What does “sich anlegen mit” mean in German?

Sich anlegen mit means to pick a fight with someone or deliberately take them on. Nothing in the words hints at this: legen is “to lay/put,” an is a direction prefix — together they just mean “to position toward.” But the reflexive sich anlegen mit has carved out a sharply colloquial niche for issuing or accepting a confrontation. When someone says it, the gloves are off.

The verb is separable, so it splits in a main clause: Leg dich nicht mit ihm an! — “Don’t pick a fight with him!” In a subordinate clause it stays together: weil er sich mit dem falschen Mann anlegt (“because he’s picking a fight with the wrong man”). The register is squarely colloquial — you’d use it in a heated argument or a warning, not in a formal letter. In the clip, the mother’s new boyfriend Clint squares up on the doorstep and delivers the challenge directly: Wollen Sie sich mit mir anlegen? — “Do you want to take this further with me?” — a line that lands all the harder because the phrase is so casually everyday.