Am I a Yuppie?

Are you a yuppie? I didn't think it was possible! Surely yuppies died with the 80s? I don't drive a BMW nor do I wear Lacoste...but recent rumblings make me think the yuppie may have returned in a new, environmentally conscience but still premium product prefering form, and that you and I (gasp!) may be one of them.

Evidence Point #1: An article from Time magazine in 1984 titled "Here Come the Yuppies!" inquired, "Who are all those upwardly mobile folk with designer water, running shoes, picked parquet floors and $450,000 condos in semislum buildings?

• Ok - I don't have the $450k condo but have you seen housing prices in Seattle lately? I am guilty of the other 3 points. Are you?

Evidence Point #2, #3, and #4: From the most recent issue of European Harpers Bazaar:

• "The 21st Century Yuppie - Y07, if you like - is a more mellow beast, with a heart as well as a wallet. But the genetic link to the city slickers of 2 decades ago is this: a burning ultra-materialism, fuelled by a love of premium products and prestige brands (though we wouldn't want anyone to know it). This is yuppiedom by stealth, and - let's face it - anyone who has ever spent four quid on a bottle of Fiji Water is at it."
• "It's all very subtle. Yuppies 07 (Y07) do their social grandstanding with a nudge and a wink...Call it inconspicuous consumption, but it is still hooked on the right badges; it lives at the right address and basks in the right annual income; it eats the right foods and drinks the right coffee. Looked at this way, isn't the yuppie, in fact, the most conspicuous urban demographic of age? Aren't we still wedded to status as ever?"
• "Scratch the surface of your latest purchase and you'll find the purring heart of someone pretty pleased with themselves, who knows, deep down, that their taste rocks. If you want a definition of today's yuppie, then surely that's it."

So the argument goes that we still want our premium products (iPod, hybrid cars, sushi anyone?) but we want to feel good about our premium products. We are slaves to our ideals AND our bright shiny objects...dear god, I think I might be a yuppie.

What say you?