Yuppy/Yuppie

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on August 03, 2004

In Reply to: Yuppy/Yuppie posted by Bookworm on August 03, 2004

: : : : Any idea as to the origin/meaning of this one? I read it in a comic strip where it was jokingly a part of an exercise regiment: "Do a farmer's sneeze on a big dork's pickup truck tire".

: : :
: : : A farmer's sneeze is a way to evacuate one's nostrils. Using your forefinger, press nostril to mate and blow. The first page of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony (The Gift) has a wonderful description of this feat.

: : Back in the late '80's I heard a smarmy little yuppy say "You're not a real New Yorker until you blow a one-nostril onto the sidewalk." Luckily, he didn't demonstrate it, he just said it. The Smarmy Little Yuppy's Sneeze.

: Oh. I'm *almost* sorry I asked. :)

: By yuppy, do you mean Young Urban Professional? I've always spelled it yuppie. Anyway, the only reason I bring this up is because I can't imagine a yuppie doing such a thing. Aren't they supposed be upper middle class folks with lots of disposable income that they spend on overpriced coffee, BMWs and yoga classes? Or am I completely mistaken, and a yuppy is different from a yuppie?

No, I just spelled it that way. But I don't put yuppies above any obnoxious behavior. Did I mention he was coked-up at the time, another yuppie trait of the 80's?

Anyway, the spelling. So it's "yuppie" as in "hippie" rather than "yuppy" as in "puppy", I suppose!

But does anyone remember "yumpie"? Young Upwardly Mobile Professional. That was the first acronym for those people I'd heard, but it died out rather quickly.

• Yuppy/Yuppie Bookworm 03/August/04