Note: I have edited the original version of this entry to clarify.
Besides meeting the usual requirements of being young, urban, and a professional, I’ve found that to be a good yuppy, one must also be an afficianado. The more afficianado feathers in one’s cap, the more legitimate a yuppy he is. Yuppy afficianado-ism works best in the realm of consumption, in particular, with products that have a luxury/organic/fair trade market or that are part of an expensive hobby. I’ve found that the best afficianadoes, the ones who can expound on command, are the following: coffee appreciators, wine connoisseurs, cyclists, hike-campers, beer enthusiasts, foodies, and techies.
However, a solid yuppy can sound like a commanding authority in any dinner party conversation. A solid yuppy is, in effect, an afficanado’s afficianado–not a jack of all trades, but an expert on all trades. He can tell you where to backpack in South America away from all of the tourists, where to get bike parts and how to replace them (and when to go to the bike store that he assures you is the best one in town), or which restaurant has the most legitimate relationship with local farms.
I am in this regard a bad yuppy. I have very limited pockets of specialized knowledge, and those areas with which I am familiar are not very glamorous. The other day, for instance, my roommates expressed surprise at my off the cuff tutorial on gauging our dishwasher’s efficacy at cleaning the dishes properly and what to do if it is not (check for food in its parts, get a dishwashing cleanser that will run in a cycle by itself, turn on the hot water in the sink before running the dishwasher). This information was imparted to me by my father.
Unfortunately, as a child and teenager, I took relatively little interest in absorbing facts and how-tos in favor of thinking about more abstract questions, and as a result, I was not instilled with an appreciation for holding pedantic stores of knowledge on semi-relevant subjects. This is not to say that I avoided learning; in fact, I probably thought too much about cerebral, meaning-of-life questions as a young person and not enough about practical ones. Today, this leads me to wonder, with some admiration when I endearingly ask about how to fix my bike’s front gears or what red wine pairs well with X food item, how do people know about this stuff?
September 23, 2007 at 9:35 pm |
how does one know? one knows by using google reader, reading lots of magazines and books, and observing/noting things on a daily basis…it’s a slow, drawn-out process, but it works. I also find that picking one topic at a time, obsessing over it for a period, then moving on (I have passion-ADD – i’m passionate about and passionately interested in things for a short period before moving on) works very well…you can cover many topics over the course of a year. And, keep in mind that for most pounds of yuppie afficianado-ism, there is an ounce of real knowledge and 11 ounces mix of pretension, posturing, and posing.
September 24, 2007 at 1:51 am |
elaine, you seem very hip and knowledgeable to me, and you bring me up-to-date constantly!
ja, on your last point, touché!
i think such types have always been around. they seem to have a high talk-to-listen ratio.
i am very grateful that i got to ride my bike around when people still bicycled, as opposed to biking, drank any old beer, etc. it’s wonderful when people are passionate and really get into things. but the rest of us can be content with less and content with our lot. come to think of it that was a big theme during the just passed high holidays, as always.
it sometimes seems that consumerist exhorations and temptations are more numerous than ever. but i’ve watched plenty of films noirs lately where some guy gets drawn into a life of crime b/c he wanted to buy his woman a fur coat or “nice things.” so i think in some ways the aficionado culture may be old wine in new bottles.
September 24, 2007 at 2:33 am |
Thanks for your thoughts, both of you. I agree, hm, that I have found contentment in less on many occasions. I guess this is part of being a moderation-ist.
JA, I guess when I ask how people know what they do, I also include the sub-question, how do they decide to make the time to know it. How does someone decide, for instance to really get into wine, to the point where he can aptly identify various elements to the wine (if this is truly possible)?
September 24, 2007 at 5:47 pm |
Ja,
A pound has 16 oz. so where are the other 4 oz. ? I got really passionate about weights and measures for a while but got bored when it came to grams and grains.
Your discription is not of Yuppies but of a sub-group called Yappies.
September 24, 2007 at 6:17 pm |
I can semi-reply to the wine question (although I loathe the stuff) as a beer geek (I recently took my beer judge certification exam) — in my case, I got into it simply because I loved the taste (once I discovered what real beer was) and wanted to try as many varieties as possible. The geeky part where one starts memorizing different style guidelines and histories came later and seemed pretty natural. I’ve been blessed/cursed with hard-core taste buds, so I think it was just a good excuse to use my ’superpower’ to some extent.
Besides, I’m a history geek, and the history of brewing always interested me, even when I thought that all beer was swill like Budweiser. Clearly, I was destined to become a full-on beer loser.
September 24, 2007 at 6:21 pm |
People know what they know because they self-educate themselves. You seem almost as proud to be ignorant of the world around you as those fellas on my street who are “keeping it real” as Chris Rock responded, “Real Dumb.” A friend of mine who is a multi-millionaire once told me, “What was I going to get from like climbing one more tree in my backyard? I lived in DC so we took the bus to the museums after school.” I can promise you that nothing excluded people from my friendships faster than a lack of understanding of medicine, film or politics. Conversations where people don’t understand the filmmaking process is filled with bizarre theories of how TV shows get made (think Seinfeld’s “who are the ad wizards who thought up this one?”). People who don’t understand medicine or science seem to want to discuss every possible conspiracy theory on the internet. People who don’t understand politics waste my time with insane conspiracy theories that don’t come close to making sense.
People who don’t have interest in things are what some people would call “Dull.” I work with these people, they know about the Redskins and Grey’s Anatomy and love the beach and funny pictures of cats.
You get un-dull by developing strong interests in things. The internet is overflowing with serious media posing serious questions or discussing things in such detail that I never had as a teenager.
Enjoy it.
September 24, 2007 at 6:28 pm |
I think you may misunderstand me a little, DCer. I’m not against knowledge, but I find pedantry a little irritating, especially when it expressed condescendingly, as if I am less of a person for failing to know about a luxury good.
September 24, 2007 at 7:10 pm |
Regarding your post on 9/17/07, what the hell are “Meredith Grey’s sweatpants, Balenciaga city bags, Marc Jacobs wellies,” etc and how does one learn about them?
September 24, 2007 at 11:32 pm |
you READ.
September 26, 2007 at 2:34 pm |
Andy, here’s a tutorial for you
MG sweats: http://www.seenon.com/search/splendid/all/product/product/greys-anatomy-meredith-grey-splendid-sweatpants
Balenciaga bags: http://www.bagborroworsteal.com/product/5315/Handbag/Balenciaga/Balenciaga%20‘City’%20Bag
MJ wellies (which are supposedly a great deal, tho there’s no reason for this type of shoe to be expensive): http://www.shoewawa.com/2007/06/3_marc_jacobs_w.html
September 28, 2007 at 3:14 am |
Elaine,
The reason I may fit in that category is that I figured out the best method to become the modern renaissance man you speak of.
1. Get a government job; internet access required.
2. Spot gaping holes in the supervising system at said job
3. Use these holes to stay up late at night watching TV, and to spend your time at work on various popular culture hubs.
4. Don’t read political blogs. Read the news and make up your own opinions. This way you will have plenty of time to learn about music, sports, historical trivia, art, film, gossip, etc.
5. Disco sucks (therefore, listen to cool new music)
October 4, 2007 at 9:37 pm |
you be workin the system, jon