Hi jcjeant,
Originally Posted by jcjeant
I do think I am right in saying that the captain words should be an exclamation indicating disbelief or surprise to see something beyond his understanding or completely abnormal or completely wrong
Spagiola's explanation of expressing a sentiment of extreme frustration close to anger, was much better than yours. That's the reason why it is usually introduced by a volley of profanities; some of those words you quoted are sometime all used at once for good effect : n... de d... ! de p... de b... de m... ! c'est pas possible !
Originally Posted by Spagiola
please note that "c'est pas possible" could also quite easily be a generalized expression of frustration. For example, if you arrive at the movie theater only to be told that the movie is sold out, you may well exclaim "c'est pas possible!" It doesn't mean you think that it's actually impossible that the movie is sold out, or that you don't understand how it came to be sold out.
Disbelief is not the primary sentiment, as in fact, one will clearly acknowledge that the situation is real but very frustrating.