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Yuppie

(Redirected fromYuppy)
Not to be confused withYippieorHippie.
"Yuppies" redirects here. For the 1986 Italian comedy film, seeYuppies(film).

Yuppie,short for "young urban professional"or"young upwardly-mobile professional",[1][2]is a term coined in the early 1980s for a youngprofessionalperson workingin a city.[3]The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neutraldemographiclabel, but by the mid-to-late 1980s, when a "yuppie backlash" developed due to concerns over issues such asgentrification,some writers began using the term pejoratively.

Anti-yuppie graffiti criticizing the gentrification ofAustin, Texas

History

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Something is occurring in Chicago... Some 20,000 new dwelling units have been built within two miles of the Loop over the past ten years to accommodate the rising tide of "Yuppies" —young urban professionals rebelling against the stodgy suburban lifestyles of their parents. The Yuppies seek neither comfort nor security, but stimulation, and they can find that only in the densest sections of the city.

Dan Rottenberg (1980)[4]

The first printed appearance of the word was in a May 1980Chicagomagazine article byDan Rottenberg.Rottenberg reported in 2015 that he did not invent the term, he had heard other people using it, and at the time he understood it as a rather neutral demographic term. Nonetheless, his article did note the issues ofsocioeconomicdisplacement which might occur as a result of the rise of thisinner-citypopulation cohort.[5]

The term gained currency in theUnited Statesin March 1983 when syndicated newspaper columnistBob Greenepublished a story about a business networking group founded in 1982 by the former radical leaderJerry Rubin,formerly of theYouth International Party(whose members were called "yippies"); Greene said he had heard people at the networking group (which met atStudio 54to soft classical music) joke that Rubin had "gone from being a yippie to being a yuppie". The headline of Greene's story was "From Yippie to Yuppie".[6][7][8]East Bay ExpresshumoristAlice Kahnelaborated on the concept in a satirical piece published in June 1983, further popularizing the term.[9][10]

The proliferation of the word was affected by the publication ofThe Yuppie Handbookin January 1983 (atongue-in-cheektake onThe Official Preppy Handbook[11]), followed by SenatorGary Hart's 1984 candidacy as a "yuppie candidate" for President of the United States.[12]The term was then used to describe a political demographic group ofsocially liberalbutfiscally conservativevoters favoring his candidacy.[13]Newsweekmagazine declared 1984 "The Year of the Yuppie", characterizing the salary range, occupations, and politics of "yuppies" as "demographically hazy".[12]The alternative acronymyumpie,foryoung upwardly mobile professional,was also current in the 1980s but failed to catch on.[14]

In a 1985 issue ofThe Wall Street Journal,Theressa Kersten atSRI Internationaldescribed a "yuppie backlash" by people who fit the demographic profile yet express resentment of the label: "You're talking about a class of people who put off having families so they can make payments on theSAABs... To be a Yuppie is to be a loathsome undesirable creature ". Leo Shapiro, amarket researcherin Chicago, responded, "Stereotypingalways winds up being derogatory. It doesn't matter whether you are trying to advertise to farmers,Hispanicsor Yuppies, no one likes to be neatly lumped into some group. "[12]

In 1990, rock artistTom Pettyused the term in the song "Yer So Bad",in the line" My sister got lucky, married a yuppie ".[15]

The word lost most of its political connotations and, particularly after the1987 stock market crash,gained the negative socio-economic connotations that it sports today. On April 8, 1991,Timemagazine proclaimed the death of the "yuppie" in a mockobituary.[16] In 1989, MTV hosted theForeclosure on a Yuppiecontest to celebrate the end of the 1980s.[17]

The term experienced a resurgence in usage during the 2000s and 2010s. In October 2000,David Brooksremarked in aWeekly Standardarticle thatBenjamin Franklin– due to his extreme wealth, cosmopolitanism, and adventurous social life – is "Our Founding Yuppie".[18]A recent article inDetailsproclaimed "The Return of the Yuppie", stating that "the yuppie of 1986 and the yuppie of 2006 are so similar as to be indistinguishable" and that "the yup" is "a shape-shifter... he finds ways to reenter the American psyche."[19]Despite theglobal financial crisisof the late 2000s, in 2010, right-wing political commentatorVictor Davis Hansonwrote inNational Reviewvery critically of "yuppies". However, following theCrash of 20and the ongoingCOVID recessionthey are believed to be gone once more.[20]

Usage outside the United States

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"Yuppie" was in common use in Britain from the early 1980s onward (thepremiership of Margaret Thatcher) and by 1987 had spawned subsidiary terms used in newspapers such as "yuppiedom", "yuppification", "yuppify" and "yuppie-bashing".[21]

A September 2010 article inThe Standarddescribed the items on a typical Hong Kong resident's "yuppie wish list" based on a survey of 28- to 35-year-olds. About 58% wanted to own their own home, 40% wanted toprofessionally invest,and 28% wanted to become a Boss.[22]A September 2010 article inThe New York Timesdefined as a hallmark of Russian "yuppie life" the adoption ofyogaand other elements ofIndian culturesuch as theirclothes,food,and furniture.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Algeo, John (1991).Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms.Cambridge University Press. p. 220.ISBN0-521-41377-X.
  2. ^Childs, Peter; Storry, Mike, eds. (2002). "Acronym Groups".Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture.London: Routledge. pp. 2–3.
  3. ^"yuppie, n.".Oxford English Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2021.RetrievedMay 20,2016.
  4. ^Seemann, Luke (June 3, 2015)."Chicago's Yuppie Turns 35. Do We Celebrate Yet?".Chicago.Archivedfrom the original on December 28, 2021.RetrievedAugust 14,2019.
  5. ^Rottenberg, Dan (May 1980)."About that urban renaissance.... there'll be a slight delay".Chicago Magazine.p. 154ff.Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2021.RetrievedMay 26,2015.
  6. ^Budd, Leslie; Whimster, Sam (1992).Global Finance and Urban Living: A Study of Metropolitan Change.Routledge. p. 316.ISBN0-415-07097-X.
  7. ^Hadden-Guest, Anthony (1997).The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night.New York: William Morrow. p. 116.
  8. ^Shapiro, Fred R. (Summer 1986)."Yuppies, Yumpies, Yaps and Computer".American Speech Vol. 61, No. 2.JSTOR455160.Archivedfrom the original on March 29, 2023.RetrievedMarch 29,2023.
  9. ^Clarence Petersen. (March 28, 1986)."The Wacky Side of Chicago-born, Berkeley-bred Alice Kahn –".Chicago Tribune.Archivedfrom the original on November 8, 2012.RetrievedApril 22,2013.
  10. ^Finke, Nikki (May 11, 1987)."Claimed Creator of 'Yuppie' Comes to Terms with 'Gal'".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 30,2020.
  11. ^"Living: Here Come the Yuppies!".TIME.January 9, 1984. Archived fromthe originalon April 8, 2008.RetrievedFebruary 4,2016.
  12. ^abcBurnett, John; Alan Bush. "Profiling the Yuppies".Journal of Advertising Research.26(2): 27–35.ISSN0021-8499.
  13. ^Moore, Jonathan (1986).Campaign for President: The Managers Look at '84.Praeger/Greenwood. p. 123.ISBN0-86569-132-0.
  14. ^"Here Comes the Yumpies".TIME.March 26, 1984.Archivedfrom the original on February 4, 2016.RetrievedFebruary 4,2016.
  15. ^Merry, Stephanie (October 4, 2017)."Tom Petty, Marching to His Own Guitar: His videos focused more on story than on band".The Washington Post.No. 303. p. C3.RetrievedAugust 29,2024.The people don't get much wackier than in 'Yer So Bad,' which pretty forcefully conveyed the band's disdain for yuppies.
  16. ^Shapiro, Walter (April 8, 1991)."The Birth and – Maybe – Death of Yuppiedom".Time.Archived fromthe originalon October 13, 2007.RetrievedApril 28,2007.
  17. ^Blisten, Jon (May 8, 2019)."Pink Houses, Yuppie Scum and Beastie Boy Kidnappings: Relive MTV's Most Insane Contests".Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2023.RetrievedApril 15,2023.
  18. ^Brooks, David(October 23, 2000)."Our Founding Yuppie".The Weekly Standard.Archived fromthe originalon June 22, 2011.RetrievedAugust 21,2010.
  19. ^Gordinier, Jeff."The Return of the Yuppie".Details.Archived fromthe originalon March 7, 2012.RetrievedAugust 15,2010.
  20. ^Victor Davis Hanson(August 13, 2010)."Obama: Fighting the Yuppie Factor".National Review.Archivedfrom the original on December 29, 2017.RetrievedAugust 16,2010.
  21. ^Algeo, John; Algeo, Adele S. (July 30, 1993),Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms 1941–1991,Cambridge University Press, p.228,ISBN978-0-521-44971-7
  22. ^Wong, Natalie (September 8, 2010)."Homes, cash top fairy tales on yuppie wish list".The Standard.Archivedfrom the original on June 29, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 26,2010.
  23. ^Kishkovsky, Sophia (September 14, 2010)."Russians Embrace Yoga, if They Have the Money".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on August 14, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 28,2017.

Further reading

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  • The dictionary definition ofyuppieat Wiktionary
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