'Yuppie' (short for 'young urban professional' or 'young, upwardly-mobile professional')[1][2] is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city.[3]
2018-8-24 New York attorney Marissa Piesman (Assistant New York State Attorney General) writes the popular Nina Fischman series and is also co-author of The Yuppie Handbook (1984). Studs Turkel is another successful writer/lawyer. After working for a number of years as a legal aid attorney, Martin Espada turned to teaching college English.
History[edit]
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 1980 Chicago magazine article by Dan Rottenberg. Rottenberg reported in 2015 that he didn't 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 of socioeconomic displacement which might occur as a result of the rise of this inner-city population cohort.[5]Joseph Epstein was credited for coining the term in 1982,[6] although this is contested. The term gained currency in the United States in 1983 when syndicated newspaper columnist Bob Greene published a story about a business networking group founded in 1982 by the former radical leader Jerry Rubin, formerly of the Youth International Party (whose members were called 'yippies'); Greene said he had heard people at the networking group (which met at Studio 54 to 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'.[7][8]East Bay Express humorist Alice Kahn claimed to have coined the word in a 1983 column. This claim is disputed.[9][10]
The proliferation of the word was affected by the publication of The Yuppie Handbook in January 1983 (a tongue-in-cheek take on The Official Preppy Handbook[11]), followed by Senator Gary 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 of socially liberal but fiscally conservative voters favoring his candidacy.[13]Newsweek magazine declared 1984 'The Year of the Yuppie', characterizing the salary range, occupations, and politics of 'yuppies' as 'demographically hazy'.[12] The alternative acronym yumpie, for young upwardly mobile professional, was also current in the 1980s but failed to catch on.[14]
In a 1985 issue of The Wall Street Journal, Theressa Kersten at SRI International described 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 the SAABs ... To be a Yuppie is to be a loathsome undesirable creature'. Leo Shapiro, a market researcher in Chicago, responded, 'Stereotyping always winds up being derogatory. It doesn't matter whether you are trying to advertise to farmers, Hispanics or Yuppies, no one likes to be neatly lumped into some group.'[12]
The word lost most of its political connotations and, particularly after the 1987 stock market crash, gained the negative socio-economic connotations that it sports today. On April 8, 1991, Time magazine proclaimed the death of the 'yuppie' in a mock obituary.[15]
The term has experienced a resurgence in usage during the 2000s and 2010s. In October 2000, David Brooks remarked in a Weekly Standard article that Benjamin Franklin – due to his extreme wealth, cosmopolitanism, and adventurous social life – is 'Our Founding Yuppie'.[16] A recent article in Details proclaimed '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.'[17] In 2010, right-wing political commentator Victor Davis Hanson wrote in National Review very critically of 'yuppies'.[18]
Usage outside the United States[edit]
'Yuppie' was in common use in Britain from the early 1980s onward (the premiership of Margaret Thatcher) and by 1987 had spawned subsidiary terms used in newspapers such as 'yuppiedom', 'yuppification', 'yuppify' and 'yuppie-bashing'.[19]
A September 2010 article in The Standard described 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 to professionally invest, and 28% wanted to become a boss.[20] A September 2010 article in The New York Times defined as a hallmark of Russian 'yuppie life' adoption of yoga and other elements of Indian culture such as their clothes, food, and furniture.[21]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Algeo, John (1991). Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN0-521-41377-X.
- ^Childs, Peter; Storry, Mike, eds. (2002). 'Acronym Groups'. Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture. London: Routledge. pp. 2–3.
- ^'yuppie, n.'. Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^Seemann, Luke. 'Chicago's Yuppie Turns 35. Do We Celebrate Yet?'. Chicago.
- ^Rottenberg, Dan (May 1980). 'About that urban renaissance.... there'll be a slight delay'. Chicago Magazine. p. 154ff.
- ^Ayto, John (2006). Movers And Shakers: A Chronology of Words That Shaped Our Age. Oxford University Press. p. 128. ISBN0-19-861452-7.
- ^Budd, Leslie; Whimster, Sam (1992). Global Finance and Urban Living: A Study of Metropolitan Change. Routledge. p. 316. ISBN0-415-07097-X.
- ^Hadden-Guest, Anthony (1997). The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night. New York: William Morrow. p. 116.
- ^Clarence Petersen. (March 28, 1986). 'The Wacky Side of Chicago-born, Berkeley-bred Alice Kahn –'. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- ^Jorge, Trendy (June 21, 2006). 'Yuppie Living: June 2006'. Yuppie-living.blogspot.com. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
- ^'Living: Here Come the Yuppies!'. TIME.com. January 9, 1984. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
- ^ abcBurnett, John; Alan Bush. 'Profiling the Yuppies'. Journal of Advertising Research. 26 (2): 27–35. ISSN0021-8499.
- ^Moore, Jonathan (1986). Campaign for President: The Managers Look at '84. Praeger/Greenwood. p. 123. ISBN0-86569-132-0.
- ^'Here Comes the Yumpies'. TIME.com. March 26, 1984. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
- ^Shapiro, Walter (April 8, 1991). 'The Birth and – Maybe – Death of Yuppiedom'. Time. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
- ^Brooks, David (October 23, 2000). 'Our Founding Yuppie'. The Weekly Standard. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
- ^Gordinier, Jeff. 'The Return of the Yuppie'. Details. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
- ^Victor Davis Hanson (August 13, 2010). 'Obama: Fighting the Yuppie Factor'. National Review. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^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
- ^Wong, Natalie (September 8, 2010). 'Homes, cash top fairy tales on yuppie wish list'. The Standard.
- ^Kishkovsky, Sophia (September 14, 2010). 'Russians Embrace Yoga, if They Have the Money'. The New York Times.
Further reading[edit]
- Lowy, Richard (June 1991). 'Yuppie Racism: Race Relations in the 1980s'. Journal of Black Studies. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. 21 (4): 445–464. doi:10.1177/002193479102100405. ISSN0021-9347.
![Yuppie Yuppie](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oBjdFbPR1Gk/UuoWEt1BL7I/AAAAAAAAADE/glfHsC8Jk6o/s1600/yuppie_inside1.jpg)
External links[edit]
The dictionary definition of yuppie at Wiktionary
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yuppie&oldid=934181822'
Born | Russell Ash 18 June 1946 Surrey, England, United Kingdom |
---|---|
Died | 21 June 2010 (aged 64) Lewes, East Sussex |
Occupation | Author |
Nationality | British |
Notable works | The Top 10 of Everything |
Spouse | Caroline |
Children | Three |
Russell Ash (18 June 1946 – 21 June 2010) was the British author of the Top 10 of Everything series of books, as well as Great Wonders of the World, Incredible Comparisons and many other reference, art and humour titles, most notably his series of books on strange-but-true names, Potty, Fartwell & Knob, Busty, Slag and Nob End and (for children) Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface.[1][2][3] Once described as 'the human Google', his obituary in The Times stated that 'In the age of the internet, it takes tenacity and idiosyncratic intelligence to make a living from purveying trivial information. Russell Ash did just that'.[1]
- 3Bibliography
Biography[edit]
Russell Ash was born in Surrey, a descendant of a family of craftsmen – goldsmiths and silversmiths in 18th-century London that included Claudius Ash (1792–1854), one of the pioneering inventors of false teeth.[1] His father worked as a bookbinder for the British Museum Library and also served in the RAF in the Second World War.[1]
The family moved to Bedford, where he attended primary school and Bedford Modern School.[1] He studied anthropology and geography at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University, and began a publishing career in 1967.[1] He worked as a picture researcher for Man, Myth & Magic and a researcher/writer for Reader's Digest Books and as European Correspondent for Newsweek Books on their Wonders of Man series.[1]
In 1973, with his friend Ian Grant, Russell Ash established the publishing company Ash & Grant, that ran for five years.[1] He was also a director of Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1980–83, where he worked with authors including comedian Barry Humphries (a.k.a. Dame Edna Everage), and Pavilion Books in 1984–88, where he published works by satirist John Wells, Hockney Posters and numerous other illustrated books.[1] However, his principal occupation was that of freelance author, having written or contributed to over a hundred non-fiction books.[1][3]
He was married to Caroline Ash, fundraiser with the Malaria Consortium, and has a daughter and two sons.[1][2] He lived in Lewes, East Sussex, from 1991 until his death from a heart attack.[1][2]
Work[edit]
Russell Ash wrote for both adults and children on a diverse range of subjects, including reference, art, history, biography and humour.[3] 'Top 10 of Everything', probably his best-known work, has been published annually since 1989 and was the basis of a children's TV series broadcast on ITV in 1998–2001. Related books – The Top 10 of Sport, The Top 10 of Music, The Top 10 of Film, Top 10 for Men, Top 10 of Britain and others – have been issued at intervals.[3] Formerly published by Dorling Kindersley, Top 10 of Everything has been published by Hamlyn since 2006 and also appears in a number of translations.[3]
The art books Russell Ash wrote during the 1990s include titles on the Pre-Raphaelites, the Impressionists and their contemporaries: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, James Tissot, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lord Leighton and Sir John Everett Millais.[3]
He compiled a range of illustrated information books for children, including Incredible Comparisons (1996), The World in One Day (1997), The Factastic Book of 1001 Lists (1998), Factastic Millennium Facts (1999) and Great Wonders of the World (2000), all of which were published by Dorling Kindersley and internationally in numerous editions.[3]
He was the co-author (with Brian Lake) of Fish Who Answer the Telephone and Other Bizarre Books (2006).[3] Among his other publications are Whitaker's World of Facts (annual 2005–; published in North America as Firefly's World of Facts), Potty, Fartwell & Knob: Extraordinary but True Names of British People (2007; expanded paperback 2008; US edition as Morecock, Fartwell, & Hoare, 2009), Busty, Slag and Nob End (2009) and Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface (2009).[3]
He was a contributor to a number of annual publications, including Whitaker's Almanack and Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook and an occasional journalist, who contributed articles to various British national newspapers.[3]
On 7 April 2008, he took part in BBC2's University Challenge: The Professionals, in the team representing the Society of Authors, which also comprised Antony Beevor (captain), Katie Fforde and Anna Claybourne.
Bibliography[edit]
Art[edit]
- Alma-Tadema (1973) ISBN978-0-85263-237-6
- Alma-Tadema (catalogue of the Funt Collection) (1973)
- Victorian Studio Photographs (with Bevis Hillieret al.) (1975) ISBN978-0-904069-03-7
- The Impressionists and their Art (1980) ISBN978-0-85613-292-6
- Selections from the Reader's Digest Collection (1986)
- Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1989) ISBN978-1-85145-422-8
- Toulouse-Lautrec: The Complete Posters (1991) ISBN978-1-85145-517-1
- The Impressionists’ River (1992) ISBN978-1-85145-512-6
- Van Gogh's Provence (1992) ISBN978-1-85145-507-2
- James Tissot (1992) ISBN978-1-85145-741-0
- Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1993) ISBN978-1-85793-017-7
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1995) ISBN978-1-85793-412-0
- Impressionists' Seasons (1995) ISBN978-1-85793-628-5
- Lord Leighton (1995) ISBN978-1-85793-732-9
- Sir John Everett Millais (1996) ISBN978-1-85793-792-3
- Victorian Masters and their Art (1999) ISBN978-1-86205-304-5
Biography and history[edit]
- Highwaymen (1970) ISBN978-0-85263-101-0
- Britain's Buried Treasures (1972) ISBN978-0-903356-17-6
- Wrecks & Sunken Treasure (1972) ISBN978-0-903356-04-6
- Comets (with Ian Grant) (1973) ISBN978-0-904069-00-6
- The Wright Brothers (1974) ISBN978-0-85340-342-5
- Dear Cats: The Post Office Letters (1986) ISBN978-1-85145-085-5
- Highwaymen (revised edition) (1994) ISBN978-0-7478-0260-0
- Great Wonders of the World (2000) ISBN978-0-7513-2886-8
Humour[edit]
- Dead Funny (with Ian Grant) (1974) ISBN978-0-904069-02-0
- The Cynic's Dictionary (1984) ISBN978-0-552-99052-3
- The Official British Yuppie Handbook (1984) ISBN978-0-906710-56-2
- Last Laughs (with Ian Grant) (1984) ISBN978-0-04-827123-5
- Bizarre Books (with Brian Lake) (1985) ISBN978-0-333-38312-4
- Howlers (1985) ISBN978-0-906710-73-9
- They Didn't Really Mean It (1987) ISBN978-0-552-13319-7
- I'll Drink to That (1987, with Bernard Higton) ISBN978-0-552-13318-0
- Private Parts (1987, with Bernard Higton) ISBN978-0-552-13317-3
- The Uncensored Boy's Own (1990, as 'Dick Beresford') ISBN978-0-356-19508-7
- The Uncensored Guide to the Movies (1991, as 'Dick Beresford') ISBN978-0-356-20306-5
- Henry & Caroline at Home (with Joanna Isles) (1990) ISBN978-1-85145-358-0
- Tall Stories (1994) ISBN978-1-85410-335-2
- Bizarre Books (with Brian Lake; new edition) (1998) ISBN978-1-86205-102-7
- Fish Who Answer the Telephone and other Bizarre Books (with Brian Lake) (2006) ISBN978-0-7195-6018-7
- Potty, Fartwell & Knob (2007) ISBN978-0-7553-1654-0; expanded paperback (2008) ISBN978-0-7553-1655-7; US (as Morecock, Fartwell, & Hoare) (2009) ISBN978-0-312-54535-2
- Busty, Slag and Nob End (2009) ISBN978-0-7553-1870-4
- Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface (2009) ISBN978-0-385-61723-9
- It Just Slipped Out... A Bulging Encyclopedia of double entendres (2010) ISBN978-0-7553-6086-4.
Literature and language[edit]
- The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori (introduction) (1974) ISBN978-0-85263-244-4
- Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense (introduction) (1980) ISBN978-0-460-04499-8
- Alice's Adventures Under Ground (Lewis Carroll; introduction) (1985) ISBN978-0-907516-94-1
- The Life and Times of Paddington Bear (with Michael Bond) (1988) ISBN978-1-85145-286-6
- Larkrise to Candleford Diary (1989)
- A Dictionary of RAF Slang (Eric Partridge; introduction) (1990) ISBN978-1-85145-526-3
![1980s yuppies 1980s yuppies](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126274297/306506589.jpg)
Reference and trivia[edit]
- Fact or Fiction? (1973) ISBN978-0-276-00043-0
- Talking about the Family (1973) ISBN978-0-85340-266-4
- Talking about Race (1974) ISBN978-0-85340-356-2
- The Pig Book (1985) ISBN978-0-85223-417-4
- The Londoner's Almanac (1985) ISBN978-0-7126-0928-9
- The Frog Book (1986) ISBN978-0-356-12305-9
- The Daily Trivia Diary '87 (1986)
- Top 10 of Everything (annual; 1989–2009) ISBN978-0-600-61742-6 (UK); ISBN978-0-600-62048-8 (US) (latest edition)
- The Top 10 of Sport (with Ian Morrison) (1992) ISBN978-0-7472-0714-6
- The Top 10 of Music (with Luke Crampton and Barry Lazell) (1993) ISBN978-0-7472-0798-6
- Top 10 Quiz Book (1996) ISBN978-0-7513-5443-0
- Incredible Comparisons (1996) ISBN978-0-7513-5421-8
- Crucial Top 10 (1997) ISBN978-1-86208-214-4
- The World in One Day (1997) ISBN978-0-7513-5618-2
- Factastic Book of 1001 Lists (1998) ISBN978-0-7513-5799-8
- Factastic Book of Comparisons (1999) ISBN978-0-7513-6208-4
- Factastic Millennium Facts (1999) ISBN978-0-7513-5663-2
- The Top 10 of Sport (with Ian Morrison; new edition) (2002) ISBN978-0-7513-4642-8
- The Top 10 of Film (2003) ISBN978-1-4053-0050-6
- Whitaker's World of Facts (annual; 2005–2008) ISBN978-1-4081-1506-0 (UK); US (as Firefly's Book of Facts) ISBN978-1-55407-499-0 (latest edition)
- Top 10 for Men (2008) ISBN978-0-600-61817-1
- Top 10 of Britain (2009) ISBN978-0-600-61921-5
- Top 10 of Football (with Ian Morrison) (2010) ISBN978-0-600-62067-9
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
- Whitaker’s World of Facts website[permanent dead link]
References[edit]
- ^ abcdefghijklObituary, The Times, 1 July 2010
- ^ abcObituary, The Scotsman, 9 July 2010
- ^ abcdefghij'Results for 'au:Ash, Russell.' [WorldCat.org]'. worldcat.org. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
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