Don't try to get smart with me

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

At a toy factory
F.W= Factory Worker

F.W: Who are you’?

Man: I’m Chips. You look as if you’re having a lot of fun, playing with all those toys.

F.W: I’m not playing with them; I’m working with them.

Man: That’s funny. I always thought toys were for playing with.

F.W: Don’t try to get smart with me.

Man: Oh, what do you mean?

F.W: To get smart, to make clever remarks.

Man: Oh, I’m not making clever remarks. I just thought that toys were for playing with.

F.W: They are if you’re a kid, but I’m not a kid. If I were a kid, I wouldn’t be here.

Man: But why are you here?

F.W: To make toys.
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1- What does “Don’t try to get smart with me” mean in this dialogue?

2- What does “To get smart” mean in this dialogue?

Thank you

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2

Don’t try to fool me.

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3

Thank you so much, Torsten :rose:

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4

F.W. gives a definition, but here I think it’s more rude or smart alecky remarks. A simpler form would be “Don’t get smart with me!”

There’s another, different, idiom “to get smart on” you might hear.
“For this new job, we need to get smart on acoustics.”
In this case , it just means “to learn about”.

Also, there was a famous TV comedy show called “Get Smart” where the main character was Maxwell Smart, secret agent 86.

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5

‘Smart’ in this usage does not mean ‘intelligent’.

Sassy or flippant are good synonyms here.

*Don’t get sassy with me."
*Don’t be flippant with me."

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6

Thank you so much, Arinker :rose:

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7

Thank you so much, NearlyNapping :rose:

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