Sale Gosse ! (Little Brat!)

In her book on parenting, Bringing Up Bébé, Pamela Druckerman claims that “French parents raise better-behaved children than American parents.” Does that mean French kids ne font jamais de bêtises (never get into mischief)? Of course not, judging by the abundance of descriptors for naughty children in the French language. 

Let's look at a few common words, starting with the affectionate term une chipie, what we would call in English “a little brat” or "little devil," but in a cute way to describe mischievous and playful little girls. The term only applies to females and originally referred to unpleasant women, or “shrews." It is thought that the word chipie is a combination of the words chipe (miserly) and une pie (a magpie).

Surveille la petite chipie pendant que je finis la cuisine.

Watch the little devil while I finish cooking.

While there may not be a male equivalent to the word chipie, there are plenty of alternative colloquial expressions for “brats” in French. For example, we have the non-gender specific term sale gosse (literally, "dirty kid") which, unlike une chipie, ranks higher on the scale of naughtiness and is not as endearing:

C'est des adultes qui... ils disent pas que vous êtes des sales gosses, que vous traînez, tout ça?

They are adults who... they don't say that you're little brats, that you loiter, all that?

Caption 72, Actus Quartier Fête de quartier Python-Duvernois - Part 1

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And if you prefer to specify gender, you can replace gosse with a close synonym, un sale gamin or une sale gamine:

Sales gamines. Allez-vous-en !

Little brats [female]. Get away from here!

 

Sale gamin, tu as cassé le vase à grand-mère !

Little brat [male], you broke Grandma’s vase!

Here is another gender-specific term: un morveux, une morveuse (literally, "a snot-nose"). This is an obnoxious, entitled individual, along the lines of “a spoiled brat" or "little punk." Please bear in mind that calling someone morveux/morveuse is extremely derogatory and belongs to the slang register:

Tu te prends pour qui, petit morveux ?

Who do you think you are, little punk?

Moving on from “brats” to “rascals," what are their equivalents in French? We have the term chenapan, from the German word Schnapphahn, for little troublemakers. Unlike in English, this term only applies to boys and is somewhat dated:

Que je ne t’y reprenne pas, petit chenapan.

Don’t let me catch you again, little rascal.            

A more modern equivalent to un chenapan is un garnement (a rascal or imp), again only applying to boys:

Mauvais garnement ! Tu ne peux pas faire attention ?

Little rascal! Can't you pay attention?

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Here is a synonym of garnement that applies to both boys and girls: the more affectionate term un coquin or une coquine, a cheeky, disobedient yet harmless boy or girl:

Mais vous êtes des coquins.

But you're rascals.

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We have yet another type of “rascal” in un polisson, une polissonne. These types of rascals tend to be more on the grubby side. According to an old 1934 edition of an Académie Française dictionary, un polisson was originally “a scruffy-looking little boy who roamed the streets." When applied to adults, the meaning takes on a more risqué tone. In the humorous cartoon series Les Zooriginaux, the female animals call the devious and charming lion Sir Felix Tigris un polisson, paying him a compliment in a roundabout way:

Quel polisson, quelle intériorité, quelle vérité dans le jeu.

What a rascal, what interiority, what truth in the performance.

Caption 50, Les zooriginaux Le Secret d'Alca - Part 4

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While un polisson does not usually get into trouble with the law, un voyou (a lout or hoodlum) might. However, when used in a more lighthearted way, the meaning of voyou is toned down to “rascal,” yet another qualifier for the naughty lion Sir Tigris in this cartoon series:

Sir Tigris, quel voyou !

Sir Tigris, what a hoodlum!

Caption 9, Les zooriginaux 6. Tiger Minor - Part 2

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Finally, here is an adjective that describes all manners of bad behavior: insupportable (unbearable, insufferable, impossible). In our comedy series Mère et Fille, teenage daughter Barbara is the quintessential adolescente insupportable (impossible teenager). Thankfully, she seems to redeem herself in the episode Tâches ménagères (Chores):

Rira bien qui rira le dernier. Dans cet épisode amusant, on va découvrir comment Barbara, une adolescente insupportable, va devenir douce comme un agneau et fera même le ménage !

He who laughs last, laughs best. In this funny episode, we are going to discover how Barbara, an impossible teenager, becomes gentle as a lamb and will even do housework!

To conclude, here is a famous line from a poem by Jacques Prévert called La Chasse à l’enfant (The Child Hunt). A champion of the underdog, Prévert deplores the name-calling and poor treatment of innocent children meted out by merciless adults:

Bandit ! Voyou ! Voleur ! Chenapan !

Bandit! Rascal! Thief! Scoundrel!

There you have it! We hope you enjoyed discovering the meaning of these colorful expressions. Please pay close attention to the tone and spirit in which these words are being used to interpret their true meanings—and please, don’t try all of these at home! Thank you for reading!