Signs you are a YUPPIE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Preppy is not purely a style of dress; it’s your family’s generational wealth and whether you have access to halls of power.

Anyone can go get a Vineyard Vines shirt at the mall — does that make them preppy? Only in the most superficial definition of the word.

Not exactly. Money is involved but it’s more about lifestyle: do you boat, hunt (things like upland game and ducks, not deer), ride horses, do you golf and are you a member of many clubs, did you dad pass along his watch. Do you go to Jackson Hole, Winter Harbor, Sconset... There is no access to power issue and while it takes some means, it’s not out of this world.

And why would you think the DC area unequivocally has more of all of that than NYC/New England? Plenty of people do all of that in the Northeast.

I think there are preppy people in a lot of places but I don’t think they are just in NY and I don’t think they are all old line, multigenerational wealth types from a subset of New Englanders and New York families. I do think the prep scene has become much less attractive to many of those types, especially in NYC and amongst the younger set over the last 20 years. Ironically, the pp limits the size and scope of true preps to only the narrow band of people I see moving away from it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anyone ever been to the Preakness and or to the Belmont? One is chock full of preps and the other is not. Ever been to the Annapolis Yacht Club and the NY Yacht Club. Muddy is in Maryland my friends.

Ever been to Martha’s Vineyard, Southampton or Nantucket? Ever been to the University Club, Harvard Club, Yale Club, etc. in NYC?

And you made my point with New York Yacht Club.

I own a home in Nantucket, am a member of the Union Club of the City of New York, the Links, the Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington and have been on more boats from Newport to Miami than you have probably been in cars and know for a fact that preps abound in places far beyond your book based sensibility to understand. And by the way, the NY Yacht is a fraction as preppy as the club in Annapolis.

Book-based sensibility? Hardly. I’ve lived in Manhattan for most of my life and went to prep school. My entire point is that there’s more of that in the NY/New England area than in the Dc area.

You cited the dictionary to substantiate a claim that is not backed up by the facts. The Union Club in NYC is the OLDEST club in the city and it does not hold a candle to the prep nature of the “upstart” Met Club in DC. The Links is in the same boat. Columbia and NYU can’t touch Georgetown’s prep vibe. Landon and STA kids look differently than Trinity kids. NYC might be richer and older but Md and Dc have picked up a torch that NYC folks don’t carry in the same way any more.

Define “prep nature.”

I’m not talking about how someone dresses; I’m talking about lifestyle, upbringing, and the circles your family travels in.

You will never meet anyone who has deeper roots in the classic prep scene that I think you are thinking of and I can tell you first hand it’s moved past where you think it is, dictionary be damned.

It’s moved beyond people going to prep schools and summering in places like Martha’s Vineyard, Southampton, and Nantucket, and spending winters in places like Tahoe and Vail? Not when it comes to the folks I know from prep school and college. Their families are as rich as ever and their vacation spots are the same.

I couldn’t care less about what people wear; that’s not what I’m referring to.

Tahoe and Vail are NOT preppy. Neither is Southampton. You confuse rich with preppy. The cool kids get tattoos, slick their hair back and jump in Teslas in Vail while the preps put on flannel and blaze and pull out their custom Berettas and head to Oxford, Md.

You’re making it about clothes again.

Preppy isn’t just a clothing style. It’s a term for upper class east coast people, historically in the NE. But it’s certainly not just clothes.

No, it’s a term for a particular type of wealthy person who partake of certain activities, wear certain clothes, attend certain schools and live in certain places. You know rich people. You don’t really know any preps.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anyone ever been to the Preakness and or to the Belmont? One is chock full of preps and the other is not. Ever been to the Annapolis Yacht Club and the NY Yacht Club. Muddy is in Maryland my friends.

Ever been to Martha’s Vineyard, Southampton or Nantucket? Ever been to the University Club, Harvard Club, Yale Club, etc. in NYC?

And you made my point with New York Yacht Club.

I own a home in Nantucket, am a member of the Union Club of the City of New York, the Links, the Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington and have been on more boats from Newport to Miami than you have probably been in cars and know for a fact that preps abound in places far beyond your book based sensibility to understand. And by the way, the NY Yacht is a fraction as preppy as the club in Annapolis.

Book-based sensibility? Hardly. I’ve lived in Manhattan for most of my life and went to prep school. My entire point is that there’s more of that in the NY/New England area than in the Dc area.

You cited the dictionary to substantiate a claim that is not backed up by the facts. The Union Club in NYC is the OLDEST club in the city and it does not hold a candle to the prep nature of the “upstart” Met Club in DC. The Links is in the same boat. Columbia and NYU can’t touch Georgetown’s prep vibe. Landon and STA kids look differently than Trinity kids. NYC might be richer and older but Md and Dc have picked up a torch that NYC folks don’t carry in the same way any more.

Define “prep nature.”

I’m not talking about how someone dresses; I’m talking about lifestyle, upbringing, and the circles your family travels in.

You will never meet anyone who has deeper roots in the classic prep scene that I think you are thinking of and I can tell you first hand it’s moved past where you think it is, dictionary be damned.

It’s moved beyond people going to prep schools and summering in places like Martha’s Vineyard, Southampton, and Nantucket, and spending winters in places like Tahoe and Vail? Not when it comes to the folks I know from prep school and college. Their families are as rich as ever and their vacation spots are the same.

I couldn’t care less about what people wear; that’s not what I’m referring to.

Tahoe and Vail are NOT preppy. Neither is Southampton. You confuse rich with preppy. The cool kids get tattoos, slick their hair back and jump in Teslas in Vail while the preps put on flannel and blaze and pull out their custom Berettas and head to Oxford, Md.

You’re making it about clothes again.

Preppy isn’t just a clothing style. It’s a term for upper class east coast people, historically in the NE. But it’s certainly not just clothes.

No, it’s a term for a particular type of wealthy person who partake of certain activities, wear certain clothes, attend certain schools and live in certain places. You know rich people. You don’t really know any preps.

I guarantee you I do. How would you know who I know?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Baltimore - where when someone asks where you went to school, they aren't asking about university

I'm not from there (DC native) but OMG, this. The person talking trash about Baltimore clearly has no clue.

Yeah, and it’s almost certainly nothing compared to wealthy parts of New England, NYC, and CT. When people ask where you went to high school in Manhattan, they want to know what prep school you went to. Then they want to know where your family summered and wintered — was it Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, or Southampton for the summers? Was it Tahoe or Vail for the winters?

Sorry, but Baltimore just has a fraction of the historic wealth that the Northeast has. I’m sure there are rich areas, but it’s nothing compared to the circles of people whose kids went to Horace Mann, Brearley, Chapin, or Dalton, and or maybe the New England boarding schools (Andover/Exeter/Deerfield, etc.) for high school. I was on the very edges of that world, as my parents own in Manhattan and I went to Andover, while my sister went to Horace Mann. I saw that wealth directly, even though my family—though rich—does not have that historic affluence.

I went to a party at a school friend’s family’s apartment on Central Park West. They own 3 entire floors of their building and have a private elevator. She’s never been on the subway because her driver takes her everywhere. Another one of my friends from Andover has a building at Harvard with his family’s name on it. Another one is 3rd generation Princeton and Yale legacy. These are kids who grow up and do not have to work. Instead, they use their family’s wealth to establish VC funds and philanthropic foundations.

That’s preppy. It’s old money. I have an extremely hard time believing that anything in Baltimore compares, despite the existence of perhaps some small pockets of rich families.

To the person who asked above: Yes, yuppie is different from preppy. Ultimately, preppy refers to people who are WASPs, went to prep school, have country club memberships, and are comfortable in places like the very wealthy areas of Long Island, Connecticut, Martha’s Vineyard, and Manhattan. Yes, there are people who dress in sort of a preppy way, but they’re really just pretending, unless they have the lifestyle to go along with it.

Woah. That’s a lot of energy expended for this explanation. I would suggest a hobby.

[Anonymous]

Yuppie is an outdated term from the ‘80s. Bougie is the current term of choice

[Anonymous]

Are they actually wealthy with old money, or do they just like to golf and wear polo shirts?

Any Marty McGillicuddy or Rocco Cementhead can put on a polo shirt and golf. Prep is hell of a lot deeper than that...

[Anonymous]

I’m not a yuppie, I’m a foodie!

[Anonymous]

I went to Kingswood-Oxford in Connecticut with a lot of old Hartford WASPs/preps... DC and NYC seem really ignorant on this...Baltimore (while being a very insular...Planet Baltimore) has a very very preppy element to it..a lot of the old Thousand Island Park (NY) families are from Baltimore...

[Anonymous]

Yuppies are NOT preppies...the Hamptons douchebags are mostly Yuppies. The REAL preps dont want you to know they have money...understatement is the rule of thumb. I grew up in Avon CT....the first town listed in the Preppy Handbook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the term still Yuppie? That’s so late 80s/early 90s

I think people don’t even really know what it originally meant. It just seems to mean well off these days.

Don't people say "bougie" these days? Yuppie sounds so Bonfire of the Vanities - also evinces a different character to me. More Patrick Bateman than rich dude in a fleece.

Do you think Patrick Bateman wears fleeces now and shops at Whole Foods?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:hey guys a much more fun thread would be to post where you shop for groceries, what you drink, what book you last read, what art (if any) on the walls, and so forth etc and then we can nominate a name for you (west coast mllenial; middle age mom with parents from Cleveland who married BigLaw layer and lives in Potomac; social justice warrior who studied politics and art history at Vassar and works at a non profit and is really bummed her yoga retreat was cancelled,

please start a new thread that sounds fun!

[Anonymous]

I was a yuppie back when it was a thing. It is no more a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yuppie is an outdated term from the ‘80s. Bougie is the current term of choice

Bougie means aspirational. There are certain striving Yuppie’s that are bougie, but bougie does not encompass all yuppie’s

[Anonymous]

The Y in yuppie means young. I’m mid 40s and it’s not 1985. This term is outdated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a yuppie back when it was a thing. It is no more a thing.

First heard the term yuppie on Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever in the late 80s