What is a "yuppie" (Chicago, Humboldt: credit, employment, colleges)

[Ron.]

Good question..............I always ask people that all of the time.

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

What's a "professional" anyway? Does any white-collar worker make the grade or only certain kinds?

[Empidonax]

Originally Posted by Attrill

I'm old enough to remember the term coming into usage in the 80's and at the time a "yuppie" had to be a baby boomer. It was the next phase for the hippies/yippies (which is why anyone even thought to come up with a term for them). Now it is commonly used in a different way to describe income level and general cultural tendencies.

I agree with Drover about foodies. A real foodie is much more proud to tell you about a street vendor they found who sells the most incredible huitlacoche tamales or something for a buck than they are to talk about the newest 5 star restaurant. LTH forum is excellent BTW.

Another good website for foodies is Roadfood dot com. And it is true, foodies search for the best foie gras and morels, as well as the best Chicago Red Hots and Buffalo wings. We're equal opportunity eaters....

[Empidonax]

The Anatomy of the Yuppie has been covered quite well here, but it may not hurt to mention that yuppies, in the 1980s, were to some extent associated with the individualistic and materialistic philosophies of Ayn Rand. They were also somewhat connected with Preppies, especially after Lisa Birnbach's tongue-in-cheek *Preppy Handbook* was published and became a kind of how-to guide for status-conscious and legacy-conscious people. Yuppies and preppies were never completely the same, however, though preppy brands (Brooks Brothers, Polo, etc.) experienced a boom as yuppie culture developed. In terms of finances, preppies were (and still are) characterized by possessing substantial wealth (much of it inherited), resulting in a positive (and purportedly high) net worth. Yuppies (and now, Bobos), on the other hand, have been characterized as allegedly having the spending habits of preppies, but without the high net worth: in spite of high incomes and lots of possessions, the yuppie's (or bobo's) net worth is generally either negative or not very high. It isn't a coincidence that the credit card industry and negative savings rate in this country have defined the era of the hyperconsumer (which includes yuppies and bobos, though not exclusively).

As Lookout Kid and others have noted, the yuppie has morphed into the Bobo over the past 15 years or so. (There are still bona fide preppies, regardless of these consumer-driven, middle-class trends.) This reprise of the yuppie, as noted, blends bourgeois and bohemian values into a comfortable synthesis of upper-middle culture; this "fusion" culture has redefined some places that were either traditionally preppy or bohemian/alternative. As LK says, it's about the search for authenticity, but within limits. For the most part, the authenticity has to be upscaled. It's true that some bobos like to go for some full-throttle authenticity (like dive bars), but it's mostly preppy-style slumming (just enough authentic culture to make things different, but not too much to cause discomfort). Ultimately, bobos are said to consume things such as "authentic" distressed Brazilwood lamps and gorgonzola-porcini tortellini, but the purveyors are likely to be places such as Crate and Barrel (for the lamps) and Whole Foods (for the pasta), not the neighborhood fair-trade store or Italian corner grocery store. And like their yuppie ancestors (those who brought chardonnay and brie into the mainstream U.S. grocery store), the bobos often spend all they earn, and use credit in order to live beyond their means.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by quijote

Another good website for foodies is Roadfood dot com. And it is true, foodies search for the best foie gras and morels, as well as the best Chicago Red Hots and Buffalo wings. We're equal opportunity eaters....

Hollyeats.com is good too. Regional "regular" food.

[cohdane]

Drover and all-- thanks for the insight about foodies. Glad to hear they're not all as bad as the few I've encountered who had the "plastic menu" rule-- it was a real turn-off (especially since I rapidly tire of the nouveau vertical food with too many adjective restaurants).

Thanks, too, for the website leads. I myself am a fan of dives and all things cheap and off the beaten path. My overgeneralization has had a good outcome for me-- an inside source for good grub!

[Drover]

Nah... what you described is a cuisine snob. That's not to say that "true" foodie-ism doesn't have its own snobby streak, because it does. But they do have very expansive tastes and adventurous palates.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

LOK,

Don't be offened by my remarks. No harm intended, especially coming from me. I'm just goofing off.

No offense taken.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by cohdane

Drover and all-- thanks for the insight about foodies. Glad to hear they're not all as bad as the few I've encountered who had the "plastic menu" rule-- it was a real turn-off (especially since I rapidly tire of the nouveau vertical food with too many adjective restaurants).

Thanks, too, for the website leads. I myself am a fan of dives and all things cheap and off the beaten path. My overgeneralization has had a good outcome for me-- an inside source for good grub!

My wife is definitely a foodie and frequent reader/less frequent poster on LTH forum. As a result, we are continuously trekking off to some far off neighborhood to eat at hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants to get cover some specific region of Mexico or to try a different variety of Pisco. It's to the point that we will actually run into other LTH forum posters in restaurants and my wife will recognize them by the way they talk about the food.

Anyway, Bobos are probably more inclined to search out other cultures. Yuppies are probably more likely to be into the scene at places like Japonais.

And now that we've placed half of Chicago's North Side into tidy, over-generalized categories, I can go to bed. All in a day's work.

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

What's a "professional" anyway? Does any white-collar worker make the grade or only certain kinds?

Traditionally a professional is someone who has received advanced specialized training. Lawyers, doctors, clergymen were considered professionals.

Another definition of "professional" would be someone who works independently in a field which requires certification and has standards re admissions, ethics, training. This adds CPA's, nurses, engineers, psychologists.

So, no all white collar workers are not professionals regardless of their salaries.

[Humboldt1]

I am a commercial banker. I do have degrees in economics but these are not required for my profession, though it certainly has allowed me avoid retail banking. I am formally credit trained via working as a commercial credit analyst but have no certifications such as a nurse.

I am certainly more of a yuppie than a nurse, even throwing out my salary. I have more in common with a doctor than a doctor has in common with a nurse regardless of our fields based upon how we think.

I am probably similar to engineers, CPAs, and psychologists from a mentality perspective.

BTW, I am not licensed in securities or insurance though the bankers that work for me are. There is no license required to lend money though maybe there should be when you are talking millions.