It was all new to me.
 |
| Image by Nelipot at Cheeseburger.com |
The word whippersnapper (as you probably know) describes a young person who is impertinent, lazy, and who lacks motivation. One usually hears it coming out of the mouth of an old fuddy-duddy.
What does snapping a whip have to do with being lazy, when cracking the whip has to do with demanding obedience?
Apparently, back in the 17th century there were young men who were ne'er do wells. To pass the time they loitered around on street corners and idly snapped whips.
It didn't take long for people to start calling them whippersnappers.
Synonyms include:
| a nobody, a nothing, boldface, brat, brazenface, chutzpanik, cipher, common man, dummy, elf, enfant terrible, figurehead, gamin, holy terror, hussy, imp, jackstraw, juvenile delinquent, lightweight, little fellow, little guy, little monkey, malapert, man of straw, minx, nebbish, ne'er do well, nonentity, nullity, pip-squeak, puck, punk, punk kid, pup, puppy, runt, saucebox, scrub, shrimp, small fry, small potato, small potatoes, smart aleck, smart-ass, smarty, smarty-pants, spoiled brat, squirt, squit, swaggerer, upstart, urchin, whiffet, wise guy, wise-ass, zero, zilch |
You can learn a bit more about whippersnapper here.
Got any whippersnappers in your home?
