Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
J’étais un casse coup avant
English translation:
I used to be quite reckless
French term
J’étais un casse coup avant
J’étais un casse coup avant, on me l’a dit plusieurs fois.
Does it mean 'hot-headed/impetuous'? Or always being one step ahead?
Many thanks!
Nov 18, 2013 17:25: writeaway changed "Field (write-in)" from "Accidents in the workplace" to "colloquial expression"
Non-PRO (1): Nikki Scott-Despaigne
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Proposed translations
France
A Business-hardened EN FR translator
Native in: English (Variants: US, British) 
, French (Variants: Standard-France, Belgian)
Works in: French to English, English to French
I used to be quite reckless
I used to be quite reckless when I was young
| Many thanks for your help Bruce! |
I used to be reckless/a daredevil
| Many thanks for your help Emma! |
| agree |
Lorraine Dubuc
12 mins
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Thanks, Lorraine.
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| agree |
Laurette Tassin
17 mins
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Thanks, Laurette.
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| agree |
katsy
1 hr
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Thanks, Katsy.
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| agree |
Verginia Ophof
3 hrs
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Thanks, Verginia.
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| agree |
writeaway
: backed by most standard Fr-En dictionaries. It's not exactly an unusual term in everyday French.
3 hrs
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Yes, quite straightforward really. Thanks, writeaway.
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| agree |
Jean-Claude Gouin
: Un 'casse-cou' is the correct spelling. Your translation is excellent.
3 hrs
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Thank you, 1045!
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I was a careless worker before
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Note added at 29 minutes (2013-11-18 14:10:38 GMT)
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An extract:
Employers, workers and their organizations have changed their approach to health and safety from
a) Traditional - “careless worker” model to
b) HRM - “shared responsibility” model and as far as the trade union are concerned to
c) “employer” responsibility model
NB: I think reckless is too strong for a Health & Safety at Work context.
| Many thanks for your help Kashew! |
| neutral |
emiledgar
: No, because casse-cou means reckless, if reckless is too strong, then so is casse-cou.
1 hr
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United Kingdom
poetically precise prose with... panache
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English
I was a liability before
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Note added at 1 hr (2013-11-18 14:56:00 GMT)
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or
LOOSE CANNON
[Loose cannon definition, a person whose reckless behavior endangers the efforts or welfare of others]
| Many thanks for your help Carol! |
| agree |
rachelha
2 hrs
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many thanks Rachel!
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| neutral |
writeaway
: definitely not a liability. the dictionaries all give lots of possible translations. don't know if it sounds 'more natural in the context' but it certainly sounds wrong./one can try to get away from literal but liability is really out of the ballpark
3 hrs
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If you're looking for a literal translation, then I agree that this certainly isn't it! It's really an extension of "risk taker". But I feel there has to be a slightly more natural way of saying 'used to be reckless', but maybe not!
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| disagree |
Daryo
: someone who is 'un casse-cou' puts only himself in danger
7 hrs
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Trouble is, this is about the workplace, and anyone who is reckless is quite likely to have a knock-on, unproductive effect all round - which is what I mean, loosely, by "liability"
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