{"id":2256,"date":"2022-03-01T18:22:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T18:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=2256"},"modified":"2022-03-01T18:22:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T18:22:51","slug":"whippersnapper-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/whippersnapper-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Whippersnapper \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for a word to describe an energetic young person? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of the word \"<em>whippersnapper<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The expression \"<em>whippersnapper<\/em>\" refers to a young person, usually ten years or younger. Typically, seniors will use this phrase to describe young people with high energy that cause problems for them.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The word doesn't have much use with the younger generations, but some parents may use it to describe high-energy kids at playgrounds or schools.<\/p>\n<p>If you're calling someone's kid a <em>whippersnapper<\/em>, it means that they have an energetic temperament, and they like running around, or they appear engaging and bright.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\"Look at that wee <em>whippersnapper<\/em> running around over there. Gladys, I wish we could go back to that time in life, if only for a moment.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"That Clarkson boy is a real <em>whippersnapper.<\/em> He won't sit still for a minute and refuses to go down for nap time in the afternoon like the other kids.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"You're a real <em>whippersnapper<\/em> kid. If you don't calm down, I will have to find something for you to do. Go irritate your friends or something.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"That kids a <em>whippersnapper<\/em>, all right. He's one of the best pee wee players we've seen in this league for a long time.\"<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2257\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper.jpg 429w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2258\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper2-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper2-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Whippersnapper2.jpg 419w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of the expression \"<em>whippersnapper<\/em>\" goes back to the late 1600s. The meaning of the expression changed over the years, starting out as a reference to young men with no enthusiasm for work or life. It would change to a young man with no regard for the law and then to a young man with exuberant energy levels.<\/p>\n<p>The earliest use of the saying in print comes from the English author Richard Head. His narration of the life of <em>Francis Jackson's highwayman<\/em>, \"<em>Jackson's Recantation<\/em>,\" in 1674.<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>Have a care of Marlbrough Downs; there are a parcel of whipper Snappers have been very busie there of late<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<p>Jackson received the death penalty on trial, with the authorities hanging him in 1674, in Hampstead Heath, an area now known as \"<em>Gibbet Hill.\"<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Richard Head used \"<em>whipper snapper<\/em>\" to refer to the highwayman. However, experts believe Head used the term to refer to \"<em>street criminal<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<p>The saying would also appear some decades later in \"<em>A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew<\/em>,\" published in 1699, as the following.<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>Whipper-snapper<\/em>, a very small but sprightly Boy.\"<\/p>\n<p>There is also some connection to the phrase \"<em>whipping boy<\/em>.\" However, there is no evidence to support the relationship between the words.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Whippersnapper\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YHu46AaAVnk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Whippersnapper<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Youngun.<\/li>\n<li>Little terror.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Whippersnapper<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Old man.<\/li>\n<li>Senior.<\/li>\n<li>Teenager.<\/li>\n<li>Adult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Whippersnapper.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Whippersnapper Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>Using the phrase \"<em>whippersnapper<\/em>\" to describe the effects of whiplash induced by traumatic injury is not the correct use of the expression. So, if your friend sustained a neck injury in a car accident, you wouldn't call it a real \"<em>whippersnapper<\/em>.\" The phrase only suits social settings where you're talking about energetic children.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Whippersnapper<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the phrase when referring to the exuberant, high-energy personality of a young person. Typically the term suits kids between the ages of three to seven years old as they learn to move their bodies and run around.<\/p>\n<p>You could say the phrase to someone else's child or your own, and you don't have to know the child to make the statement. You could even call a high-energy child actor a \"<em>whippersnapper.\"<\/em> The high-energy behavior is usually innocent, but sometimes it can be erratic or destructive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you looking for a word to describe an energetic young person? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of the word \"whippersnapper.\" Meaning The expression \"whippersnapper\" refers to a young person, usually ten years or younger. Typically, seniors will use this phrase to describe young people with high energy that cause problems for them. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2256"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2292,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2256\/revisions\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}