« Vous refusez ? Vous êtes sérieux ? Drôle de notion de l'amitié ! »
I suppose that the speaker means: "What an incredible notion of friendship you have!". The phrase "drôle de" meaning "incredible/terrific" can be used sarcastically?
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Tout à fait : "Drôle d'oiseau celui-là !"– PersonneCommented May 12, 2016 at 20:29
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2 Answers
Drôle can have two meanings depending on the context : the most common one is "amusant, comique", and a less used one is "bizarre, curieux". I would translate drôle in this sentence by "weird" or "strange".
This second meaning is often implied by the use of "un drôle de" + noun.To answer your question, not only "drôle de" can be used sarcastically but it is specifically used to suggest a sarcastic meaning.
Un homme drôle : a funny guy / Un drôle d'homme (or better : un drôle de bonhomme): a strange guy
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I totally agree that putting drôle before or after changes the meaning; I'd have put that example if I'd thought of it :)– Law29Commented May 13, 2016 at 11:12
I would translate your sentence as
Funny notion of friendship you have there!
In fact I wonder where you got the translation "drôle de" as meaning "incredible/terrific". "Drôle" means "funny", amusing, and is is quite often used sarcastically, just as in English.
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@Law29 Quant à « D'où provient l'idée de le sens "incredible/terrific" ? », j'ai cru le tenir de bonne source. Peut-être que cette définition n'est pas tout à fait correcte, après tout ? collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/dr%C3%B4le– MerissaCommented May 13, 2016 at 19:15
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The examples are good, in these cases you would translate by (for example) incredible . . . remembering that incredible means cannot be believed, or in these cases perchance almost too bizarre to be believed . . . translation is a funny business!– Law29Commented May 13, 2016 at 23:39