Antedating of "Yuppie"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 03:33:50PM -0500, Grant Barrett wrote:
> On Dec 27, 2008, at 17:37, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>> Dan Rottenberg (May 1980). "About that urban renaissance....
>> there'll be a slight delay", Chicago Magazine, p. 154ff.
>>
>> I have not verified the 1980 cite in the original, although the
>> Chicago provenance seems quite plausible.
>
>
> Rottenberg has agreed to send me a copy of the article, which I will
> share with anyone who is interested.

Yes please!

> He also writes:
>
> "Incidentally, although my use of the term 'Yuppie' predated usage by
> others who've claimed to have originated it, the term didn't originate
> with me. I just used it in my 1980 article because I heard other
> people using it— precisely who, I don't recall."

I've heard several people claim plausibly that they'd heard or
used it in New York in the late 1970s.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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