GUPPIE

noun Sometimes written Guppie or guppy (Environment) (People and Society) Either (mostly in the US) a gay yuppie or (mostly in the UK) a green yuppie: a yuppie who is concerned about the environment and green issues generally. Etymology: Formed by substituting the initial letter of gay or green for the y- of yuppie (see yuppie). History and Usage: The word guppie was invented by the media in 1984 as one of the many variations on the theme of yuppie that arose in the mid eighties (including buppie and others mentioned at yuppie). Since it has always had several possible interpretations (apart from those mentioned above, one newspaper even used it for greedy yuppie), most sources have needed to expand or explain it, and it has never gained any real foothold in the language despite fairly frequent use in journalism. It has been described as a journalists' 'stunt word', saying more about the influence of yuppie than anything else; this may well prove to be true, although with the importance of green issues in the late eighties and early nineties, it could still become established in its own right in the sense of an ecologically aware middle-class person and lose some of its associations with yuppie. There is one group that is totally universal: 'Guppies'--Gay Urban Professionals...The so-called 'pink economy' (Guppies' lack of family commitments means money to burn) enables them to acquire possessions and indulge in activities that make straight Yuppies green with envy. Russell Ash, Marissa Piesman, & Marilee Hartley The Official British Yuppie Handbook (1984), p. 16 On Wednesdays at midnight, Razor Sharp [a drag queen] appears with her Go-Go Boys at this upper West Side Guppie hangout. Newsday 3 Feb. 1989, section 2, p. 3 Far from building bridges between environmentalists and big business...green yuppies or 'guppies' have 'delivered the green movement into the lap of the industrialist'. Daily Telegraph 20 Sept. 1989, p. 15