Well, to be honest, one of my friends wanted to know. My friends often ask me how to say certain things (usually insults) in French (or Spanish) for fun. I've no intention to say such things to a police officer, for example.


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## gillyfr

I wasn't implying you would say it to a police officer.  But it would be helpful to know in what contextyour friends would want to use it.

As it stands, I'd suggest (in French French), "t'as que dalle sur moi", where "que dalle" could be nicely replaced with "fuck all" (that's how I think of it in my mental dictionary).


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## verbivore

Where do you put the "merde" part though?

T'as rien de merde sur moi, mec.


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## davey_c_02909

it doesn't have to be a direct translation, so it doesn't necessarily need the word "merde" in it. I'd just like the equivalent


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## verbivore

Well, in this case, since the word "shit" has an equivalent in French, I'd put it in, just for fun.


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## Kelly B

Not necessarily. There is a good translation offered in post #4 for an expression with the same meaning: to have something on someone. I suspect it can be rendered more vulgar, but throwing in literal translations of the English words isn't usually very successful.

If you wish for assistance from our native francophone friends, it is often helpful to explain exactly what such idioms mean in your opening post. 

 Moderator note: discussions of swear words are permitted, provided that the conversation maintains a respectful and academic tone.


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## pdmx

Bonjour à tous

A vrai dire je ne comprends rien du tout à cette expression en anglais, et votre essai de traduction en français n'éclaire pas ma lanterne..
Que voulez-vous dire ? coment cette expresison est-elle utilisée ?


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## Kelly B

Bonjour, pdmx, 
Jann l'a expliquée dans post #3 du fil auquel j'ai affiché un lien ci-dessus. J'ai l'impression que la traduction proposée par Toller dans ledit fil conviendrait, mais vu la langue maternelle de celui qui a posé la question, je n'en suis pas certaine.


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## verbivore

pdmx said:


> Bonjour à tous
> 
> A vrai dire je ne comprends rien du tout à cette expression en anglais, et votre essai de traduction en français n'éclaire pas ma lanterne..
> Que voulez-vous dire ? coment cette expresison est-elle utilisée ?




It means emphatically that you aren't any better than me, that you don't have an edge or advantage over me.

Maybe now you will be better able to help us out

"Ne pas avoir rien sur qqn" seems ok, but I'd like your opinion.


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## Tiffin

verbivore said:


> "Ne pas avoir rien sur qqn" seems ok, but I'd like your opinion.


 
No, actually if you say this you're saying just the opposite: it means to have something, as "pas" and "rien" = double negation. N'avoir rien is OK, but not ne pas avoir rien.

I think your interpretation of the sentence makes a lot of sense. In French it could translate to "t'as strictement rien de plus que moi"


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## lilatranslator

"Tu ne vaux pas plus que moi" peut-être?


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## keumar83

En langage de d'jeunes, ça pourrait vouloir "T'as aucun dossier sur moi !" voulant dire "Tu n'as pas d'infos compromettantes à mon sujet"


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## pdmx

verbivore said:


> "Ne pas avoir rien sur qqn" seems ok, but I'd like your opinion.




sorry but your proposal above doesn't work
(grammatically it should be "ne rien avoir sur qqn" but it doesn't make sense)

Elle n'a rien de compromettant à ton sujet. 
corresponds to the underneath definition:
If you "have something on someone," usually it means you have incriminating information which would be harmful to the person if other people found out. (from the link forwarded by KellyB)

As far as the "you aren't any better than me" meaning, here are a few French expressions I can think of, though not as vulgar as the English I suppose (I'm not really good at those):

tu ne m'arrives pas à la cheville = I'm far better than you
tu ne vaux pas mieux que moi = you're worth nothing more than me
pour qui tu te prends ? 
tu te crois sorti de la cuisse de Jupiter ou quoi ? 

Certains experts en langage de djeun's auront sûrement des propositions plus imagées..


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## verbivore

Tiffin said:


> No, actually if you say this you're saying just the opposite: it means to have something, as "pas" and "rien" = double negation. N'avoir rien is OK, but not ne pas avoir rien.
> 
> I think your interpretation of the sentence makes a lot of sense. In French it could translate to "t'as strictement rien de plus que moi"



Oops. Yes I am aware of this double negation. If you read my posts you will see that I know the rule. Human error.

So, as suggested earlier, "Tu n'as rien sur moi" should work. = n'avoir rien sur qqn.  But can you insert the "merde" idea somewhere for me please?


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## pdmx

again, do you mean "you're no better than me" or "you have no incriminating info on me"?
(please see my previous post nb17)


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## lilatranslator

pdmx said:


> again, do you mean "you're no better than me" or "you have no incriminating info on me"?
> (please see my previous post nb17)


That's the question that came to my mind!


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## davey_c_02909

I meant the "you're no better than me" meaning of the phrase


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## FRENFR

To think of this expression literally, physically, you could consider 'shit' as nothing of importance.  The lowest form of anything.  Let's face it, it's not particularly interesting, pleasant or useful!  It's worthless.

So, imagine telling the person that 'they ain't (have not) got shit on you'.  Physically, think of it like this.  All you can offer me, put on me, is some shit.  It's worthless, it's nothing.  No challenge.

It's a rude way, thus, to say that the other person is no challenge for you, usually because you are very good at something, or, you think so 

Perhaps the person is good at a computer game, and his friend's friend wants to try to beat him.  The guy would say 'I'll kick your ass, you ain't got shit over/on me'... meaning, that his challenge is no problem to him because it is worthless.

Perhaps that helps?


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## Tiffin

So maybe something like "tu vaux pas un pet de plus que moi" would work ? Or tu ne m'arrives pas à la cheville ?


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## verbivore

Je crois que c'est le deuxième qui fait mieux l'affaire. Mais tout de même, il manque qqch  de je ne sais quoi...You seem to be saying that they don't measure up to you, but it's that they don't surpass you rather.


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## Tiffin

verbivore said:


> Je crois que c'est le deuxième qui fait mieux l'affaire. Mais tout de même, il manque qqch de je ne sais quoi...You seem to be saying that they don't measure up to you, but it's that they don't surpass you rather.


 
That's what I thought too before but Frenfr's explanation sort of made me think twice... so now I'm all confused...


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## misadro

the meaning would be .. _you have nothing incriminating against me_ .. _rien de compromettant à mon sujet .. _as already pointed out by  pdmx ..


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## davey_c_02909

yes, I already know what my phrase means...now, I would like for you to give me your best translation in French. Please!


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## lilatranslator

I like Tiffin's suggestions especially the first one.
"Tu vaux pas un pet de plus que moi"


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## Kelly B

Davey_C, the problem is that WE don't know what your phrase means! *Context is essential.*

Because you referred to a police officer, I was completely convinced that it meant _you have no evidence against me. _

Other English speakers are equally certain that it means _you have no advantage over me.
_
The translations for those two ideas are *very different, *even if the words are identical in English.


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## misadro

hello davey .. yes I'm sure you do know .. however .. I did perceive among contributors some hesitation about the meaning ..

i would go for pdmx' ... _rien de compromettant à mon sujet .._


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## davey_c_02909

Sorry, I thought I already clarified which meaning I was referring to when I said "I meant the "you're no better than me" meaning of the phrase". So, no I'm not talking about providing evidence against someone or anything like that.


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## tradexpress

Je n'ai pas tout lu, mais pour avoir travaillé dans les écoles publiques de Louisiane, je sais ce que cela veut dire ;-) 
*Tu ne peux rien prouver contre moi*. Il faudrait quand même essayer de la rendre un peu plus vulgaire... (_shit_ ne doit pas être traduit littéralement, c'est juste un indice de vulgarité, tout comme _ain't _est un indice du niveau de langue).
Peut-être : *t'as rien c'te moi, mec* ... Quelques chose du genre ... Il faudrait peut-être un peu plus de contexte...


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## verbivore

Sorry, but I've never seen the _c'te_ contraction before. What does it mean?


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## tradexpress

C'est pour contre, mais je faisais juste un essai... Ce serait mieux Cont' d'ailleurs...


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## pdmx

As far as I can tell the meaning is best rendered as _tu ne vaux pas plus que moi_
however in this translation the vulgar side of it is not rendered

I never heard _Tu vaux pas un pet de plus que moi_  - though it fits the meaning and the vulgarity, but the word _pet _is a bit _précieux,_ sounds a bit old-fashioned, so I'm not sure the style matches

Maybe there is just no vulgar French expression to render this !!!


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## Tiffin

pdmx said:


> *the word pet is a bit précieux, sounds a bit old-fashioned*, so I'm not sure the style matches


the word _pet_ précieux and old-fashioned ???   er... what do you call a fart then ??? Beats me...


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## gillyfr

Ok, I've been thinking about this a lot, and my opinion is that it is a highly contextual expression that cannot be translated. What needs to be done is to find an equivalent phrase in an equivalent context.

Context: young, urban, "underprivileged" persons retorting to those who think they're better than them

Similar phrase in similar French (from France) context: "Eh! Tu te prends pour qui, toi?"


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## verbivore

T'es un pauvre merde.


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## pdmx

Tiffin said:


> the word _pet_ précieux and old-fashioned ???  er... what do you call a fart then ??? Beats me...


 


gillyfr said:


> What needs to be done is to find an equivalent phrase in an equivalent context.
> 
> Context: young, urban, "underprivileged" persons retorting to those who think they're better than them


 
I'm just saying I don't think "young, urban, "underprivileged" persons retorting to those who think they're better than them" would use the French word _pet _- I don't know what word they use instead though - you cannot hear it in youngsters' movies, it doesn't seem to be used as a regular basis for insults... though I'm not an expert in this field...


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## pdmx

verbivore said:


> T'es un pauvre merde.


 
Tu n'es/T'es qu'un*e* pauvre merde

(even to a guy _merde_ is feminine)

Although the meaning turns out quite different because it implies "you're far worse than me"


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## pdmx

gillyfr said:


> Similar phrase in similar French (from France) context: "Eh! Tu te prends pour qui, toi?"


 
as cited in my post nb 17


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## verbivore

You are worse than me is just another way to say you ain't got shit on me. It's just looking at it from the reverse angle. Tu n'es qu'une pauvre merde/petite merde. I like it, and I'm keepin' it. It's better than any of the other translations thus far. And depending on context, it's not that vulgar, like among friends playing a video game, for example. Ha! You ain't got shit on me bro. I'm kickin' your sorry ass at this game. T'es une pauvre petite merde, toi. T'es nulle. Je te tue, crapule.


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## Intertwined

En parlant d'un manque d'informations compromettantes sur quelqu'un : 
"T'as que dalle sur moi" ou "Vous avez que dalle sur moi".


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## davey_c_02909

> Tu n'es qu'une pauvre merde/petite merde. I like it, and I'm keepin' it. It's better than any of the other translations thus far.



Je suis d'accord avec verbivore. Sans doute la meilleure traduction dans ce "thread".


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