The Official Preppy Handbook, 1980 (Archival Information)

[Anonymous]

Prep is about prep school. They wear a uniform. It's private school and elite. Almost always in the Northeast. Prep can not be successfully imitated. It's inappropriate and not sure why they would want to copy the trend, when it's attempted by public HS/college students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prep is about prep school. They wear a uniform. It's private school and elite. Almost always in the Northeast. Prep can not be successfully imitated. It's inappropriate and not sure why they would want to copy the trend, when it's attempted by public HS/college students.

Jesuit high schools are referred to as 'prep schools'. Fairfield Prep, Georgetown Prep, etc. They are 'preparatory' for college. The term can be for any HS, but it is most used with private and parochial HSs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The author of the Handbook went to Brown.

Birnbaum was the editor and one of several authors. She later published a 2nd book, which was not as humorous or topical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...and somehow, against all odds, hampden-Sydney survives! Churning out well behaved chubby boys for the past 200 years!

I had to look it up. I honestly had no idea all men’s colleges existed. Never crossed my mind.

There are many now co-ed colleges that did not admit women until the 70s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prep is about prep school. They wear a uniform. It's private school and elite. Almost always in the Northeast. Prep can not be successfully imitated. It's inappropriate and not sure why they would want to copy the trend, when it's attempted by public HS/college students.

Jesuit high schools are referred to as 'prep schools'. Fairfield Prep, Georgetown Prep, etc. They are 'preparatory' for college. The term can be for any HS, but it is most used with private and parochial HSs.

While I agree that that is a use of the word prep, the preppy people being mocked in the preppy handbook are WASP’s they are not Catholic.

[Anonymous]

It was a fun tongue in cheek book, not at all of course a college guidebook. For that we used Barron’s back in the day 😊

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I surprised that Reed was ever on the list. I do know preppies who went there but they were the serious druggies who dropped out to follow the Dead and are now carpenters in Oregon.

For context, the book describes Reed as "Bohemian Prep."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey OP:

The author of the Handbook went to Brown.

Yes. Lisa Birnbach graduated from Brown University. She wrote a satirical guide to Prepdom that took off.

She is also not a born and bred WASP so she didn’t get everything right. Still, a lot of it is pretty close.

The book was a joke that people like you took seriously.

NP. It's hard to imagine that you read or understood the book. For example, in "A Sampling of Suburbs" Chevy Chase and McLean were included. This simply represents the editor's honest opinion that these were preppy communities. How "seriously" the reader took this is irrelevant, but it's clear a joke was not involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, this book was humor.

Those rankings were supposedly of the “preppiest” schools, not the best schools. It was meant to be funny! I was in college at the time and we all thought it was a very funny book- almost as funny as the movie “Animal House,” which is also comedy.

Yep. It's a satirical book. Can't believe anyone would actually take it seriously??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had an original copy and it was my bible

But it was never meant to have anything to do with academics for crying out loud.

It was tennis and finishing and boarding schools and Speery topsides, monograms, LL Bean duck boots, duck phones, etc

Sweet Briar almost shut down completely from lack of funds and enrollment lags. Hopkins is all female too.

Let me guess : you are the same poster that turned to Vogue magazine for a historical article on “prestige” colleges (a fashion magazine) and now are going to a preppy parody book.

I suggest you look for academic literature.

In that the Preppy Handbook lacks any underlying literary work as its implicit basis, I wouldn't classify it as a parody.

DP. It's a parody of Prep Culture. Good grief. The pedanticism is exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prep is about prep school. They wear a uniform. It's private school and elite. Almost always in the Northeast. Prep can not be successfully imitated. It's inappropriate and not sure why they would want to copy the trend, when it's attempted by public HS/college students.

OMG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey OP:

The author of the Handbook went to Brown.

Yes. Lisa Birnbach graduated from Brown University. She wrote a satirical guide to Prepdom that took off.

She is also not a born and bred WASP so she didn’t get everything right. Still, a lot of it is pretty close.

The book was a joke that people like you took seriously.

NP. It's hard to imagine that you read or understood the book. For example, in "A Sampling of Suburbs" Chevy Chase and McLean were included. This simply represents the editor's honest opinion that these were preppy communities. How "seriously" the reader took this is irrelevant, but it's clear a joke was not involved.

DP. You have zero sense of humor, clearly. Yes, there was an element of truth in the book, but it was satirical. You know: FUNNY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...and somehow, against all odds, hampden-Sydney survives! Churning out well behaved chubby boys for the past 200 years!

I had to look it up. I honestly had no idea all men’s colleges existed. Never crossed my mind.

It’s basically illegal for male spaces to exist. Men just can’t be left alone to enjoy things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...and somehow, against all odds, hampden-Sydney survives! Churning out well behaved chubby boys for the past 200 years!

Conservative white boys. Rarely chubby.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Bernardsville, NJ in the 1980s. It was ground zero for this book. So hilarious and on point. I need to find a copy to reread.