# What's a yuppie? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875 "2007-06-21T17:14:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/41 "2007-06-25T03:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=Fern Forest] Yeah but 25 years ago, oh la la. [/QUOTE] 25 years ago, I was 11, and barely knew what a Volvo was. And I stand corrected; my husband pointed out that while we are still not young, he’s a professional and I was in the past, and we’ve both lived in urban areas. He says we’re yuppies; I say we’re too old to be. So thanks to the OP for starting another marital debate. 😛 It’s a good-natured debate, as we tend to tease each other and joke around a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/42 "2007-06-25T15:23:55Z")
MissGypsy writes: \> 25 years ago, I was 11, and barely knew what a Volvo was. \> \> And I stand corrected; my husband pointed out that while we are still not \> young, he’s a professional and I was in the past, and we’ve both lived in urban \> areas. He says we’re yuppies; I say we’re too old to be. So thanks to the OP for \> starting another marital debate. If you’re 36 years old, you’re young enough according to the definition of “yuppie.” As I said, in about 1984 I read something that defined the term as requiring at least that you be less than 40 and make more than $40,000. Adjust the salary requirement for inflation. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/43 "2007-06-25T15:48:11Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] Those were quite funny, but it’s become a bludgeon embraced by poeple fighting some battle in the culture wars. I have heard the term used on people who: -Drive a European car [/quote] Check > [@](#): > > -Own a watch that costs more than $100 Check > [@](#): > > -Wear a tie to work Well, I’m a girl, and that whole “girl in tie” thing is pretty dated or Avril Levign-ish, so no. > [@](#): > > -See plays Check > [@](#): > > -Buy organic food, or any kind of premium brand food Check > [@](#): > > -Own a cat Check > [@](#): > > -Don’t go to church Check > [@](#): > > -Don’t like country music (or “Like their coffee beans already ground,” as Randy Travis put it) Check Oh shit… ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/44 "2007-06-25T16:19:43Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] Oh shit… [/QUOTE] Well, then, you _may_ be mischaracterized as a yuppie as a way of allowing someone to express their class resentments or anti-intellectualism. Or both. I was once called a yuppie when I was 22 and supporting a pregnant girlfriend working as a bellhop. I blame the cat. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/45 "2007-06-25T16:57:56Z")
The cat got your girlfriend pregnant? ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/46 "2007-06-26T01:29:49Z")
Around here, you can’t be a yuppie if you don’t do your grocery shopping at Whole Foods. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/47 "2007-06-26T01:55:07Z")
Alot of those faddish terms wreck my head. It’s really cool to use some derisive, stereotypic, nomenclature for people better off or worse off than you. There’s an author/pundit/bullshitter here called [David McWilliams](http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/) whose stock-in-trade nowadays seems to consist of coming up with these terms for various groups in Irish society. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/48 "2007-06-26T02:00:24Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] The cat got your girlfriend pregnant? [/QUOTE] In case you needed another reason, people: Get those pets fixed! ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875/49 "2007-06-26T03:22:03Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] MissGypsy writes: \> 25 years ago, I was 11, and barely knew what a Volvo was. \> \> And I stand corrected; my husband pointed out that while we are still not \> young, he’s a professional and I was in the past, and we’ve both lived in urban \> areas. He says we’re yuppies; I say we’re too old to be. So thanks to the OP for \> starting another marital debate. If you’re 36 years old, you’re young enough according to the definition of “yuppie.” As I said, in about 1984 I read something that defined the term as requiring at least that you be less than 40 and make more than $40,000. Adjust the salary requirement for inflation. [/QUOTE] Ok, we’re halfway there. Husband is over 40, so I can be a yuppie but he can’t. Yet he makes more money, and we’re no longer urban. Can we be half-assed former yuppies? 😃 Sheesh, we’re paying for college for one kid, senior pictures for another, kindergarten materials for another, Pull-Ups for another, and diapers and formula for another. That’s just not very yuppie. We’re more like broke, tired people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-yuppie/408875.md?page=2)