Learn English – English equivalent of French “Sousou”

frenchslangtranslation

I'm translating a French text and they used the word "sousou" :

"Tiens, quelques sousous pour t'acheter un bonbon."

-> "Here, some ? to buy a candy"

A "sou" is a coin and "sousou(s)" (s added for plural form) is a slang-like childish expression for "sou". Sousou doesn't exist in french but if you ask anyone about it they know the expression… Is there something somewhat equivalent in English?

I really want to keep the kind of childish feeling of the word, I was thinking of something like "cocoins" but would an English speaker ever use that word? Any better idea?

Thanks !

Best Answer

One extremely common (apparently more so in AmE than BrE, but well-known everywhere) idiomatic usage is...

Here's a little something for your birthday.

Note that although that Longman's dictionary definition says used when you are telling someone that you have bought them a present, it's also often used to discretely/indirectly refer to a small amount of money. That will be the sense in most written instances of, for example, [Here's] a little something towards [some cost the addressee needs to pay].

Note that in practice, "little" is normally a reference relative to the speaker (the amount he's giving doesn't seem like much to him, but it might be very valuable to the recipient). So it's usually used by, for example, indulgent grandparents giving money to children. Because of those implications you should be careful when addressing an adult, as it may be seen as "patronising" (as is French sousou, I believe).

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