Don't take a tone with me!

[aleCcowaN]

I was watching a rerun of The Newsroom and I heard this phrase -not exactly an idiom, I think-.

I can't grasp what's its intended meaning. "Don't take a tone with me!" sounded a bit like "¡No me sermonees!", a bit like "don't be condescending", a bit like "¡No me mandonees!", or "¡No me trates como tarada/o!" but none of them, really.

How can I translate this notion?

[Rusty]

No uses ese tono de voz conmigo.

"Don't take that (kind of) tone with me," is more popular. Both your posted sentence and this one mean the same thing.

[aleCcowaN]

Excellent! Thank you!

In my neck of the woods we say "no me hables en ese tono", we'd use voseo in subjunctive to make it a bit harsh, "no me hablés en ese tono", and a diminutive to make it even harsher "no me hablés con ese tonito".

[poli]

You may want to know that "don't take a tone with me" is an unusual but perfectly understandable usage. More commonly you would hear, don't talk to me in that tone or I don't like your tone.

Don't take a tone with me seems more metaphorical almost for don't give me an attitude which in turn is a newer way of saying the more precise, don't give me bad attitude.

[aleCcowaN]

Very interesting. In that episode, the phrase "don't take a tone with me" was said by a subordinate to her boss; and it was said without any special inflexion of voice, I suppose as a sign of self constraint. That's why I was a bit baffled about the meaning, which looks quite clear now.

The Newsroom was written by Aaron Sorkin -the one who wrote A Few Good Men- and I enjoy his intelligent and rich ping-pong-like dialogues.

[Glen]

don't give me bad attitude.
Or in street talk, "Don't cop an attitude with me!"

[JPablo]

En España se usa "no me hables en ese tono" o "A mí no me hable con ese tono". Y un poco distinto (de progenitor a hijo-hija) "A mí no me levantes la voz"... (un concepto un poco distinto, claro)

[ROBINDESBOIS]

No me levantes la voz

[poli]

Don't raise your voice at me and I don't like your tone are a little different