BRAT PACK

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) In media slang, a group of young Hollywood film stars of the mid eighties who were popularly seen as having a rowdy, fun-loving, and pampered lifestyle and a spoilt attitude to society; more generally, any precocious and aggressive clique. Etymology: Formed by compounding; deliberately made punningly like rat pack, a slang name for a group of rowdy young stars led by Frank Sinatra in the fifties. History and Usage: The term was coined by David Blum in New York magazine in 1985 in an article about the film St Elmo's Fire, and quickly caught on in the media. At a time when rich young stars of sport as well as films were gaining a reputation for bad behaviour in public places, it became a kind of shorthand for the young who had been spoilt by early success and thought the whole world should be organized to suit them. Blum's article also coined the term brat packer for a member of the original Hollywood brat pack; this, too, is used more widely to refer to members of other brat packs, from professional tennis players to young, successful authors. The Brat Packers act together whenever possible. New York 10 June 1985, p. 42 Border hit back at an Indian newspaper report, which dubbed the Australian cricket team a 'brat pack', notorious for uncouth behavior. Brisbane Telegraph 21 Oct. 1986, p. 2 Young guns. A new generation rediscovers an old genre: brat-packers Estevez, Sutherland, Sheen and Lou Diamond 'La Bamba' Phillips in a rollicking re-run of the Billy The Kid legend. Q Mar. 1989, p. 119