# toubib



## Loic

I'm wondering, is there a colloquial equivalent to "toubib"(doctor) in British English? Do you also say "doc" as the American English do ? Thanks in advance


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## Suehil

Some people use 'quack', which officially means 'an unqualified doctor/a charlatan'
"I'm not feeling so good, I think I better go to the quack"


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## mysteriouscreep

I've never heard any other word than "doctor" be used, but that might be a regional thing ...


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## curly

People say I'm going to the G.P.(General Pracitioner), but it's not really familiar


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## Avignonaddict

An old term was saw-bones. (Probably a surgeon, technically). It may not be widely known but people would understand.


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## Loic

Thanks everybody. Dear Suehill I would not be too happy about the word "quack". "Toubib "doesn't imply he is a quack/charlatan. But I appreciate your helping me anyway.


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## Suehil

I meant that 'charlatan' is the official meaning of the word.  When people use 'quack' they don't actually mean that he is anything of the sort.  It's just used as a slang name for the doctor.


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## Tresley

I can confirm that 'quack' is generally used as a slang term for a doctor in the UK.


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## jetman

Aux É.-U. aussi *quack* est toujours péjoratif.


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## pieanne

I'd say "doc"


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## syrita

I'm having this dilemma about what word to use the doctor. In UK English saying doc sounds a bit American to me. Does anyone who is British on the forum think this. I suppose you would say: "off to see the doc." Does it sound American to you?

Here is the phrase:

Il avait fallu chercher le docteur à pied sur la grand‑route puis revenir avec lui dans sa carriole. Le toubib avait observé ton doigt. C’était encore l’époque où il était impensable de poser une question à un médecin.

[...] The doc examined your finger. [...]

Doc sounds incongruous to me here?


Thanks

Syrita


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## Keith Bradford

syrita said:


> I'm having this dilemma about what word to use the doctor. In UK English saying doc sounds a bit American to me. Does anyone who is British on the forum think this. I suppose you would say: "off to see the doc." Does it sound American to you?
> ...


Not particularly.  I'd be happy with it.  If you look up Doc on Google Ngram Viewer and then vary your selection for British or American, you'll see that their frequencies are very similar (0.000130 to 0.000160).


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## Topsie

Tresley said:


> I can confirm that 'quack' is generally used as a slang term for a doctor in the UK.



Also, depending on the context, you could say medic


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## wildan1

In AE _"docs"_ themselves often refer to each other as such in an informal setting--_"He's a good doc."
_
The term is also used widely by the general population. In AE, _a quack_ on the other hand would always describe a dishonest or unqualified person; I wouldn't use it as a slang term for a legitimate medical doct_or.

A medic _is anyone providing emergency treatment--in an ambulance or in battle, for example. _A medic_ is not necessarily a medical doctor, just a person trained in emergency care.

The word medical doctors prefer to use about themselves in a professional setting is not _doctor_, but _physician._


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## syrita

OK, I accept it sounds English... UK English I mean.


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## Itisi

It wouldn't occur to me to say 'I'm going to the doc'.  I don't remember hearing it....


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## Kecha

The French language has a ton of familiar/slang versions of words, a lot more than English I think. You can't always find an equivalent.
Sometimes you can try and transfer the familiar/slang to other parts of the sentence. I'm not sure it would bring much here.

Also, there's _docteur _the sentence before and _médecin _the sentence after. It might be a bad case of "oh non, il faut à tout prix éviter la répétition !" which is less of a big deal in English.


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## syrita

Funnily enough in the text 'medicine man' works to my ear. It's alliterative and playful and also underlines that this doctor might not know what he was doing.


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## Itisi

"A *medicine* *man* or *medicine* woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of indigenous people of the Americas."  I don't see the relevance.  I would just say 'He' so as not to repeat 'the doctor'.


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## syrita

Maybe. Other than repetition is there any reason why someone would use toubib? Does he seem to maybe be implying something about the doctor? I could be wrong. I'm off to see the medicine man could be a playful way to say in English I am off to the doctor.


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## Itisi

I don't think it's meant to be playful; it's a commonly-used word and it avoids a repetition, and see #17.


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## syrita

OK. I think you're right. lol. It's just with literature you have to think about the choice of every word but I agree with you this is about the French phobia of repetition (which applies in English too for that matter).


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## petit1

The noun "*toubib*" comes from the Algerian Arabic with the meaning of "doctor" . Perhaps someone knows of an equivalent used in the British colonies time ago and could still be understood.
In colonial India the native physicians were _hakims_ and _vaidyas . _
What about Africa ?


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## syrita

Well I certainly don't. Physician is an old fashioned word although not necessarily colonial. Maybe that would work. It has a sense of importance about it and would relate to the next sentence where it says "In those days you would never dream of asking the doctor a question". The meaning being you did not question their authority?


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## wildan1

petit1 said:


> Perhaps someone knows of an equivalent used in the British colonies time ago and could still be understood.


I don't think there necessarily is an English slang word coming from British colonial times--at least one that has been adopted widely. 

(As pointed out before, French has many more slang words for everyday terms than English.)

_T'bib,_ as it is spelled in Arabic, is a legitimate word for medical doctor. It did not start out as a slang word in Arabic; but was adopted as such by French settlers in North Africa who heard it used by the locals.

_"Medicine man" _isn't a common slang term in American English for a legitimate medical doctor. _Doc_ is the word that comes to mind.


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## syrita

it's a UK translation. Doc sounds strange to my UK ear. Medicine man was playful and not to be taken literally.  but clearly not appropriate. Physician could work or just 'he'.


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## sound shift

Itisi said:


> It wouldn't occur to me to say 'I'm going to the doc'.  I don't remember hearing it....


Ditto.


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## broglet

I have never said or heard anyone else say 'doc'.  If they did I would assume they were Australian, American or some other kind of colonial.  In the UK we usually say "I'm going to see my GP" or maybe "I'm going to see an otorhinolaryngologist/dermatologist/cardiologist .... " or some other specialist.  "Quack" would sound really pejorative and "doctor" sounds a bit straight-laced or old-fashioned.


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## Itisi

The fact that the word 'toubib' comes from the arabic is now irrelevant, people use it every day without thinking of that origin just to mean 'doctor', so some fancy exotic word for doctor would not be an equivalent.

I think keeping physician for the next bit is a good idea.


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## broglet

toubib or not toubib - that is the question


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## Itisi

But what is the answer!


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## syrita

lol. Thanks everybody.


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## Topsie

petit1 said:


> The noun "*toubib*" comes from the Algerian Arabic with the meaning of "doctor" . .... What about Africa ?


*Daktari *—


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## Didier9

syrita said:


> I'm having this dilemma about what word to use the doctor. In UK English saying doc sounds a bit American to me. Does anyone who is British on the forum think this. I suppose you would say: "off to see the doc." Does it sound American to you?
> 
> Here is the phrase:
> 
> Il avait fallu chercher le docteur à pied sur la grand‑route puis revenir avec lui dans sa carriole. Le toubib avait observé ton doigt. C’était encore l’époque où il était impensable de poser une question à un médecin.
> 
> [...] The doc examined your finger. [...]
> 
> Doc sounds incongruous to me here?
> 
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Syrita



In general, in French, toubib = medical docteur, not referencing any particular specialty, could be a surgeon or an ophthalmologist or a GP. There is no connotation as if one was less skilled than the other, the two are equivalent even though you probably would be less likely to address the docteur himself as "toubib" while talking to him unless you were very familiar with him or her. It seems to me in the sentence above, the author simply wanted to avoid a repetition of the word docteur. I would not try to translate toubib as meaning anything other than docteur in that context.


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## Locape

Bienvenue sur les forums WR, *Didier9* !


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## Didier9

Merci!


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## Mosquito34

When my daughter goes to see her oncologist she refers to him as her ' onky-man!'


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