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  3. Slang

il m’a traitée de camée

English translation: He called me a junkie

12:15 Oct 28, 2017
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Slang
French term or phrase: il m’a traitée de camée
This phrase appears in a witness statement relating to fraud.
The context is that a woman involved in the affair is recounting a phone call she received in which the gang leader wants to know if she is going to inform on him. I can understand that she is being insulted but what is the best translation in English.
Andrew Sharp
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:24
English translation:He called me a junkie
Explanation:
More common than "druggie" here in Canada, I believe.
Selected response from:

Odette Grille (X)
Canada
Local time: 07:24
Grading comment
Thanks. I'm sure this is correct from the context
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +10He called me a junkie
Odette Grille (X)
4 +1he called me a druggie
Tony M
3 -1he called me a cokehead
Daryo


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
il m’a traité de camé
he called me a druggie


Explanation:
or 'accused me of being a druggie' — depends if it was just an empty insult, or if there was actually a literal accusation behind it.

'druggie' is equivalent register to the source term (as would be other terms like 'smackhead' etc.), but if you wanted to use a more formal term, you could say 'drug-addict'.

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Note added at 16 minutes (2017-10-28 12:31:39 GMT)
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It is also conceivable that she meant 'he accused me of being on drugs (at that particular moment), but I imagine that is probably less likely.

Tony M
France
Local time: 13:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Charles Davis: I'm not sure I can imagine a gang leader using the word "druggie"; it sounds too mild to me. // Yes, point taken. The advantage of "druggie" is that it is non-specific. Practically every colloquial term (inc. e.g. "dopehead") refers to a particular drug.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, Charles! In direct speech, i'd agree with you; but as this is only reported speech; I thought it could be OK.
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +10
He called me a junkie


Explanation:
More common than "druggie" here in Canada, I believe.

Odette Grille (X)
Canada
Local time: 07:24
Works in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks. I'm sure this is correct from the context

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M: But maybe less so in the UK, where I think this term seems now to be a bit dated, perhaps? Well, to those of us not in the 'milieu', at any rate ;-)
4 mins
agree  Azhar Zafar
6 mins
neutral  Charles Davis: The problem with this, to me, is that a junkie is specifically a heroin user (junk = heroin), whereas "camé(e)" doesn't specify; it could be anything: cocaine, crack, meth, even marihuana
2 hrs
agree  katsy: on hard drugs. I thonk Charles is right strictly speaking but I'm not convinced the term is used specifically for heroin addicts/ sorry my phone won't let me write "think" above😞
5 hrs
agree  Jennifer White: agree with Katsy
5 hrs
agree  Solen Fillatre: Yes, junkie
6 hrs
agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne
6 hrs
agree  Lara Barnett: Whatever the original specific use of junkie may be, this is still commonly used more generally for any drug overuse.
9 hrs
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: not just in Canada. word is used for any overuse of hard drugs as few junkies these days take heroin on its own but rather a cocktail of drugs. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=junkie
11 hrs
agree  Paolo Dagonnier
2 days 19 hrs
agree  writeaway: Agree with others. It's the term for substance abusers. Definitely not specifically heroin. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/junkie
2 days 19 hrs
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
he called me a cokehead


Explanation:
strictly speaking a cokehead

came \kam\ féminin

(Argot) Cocaïne ou toute autre drogue.
La came, commença-t-il, vois-tu c’est une organisation comme il n’y en a pas beaucoup qu’on pourrait comparer. — (Francis Carco, Images cachées, Éditions Albin Michel, Paris, 1928)
https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/came

although if could be also any other drug ...

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Note added at 14 hrs (2017-10-29 03:00:57 GMT)
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or possibly "a space cadet" ...

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Note added at 15 hrs (2017-10-29 03:35:34 GMT)
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"he told me that I'm off my head"

off my head

high on drugs or drink , out of it not really here
"i took so many painkillers i was off my head"
#stoned#drunk#high#floating#wasted
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=off my head


one other possibility, depending on what is the rest of the story - if the intended meaning was "you don't know what are doing ..." rather than just throwing insults of the "you're a junkie" kind ...

again, context, context, context!


Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:24
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Yvonne Gallagher: cokehead is someone who does coke
1 day 19 hrs
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