Yuppy/Yuppie

Posted by Bookworm on August 03, 2004

In Reply to: Yuppy/Yuppie posted by Brian from Shawnee 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.

Well the coke snorting does change things a bit. It would account for your friends' behaviour.
I double checked with M-W Online, and it is indeed spelled yuppie, but they had no entry for yumpie. However, a Google search did yield one site. I also recall "Young Upwardly Mobile Professional", so you are not alone on that one.

The '80's were indeed a strange time, I guess you had to be there.