Return of the Acronyms!!

The use of acronyms in recent years has also been indicative, to a degree, of changes in society and, to a much lesser degree, of a commentary of my life.

First of all we had the YUPPIE (Young Upwardly Mobile Professional) in the 70'S then we had the DINKY (Double Income No Kids Yet) in the very early 80's, and KIPPERS (Kids in Parents' Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings) in the 90's & 00's (or the naughtnys as we call it in our household!).

Very recently we also had an isolated case of FAIRIES in Yeovil (Female
Acrobat in Roadside [Injury Enhancing] Stumble) which whilst slightly better
than a case of the WARTS (Wrinkly Acrobat in Roadside Triple Salco),
and certainly better than a combination of the two - (That would be
FARTIES for those not quick enough to work it out!) sounds to have been
very painful nevertheless. To protect the identity of the individual
concerned I will simply refer to her by the acronym of MUM [indefinable, although more "sugar plum" than "wrinkly"] - and I truly hope that she is well on the (pothole free) road to recovery!!

Now apparently we have a new "breed". Ambitious office workers now tend to arrive at their desk with a mobile phones, a Blackberry, an iPod, a decaffeinated cappaccino and a gym bag. These are no longer YUPPIES, but GOSSIPS - Gadget Obsessed, Status-Symbol-Infatuated Professionals.

A recent survey of 1,500 staff in London found that most said that gadgets such as memory sticks and Blackberries were the ultimate status symbol and almost a third spent more than £10 a week on coffee, even where hot drinks were free in the office.

Well I'm just glad that no-one could ever describe me as a GOSSIP.

Now, did I tell you about our next door neighbour, and who I saw leaving her house late the other night......?