A listener in Fairbanks, Alaska, says her husband has long referred to her as a whippersnapper, insisting it’s a playful term of endearment. Whippersnapper goes back to the 17th century, when boys who didn’t own horses would strut around cracking whips, imitating men who actually did use the snap of whips to urge on their horses. The term snippersnapper, meaning “a young, arrogant man,” had been in use before then and probably influenced this word’s formation. The French word freluquet is roughly equivalent to whippersnapper. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Whippersnapper”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Margalee, and I am calling from Fairbanks, Alaska.
Hello, Margalee, Fairbanks, Alaska, one of my new favorite places.
Well, so I have something that I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while.
This is an expression that my husband, as an endearing term, has been calling me for the last 20 years, like whippersnapper.
I might not say it very well, but whippersnapper.
So I’m wondering where does it come from and what does it mean exactly?
If you could enlighten me, that would be great.
And what kind of context would he use this term in?
Oh, just when he’s, I think like, you know, affectionately, just, you know, instead of calling me sweetie or, you know, like when we are just talking about different things in that kind of context.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah, that’s got an interesting history to it.
It goes back to there was a fad in the 17th century in England where young men would race horses.
And this is typically, as you might expect, the kind of thing that young men would do.
Anytime there’s something to be raised, young men will do it.
Of course.
They would crack whips to make the horses go faster.
Not necessarily crack the whips on the horses, but the whips go so fast they make the loud snapping sound as they pass the speed of sound.
They make a pop, a huge pop.
And there was a fad for those with money, lots of money, to spend it on teams of faster horses and expensive coaches and to race them all at high speeds.
And they would perfect their whipping technique to know just how to whip it and to touch the animal with it to get it to move without disturbing the ones next to it.
So sometimes they would whip the animal.
For other young men who were poor and didn’t have money, it was kind of a case of all whip and no equines, to coin a phrase.
They would make themselves seem like expert horse racers who just happened to be away from their mounts and coaches.
And they would stroll around with the whips, even though they didn’t own horses and they didn’t own carriages.
And so they would walk around with these whips, snapping them, whipping them and snapping them.
And so they became known as whippersnappers.
And the expression started as whippersnapper, but there was another term before it called snippersnapper, which was a much older expression, which meant a young, arrogant man, which probably influenced whip snapper to become whippersnapper.
And so what it referred to was a little young man with a lot of attitude who went around snapping whips and causing commotions.
All right.
Well, I hope I didn’t get that.
I didn’t call that because of my attitude.
I doubt it, but the history of the world is just fascinating, actually.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I often think of that word being coupled with another adjective, you know, like young whippersnapper or little whippersnapper or something like that.
Did your husband use it that way?
That’s correct.
Yes.
And also he was or he has been using that because his father would call him like that.
His father would use that on him as well as he was growing up.
-huh.
-huh.
Now he uses it affectionately with you.
My little whippersnapper or something like that?
That is exactly correct, Martha.
Yes.
So, Magalie, let me ask you a question.
Vous êtes en Française, oui?
Je suis Française, oui.
Okay.
So there’s a French word, which is roughly equivalent to whippersnapper.
And it’s freluquet.
F-R-E-L-U-Q-U-E-T.
And it’s an old-fashioned word.
And it means a young, pretentious man.
And that’s roughly what whippersnapper means in French.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, that makes sense.
I mean, it was used, you know, like in the French literature, more like in the olden days.
Oh, I just love it.
This is great.
Yeah.
But no, I really appreciate your help with making me understand.
I could have looked it up, but I thought better to have it from your own words.
Yes, it’s more fun to goof around, isn’t it?
Marguerite, I have one more question for you.
If he calls you a whippersnapper, what do you call him?
Smarty pants.
Smarty pants.
Smarty pants.
Would that be adequate?
I hope it will be.
Yes, perfect.
Probably.
He’s too big for his britches.
I love that too.
And of course, the context is all affectionately context, of course.
Of course.
Sounds very loving, both directions.
And we just love listening to your radio show every Saturday.
So thank you very much.
Oh, that’s very nice.
Thanks for calling.
Take care. Bye-bye.
Okay. Au revoir.
