# racketter



## tchoupi

To say " je me fais racketter ". 
Can we say " I am extorted money at school"
Thank you in advance.


----------



## XPditif

Hey tchoupi. 
Je crois qu'il n'y a pas de verbe équivalent en anglais, il qu'il faudrait dire:
At school, bullies steal all my money. 
Ou bullies keep stealing my money. 
À confirmer par des natifs.


----------



## LART01

This was posted by an irish blogger=

School is not only a place for studying, it can be the place where daily dramas can happen. Going to school can be a real nightmare for a kid who gets constantly bullied and *racketted*.


----------



## franc 91

They extort money from me when I go to school/when I am at school


----------



## LART01

How about ''racketted'' then? Is this a mistake or just uncommun?


----------



## franc 91

Making a racket for me usually means making a lot of noise - extorsion, stealing money from...is probably what you are looking for - bullying is a more general term for using violence against someone (harcèlement) 
There's an expression, which I have put on one of my vocabulary sheets (which has the title AS)  - As easy as taking money from a baby.


----------



## LART01

Yes *bully* I know
May *racketted* be used here or not?


----------



## Pedro y La Torre

I think the blogger just made a mistake, I've never heard of this before. Either that, or it's local slang.


----------



## franc 91

No it is usual usage in French


----------



## LART01

Pedro y La Torre said:


> I think the blogger just made a mistake, I've never heard of this before. Either that, or it's local slang.


 
Thanks
it is clear now!


----------



## Patientia

I'm not aware of 'getting racketted' being used commonly, in Australia at least. Racket as a noun yes... 

A suggestion:

Bullies steal my pocket money.

_Pocket_ money implies that it's a young (ie. school aged) person.


----------



## dratuor

_'to get mugged'_ is rather common for this situation


----------



## franc 91

to get mugged veut dire se faire attaqué, tabassé - il n'y a pas forcément l'idée qu'ils vous prennent votre porte-feuille - c'est possible mais pas obligatoirement


----------



## dratuor

franc 91 said:


> to get mugged veut dire se faire attaqué, tabassé - il n'y a pas forcément l'idée qu'ils vous prennent votre porte-feuille - c'est possible mais pas obligatoirement



That's what you hear all the time in series when someone 'se fait racketter'


----------



## Keith Bradford

Another way of expressing it: I get _bullied out of_ my pocket money.


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Hello,

it seems that the verb _"to racketeer"_ exists in English, but also that it's not very commonly used.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, if you can help me with an American English translation of this verb (or its equivalents) in the following context, that would be awesome.

The French verb _"racketter"_ is used by a kid.

I'd say he's around 10 yo, lives in the city's projects and can be called a _"racaille"_ (French idiom whose meaning is quite accurately illustrated by *geve* in the #5 post of this thread).

An evening on a deserted square in the city, the kid meets a policewoman and starts getting mad at her.

This is was he tells her:

_Mon daron _[père]_, vous l'avez convoqué parce que soit disant j'ai racketté les trollos _[garçons du même âge]_ du quartier !
J'ai pas racketté les trollos !_

And here's my first try:

_You brought in my dad! Said I was racketeering!
I never racketeered anyone!_

These are movie subtitles I'm struggling with, so I'm not allowed much space for each line of dialogue (which explains why some parts are not translated: the kids speaks —or rather shouts— very very fast).

Having read the comments on this thread, I went for a second try:

_You brought in my dad! Said I've been bullying kids!
I never bullied any kid!_

I am aware this understates the situation, but I really can't find anything else to avoid using the verb _"to racketeer_".
Unless someone here has an idea?

Thanks!


----------



## Oddmania

Je pense que la solution de Keith serait la meilleure option. Selon l'espace disponible : _"Said I was bullying kids [out of their money]!"_


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Oddmania said:


> Je pense que la solution de Keith serait la meilleure option. Selon l'espace disponible : _"Said I was bullying kids [out of their money]!"_



Merci beaucoup pour la proposition (ainsi que votre compréhension de mes contraintes d'espace).
Mais les "trollos" en question ne sont pas des enfants : difficile, alors d'utiliser le verbe "to bully".
Je vérifie avec le réal, mais il me semble bien qu'il a défini "trollos" comme "zonards".
(Je corrigerai si nécessaire.)


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Oddmania said:


> _"Said I was bullying kids [out of their money]!"_



Le réalisateur me confirme que les _"trollos"_ en question (le mot équivaut pour lui à _"connards"_) ont le même âge que le gamin.
Donc vous avez raison : _"bullying kids"_ peut marcher (je n'ai pas la place pour _"out of their money"_).

Je modifie mon post initial en fonction (au cas où...) et vous remercie pour votre suggestion.


----------



## Le Gallois bilingue

“There are bullies at school who for e me to hand over my pocket money” might be worth considering.


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Le Gallois bilingue said:


> “There are bullies at school who for e me to hand over my pocket money” might be worth considering.



Thank you!
But I'm not sure I understand what you mean...    :s

NB: I just edited my initial post a minute ago.
I misunderstood the signification of _"trollos"_.
For the director, it just means _"assholes"_.
But, more importantly, he confirmed these _"trollos"_ and the kid who is supposed to have _"racketeered"_ them are the same age.

Therefore my new try is:

_You brought in my dad! Said I've been bullying kids!
I never bullied any kid!_


----------



## Le Gallois bilingue

ShakeSauvage said:


> Thank you!
> But I'm not sure I understand what you mean...    :s
> 
> NB: I just edited my initial post a minute ago.
> I misunderstood the signification of _"trollos"_.
> For the director, it just means _"assholes"_.
> But, more importantly, he confirmed these _"trollos"_ and the kid who is supposed to have _"racketeered"_ them are the same age.
> 
> Therefore my new try is:
> 
> _You brought in my dad! Said I've been bullying kids!
> I never bullied any kid!_


Sorry, I was not wearing my glasses! It should read: “There are bullies at school who force me to hand over my pocket money.”


----------



## Wordy McWordface

ShakeSauvage said:


> Le réalisateur me confirme que les _"trollos"_ en question (le mot équivaut pour lui à _"connards"_) ont le même âge que le gamin.
> Donc vous avez raison : _"bullying kids"_ peut marcher (je n'ai pas la place pour _"out of their money"_).
> 
> Je modifie mon post initial en fonction (au cas où...) et vous remercie pour votre suggestion.


'Bullying' isn't enough.   'Bullying' could just mean being nasty to someone more vulnerable than you - it certainly isn't an arrestable offence.

You need to mention the money side of things. If you've only got a few words to play with, maybe  _Getting money out of kids _or something like that?

NB I agree that 'racketeering' isn't appropriate here. Racketeering is an organised form of crime/illegal business dealing.  It's not something ten-year-olds do.


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Le Gallois bilingue said:


> Sorry, I was not wearing my glasses! It should read: “There are bullies at school who force me to hand over my pocket money.”



Oh! No worries ^^
That would be too long a sentence (and the bullying doesn't happen in school), but thanks ^^


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Wordy McWordface said:


> 'Bullying' isn't enough.
> You need to mention the money side of things.
> maybe _Getting money out of kids _or something like that?



Thank you!
I was feeling _"bullying"_ wouldn't necessarily be about money, and you're perfectly right:
I never thought about the fact that bullying wasn't a crime worth being arrested for.
(Even though the kid is not: his father has only been asked to come to the police station, regarding what his son supposedly did.)

Unfortunately _Getting money out of kids_ would be too long a sentence (it's crazy how fast this kid talks).

I've been thinking about _"ripping something from somebody"_.
And came up with the following.
I know it's not proper English at all, but would it be understood, in such context?

_You brought in my dad! Said I rippin’ kids their money!
Ain't never taken no money!_


----------



## Wordy McWordface

ShakeSauvage said:


> Thank you!
> I was feeling _"bullying"_ wouldn't necessarily be about money, and you're perfectly right:
> I never thought about the fact that bullying wasn't a crime worth being arrested for.
> (Even though the kid is not: his father has only been asked to come to the police station, regarding what his son supposedly did.)
> 
> Unfortunately _Getting money out of kids_ would be too long a sentence (it's crazy how fast this kid talks).
> 
> I've been thinking about _"ripping something from somebody"_.
> And came up with the following.
> I know it's not proper English at all, but would it be understood, in such context?
> 
> _You brought in my dad! Said I rippin’ kids their money!
> Ain't never taken no money!_



No,_ rippin' kids their money _doesn't work. It's problematic both in terms of vocabulary and structure.

'Ripping' doesn't mean stealing or extorting, and the construction verb+indirect object+direct object only works with a handful of ditransitive verbs, such as 'give'.  For example, you can say 'giving kids their money' but you can't say 'stealing kids their money'.

So, you're right, it isn't proper English at all.  It isn't even non-standard English. You can't go inventing your own expressions in the hope that people might understand them!


----------



## Locape

Wordy McWordface said:


> For example, you can say 'giving kids their money' but you can't say 'stealing kids their money'.


Oh! Interesting! So you'll have to say 'stealing money from the/these kids'? What is the slang word for 'to steal' in English?


----------



## Wordy McWordface

Locape said:


> Oh! Interesting! So you'll have to say 'stealing money from the/these kids'? What is the slang word for 'stealing' in English?


Yes. The construction which is allowable with 'give' is actually quite rare. For most other verbs which take two objects, you have to use the construction _verb+direct object+preposition+indirect object :_ "stealing money from kids".

Slang words for stealing?  We have several. 'Pinch' is informal and very common ( As in "Oi! Don't pinch my chips! Eat your own") and 'nick' is also common and slightly slangier ( "You b*****d! You nicked my place in the queue!").  Changing the preposition from 'from' to 'off' also makes it feel much more colloquial e.g. "He nicked twenty quid off his mum".  This is all BrE, needless to say.


----------



## rrose17

ShakeSauvage said:


> You brought in my dad! Said I rippin’ kids their money!
> Ain't never taken no money!


The expression is "to rip somebody _off_"
_You brought in my dad. Said I was rippin' kids off.
I never ripped nobody off._
This makes sense, but to rip somebody off means to cheat or steal, not to bully someone for money.
Maybe more accurate could be to use the expression "to shake someone down" which means to extort money out of someone.
_You brought in my dad. Said I was shakin' kids down.
I never did no shakedowns._


----------



## ShakeSauvage

Wordy McWordface said:


> This is all BrE, needless to say.



I had guessed this was British English ^^
But many thanks for your observations: they're very useful.



rrose17 said:


> Maybe more accurate could be to use the expression "to shake someone down" which means to extort money out of someone.
> _You brought in my dad. Said I was shakin' kids down.
> I never did no shakedowns._



That's precisely the intention: thank you very much.
_Shakin' kids down_ sounds definitely appropriate to me.
But would _I never did no shakedowns_ be something a 10-year-old thuggish kid could say?


----------

