# "faisez bien gaffe parce que moi j'ai mon super gilet jaune" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703 "2018-12-06T19:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/21 "2018-12-07T19:07:42Z")
Yeah, “faisez” would be the logical form for the present indicative/imperative accompanying “vous,” to someone who didn’t know the verb was irregular. I was confused when I saw this phrase for the first time yesterday (posted by **Ramira** , who I know is a native French speaker). ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/22 "2018-12-07T19:24:29Z")
I was only copying it directly from this thread for the purpose of a funny to me response to the idiocy of a certain pit thread although to avoid confusion my mother tongue is not the French, it is my school language (and first work language) and third language of the five I speak. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/23 "2018-12-07T19:36:26Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yeah, “faisez” would be the logical form for the present indicative/imperative accompanying “vous,” to someone who didn’t know the verb was irregular. I would think if you were to make that kind of error you would use _fairez_. The closest thing is _faisiez_, which is imparfait and wouldn’t be correct for the usage on the bumper sticker. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/24 "2018-12-07T20:19:40Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I would like that sticker for my car. I could raise a few eyebrows in these here parts. You’d get beat up for having some sissy foreign language sticker on your car. Worse if your car isn’t made in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/25 "2018-12-07T21:44:53Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > I was only copying it directly from this thread for the purpose of a funny to me response to the idiocy of a certain pit thread although to avoid confusion my mother tongue is not the French, it is my school language (and first work language) and third language of the five I speak. Sorry, my mistake. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I would think if you were to make that kind of error you would use _fairez_. Maybe - depends on how far into French 101 the speaker has gotten. 🙂 _Faisez_ seems the more likely error to me since regular verbs like _taire_ and _plaire_ are conjugated as _taisez_ and _plaisez_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/26 "2018-12-07T22:49:58Z")
The rules change on odd numbered days anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MDfive21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@MDfive21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MDfive21)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/27 "2018-12-11T18:01:50Z")
> **[The Gilets Jaunes and a Surprise Crisis in France](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-gilets-jaunes-and-a-surprise-crisis-in-france)** > > A new gas tax has inflamed social resentment, a sense that the ruling classes and their wealthy urban supporters take the rest of the country for fools. possibly referencing this? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/28 "2018-12-12T15:47:04Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Tangent: > > I understand idiomatic constructions can go off in all kinds of directions … but I am curious about the origins of the French idiom _faire gaffe à_. Is it perhaps a truncation of a once-longer expression? Or is it something akin to “break a leg” in theater? Or something else altogether? Probably a truncation of ne fais pas une gaffe. Which is don’t make a mistake. My understanding of spoken french is that it is common to leave out the ne which is most of the way there. Kind of like how “I could care less” came to mean “I couldn’t care less.” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703/29 "2018-12-12T22:26:22Z")
Despite the appearance, “faire gaffe” (to pay attention) is unrelated to “faire une gaffe” (to make a mistake). It comes from an old French word meaning “sentry”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faisez-bien-gaffe-parce-que-moi-jai-mon-super-gilet-jaune/825703.md?page=1)