The Birth and -- Maybe -- Death of Yuppiedom

YUPPIE

BORN: 1983

DIED: 1991

Let not ambition mock their frivolous ways,

Their pricey joys and consumer craze.

Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful twitch

The short and selfish annals of the nouveau rich.

The causes of death were family, finances and fatigue. The tasteful tombstone is set amid the soothing green of a field of Perrier bottles.

Even now I cannot believe it is really over. Since early 1983, when the term first appeared in print, more than 22,000 magazine and newspaper articles have featured the word yuppie. Can this torrent be at an end?

As a card-carrying baby boomer,...