to burn another cat for bread

[alexe]

Hi everyone,

I need help here! I'm translating a Chet Baker biography and there is a slang expression I don't get:

The context: A friend of Baker is in front of Baker's corpse and is talking to him:

"What happened man, you've burnt another cat for bread?"

It is believed that Baker was murdered.

If anyone can help with this, I'd be really, really, really thankful


Alexe

[serenita]

Hi,
I found two meanings for "cat" in the american slang that might fit the expression: one is about drugs->cat=methcathinone, and in the 60's a cat= "man, guy".

[Guest]

Hi

The only meaning that makes sense to me is:

"What happened, man, did you assault another guy for heroin?"

(Bread is a slang synonym for heroin, apparently )

You could always contact Chet's main biographer to date, Jeroen de Valk:

e-mail: jeroen.de.valk@planet.nl

to see if he has any ideas.

Hope this helps

ChrisP

[Guest]

Yes, 'cat' would be slang for 'man', but 'bread' would probably mean money. But without seeing the context I can't say for sure.

[ChloeBear]

Hi everyone,

I need help here! I'm translating a Chet Baker biography and there is a slang expression I don't get:

The context: A friend of Baker is in front of Baker's corpse and is talking to him:

"What happened man, you've burnt another cat for bread?"

It is believed that Baker was murdered.

If anyone can help with this, I'd be really, really, really thankful


Alexe

This might mean "What did you do? Did you cheat another man out of his money?" which would result in Mr. Baker being murdered.