If it's on a t-shirt, it's more likely to be the defiant 'I do whatever I like', anarchist-style. But 'I create what I want out of life' isn't too much of a stretch, I don't think. In literal terms, we're closer to 'do' than 'make' but the distinction isn't that clear-cut if you don't want it to be :). I can easily imagine two French people having a philosophical discussion about this very issue, in fact.

boy, I've made that as clear as mud. I translate French to English for a living...

I'd interpret it as "I do what I want" as in "i'm kind of a rebel"

Is this an international line of t-shirts? Or just somehow a very popular sentiment in Europe?

Isn't there an old Starship lyric that screams, "FUCK YOU! WE DO WHAT WE WANT!"

I wonder if the French phrase has its root in pop culture or if it's just an idiom.

shane - isn't that a Rage Against the Machine lyric? Although I think that goes "Fuck you! I won't do what you tell me!"

Yeah... Killing in the Name, right?

It read as "I do what I want." to me on my first glance. The 'make' meaning of faire isn't really 'construct'.

Definitely "I do what I want". As opposed to what anyone else thinks I should do.

shane - isn't that a Rage Against the Machine lyric? Although I think that goes "Fuck you! I won't do what you tell me!"
posted by muddgirl 11 July | 11:15

Yeah... Killing in the Name, right?
posted by gaspode 11 July | 11:35

Nah, I'm thinking Starship, maybe even '70s, way before "We Built This City..." and all that garbage, possibly when they were even Airplane. Jefferson, that is.

But I envy you your youth.

Now I'm also left to wonder if the Rage lyric has its root in the Starship lyric...

Stairway to Cleveland, apparently.

*Cartman voice* Wha'evah! I do what I want!