Paul Weir says: I note that some contributors to the list think of "yuppie" as a pejorative label. Does anyone know what the derivation of the word is? I seem to remember it as an acronym for "Young, Upwardly mobile, Professional" (in other words, YUP, subsequently levelled down to "yuppie"). Yuppies were originally identified as Gary Hart's core constituency during his abortive run for the presidency. Their view of foreign affairs tended to be conciliatory; they were generally critical of the military; yet they were quite conservative on national economic issues. If this potted history contains any element of truth, what does the word mean today?
Don sez: Paul is right; YUPpie was originally an acronym for young, upwardly mobile professionals. However, around the same time this was coined (1978?), there were two other rival meanings in use: Young Urban Professionals, and Young Urban Pioneers. This last version referred to the young folks (often the same as the upwardly mobile professionals) who wanted to move back into inner-city neighborhoods, fixing up the older units and making them into expensive units. Depending on your political point of view, this was either good (urban revitalization) or bad (gentrification). It's difficult, however, to generalize about their political views, because like all of us, they came in more than one flavor. Don Jorovsky New Brighton TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
