I encountered this while reading Astérix. The exchange is as follows, where the druid is a prisoner in a Gothic jail being threatened by his captors who are demanding to see his magic:
Goth: Accepte de montrer ta magie, druide ! Je te couvrirai d'or !
Druide: T'en as un œil !
I'm guessing it's some snappy retort to the effect of "shove it up your #%^&", but I'm not sure what the actual expression is here. En avoir un œil ? When can this be used? What is the exact meaning?
Like many jokes found in Astérix, t'en as un œil ! is likely a double entendre expression primarily meaning here :
Tu en as du toupet !
Quel culot !
and possibly :
En voilà un peu !
Tu as la vue perçante ! (you have a good eye!)
In modern vulgar French, a similar reply for the first meaning would be
Mon cul ! (My ass!)
but that would be too trivial from Panoramix.
Œil used to be slang for "ass" (arse) leading to many jokes. That very same slang "eye" is suspected to be the origin of the expression se mettre le doigt dans l'œil…
Cette réplique vient d'Astérix et les Goths, page 29 où Panoramix a été capturé par les Goths voulant de la potion magique.
Cloridric est le seul goth pouvant parler français. Sous la pression de son chef (insistant pour avoir de la potion magique), il dit à Panoramix :
Cloridric : - Accepte de montrer ta magie [...] je te couvrirai d'or.
Panoramix : - T'en as un œil !
Après plusieurs relectures, et pour répondre au commentaire de @Frank, je n'ai pas vu de jeu de mot dans ce paragraphe justifiant cette expression.
Panoramix knows perfectly well that Cloridric can not "cover him with gold": he is only an interpreter and has no money.
You can understand this sentence as irony, Panoramix shows that he knows that the Gothic is a liar.
Formel :
- Tu te moques de moi !
Langage parlé, courant :
- Mais bien sûr ! (ironie)
- Ben, voyons !
- Oui oui ... (ironie)
Argot, vulgaire :
- Et mon cul, c'est du poulet ?!
According to the context explained by Mistalis, where the Goth just told Panoramix:
Cloridric : - Accepte de montrer ta magie [...] je te couvrirai d'or.
it could be the expression avoir l’œil, meaning knowing how to eyeball/measure things: the druid being tall, the Goth cannot evaluate properly how much gold would be required, and Panoramix is just commenting on that.
