avoir les jetons

The French expression “avoir les jetons” translates literally to “to have the chips” and has the following meanings in English:

• to be petrified
• to have the jitters
• to be scared, nervous
• to have the heebie-jeebies

According to expressio.fr, the expression has to to with earning one’s salary and going to the roulette table and experiencing fear when placing a bet and losing everything.

Here’s an example sentence:

• Pour descendre la montagne j’ai dû prendre le télésiège. Normalement je n’ai pas le vertige mais cette fois j’ai eu les jetons! To go down the mountain I had to take the chiarlift. Normally I’m not afraid of heights but this time I was petrified.

Here are some synonymous expressions:

• avoir les chocottes – chocotte as a noun means sissy
• avoir les foies – foie means liver!

Two things to note:

• Donner les jetons à quelqu’un means to scare somebody.
• An unrelated expression faux comme un jeton means to be two-faced or hypocritical.

main expressions page