Preps are offspring of the old Anglo-American ruling class, whether or not they rule today. Preps once ruled North and South. Their offspring can be be found in select enclaves in Texas and California, but will always be aware of their roots in the British colonies where their ancestors were Royal Governors, Judges, Presidents of Harvard or Yale, Declaration of Independence signatories or other useful things such as merely rich. Preps have long driveways. Public display of wealth is not prep. Preps do not drive ferrarris. Prep men do not wear Italian clothes. Ever (except Gucci loafers).
Preps have always been preps. As far as clothes its a manner of dressing that you are born into. Siblings raid each other's or their parents closets for prep clothes. All generations dress the same with minor variations. Old prep clothes are better than new. Preps are not nouveau. Your dad bought his suits at Brooks brothers or had them made bespoke by his tailor. If you are lucky he may have some nice English tweeds you may come into and shirts with double cuffs from somewhere around St. James's in London, but American preps are generally much more casual than their counterparts in the UK or on the continent. Your prep dad taught you how to shoot (guns are prep). You learnt how to swim, ride, and sail (water and horses are prep). Someday you will get dad's very thin gold watch and you will wear it on a striped grosgrain band just like he did. You inherit your grandfather's thin gold cuff-links and thick ivory-handled coat brush engraved with his monogram or coat of arms. You have and often wear a dinner jacket, and possibly a white tie for full dress with gewgaws.
Preps are the gentry. The real ones have pedigrees that tie them to the English gentry and nobility. You may be a 9th cousin once removed of Prince William. Preps came to America in the 17th c. on boats like the Lady Arabella (better than the Mayflower) named in honor of the Earl of Lincoln's daughter.
Preps did not come through Ellis Island. Some of your friends and someone in your family is in the Social Register. You do not belong to the very expensive clubs and socialize with new minted high tech billionaires. You belong to the older clubs that preps have always inhabited. You may go to a public school but only if you live in the right prep neighborhood so that you will find other WASP preps there including . Super preps will have recognizable "social" names that are like a code only preps know and by which they can identity each other. Preps are often the nicest people on the planet because they have no need to be otherwise. Since they are born with top inherited social status, they have no need to step on others to get ahead unlike the aggressive middle class strivers and class climbers you will find taking over places like Harvard.
Preps may be city slickers for a while, but they are country people at heart. Preps love the land, country houses, and country pursuits like steeple chases, point-to-pointing and gentleman farming.
Preps love the past. Preps have oil paintings of their prep ancestors, often by famous artists of the 18th c. The future belongs to everyone else. Preps know the best stuff (beautiful women, good drink, fine houses, the countryside, hunting, oxford, cambridge, and harvard) has always been around. Preps are not trendy, although the women may be stylilsh and fashionable. Men can be dashing and southern preps tend to have retained a more aristocratic dash from their royalist ancestors than their buttoned- down puritan cousins.
Preps are not "intellectuals" and find the term somewhat alien and amusing in its pretentions. They may be very smart, even scholarly, highly accomplished and full prefessors in which case they are men of letters. Preps like alcohol and good conversation. Hip flasks and good jokes are prep. Preps have beautiful antique furniture (some inherited, some bought at auction or scrounged from estate sales in the country). Preps are rarely found running large American corporations anymore, and except for lucky preps, the old
fortune is not what it once was although you probably still have your trust fund to take some of the hard edges off of life. Some preps are born into branches of the family without the money but will live essentially the same way as their more fortunate cousins, just on a smaller scale. Preps won't change for anybody, or anything. Even poor preps, They have one of the few authentic, distinct and enduring cultures in America reaching back nearly 400 years. Preps like Washington and Jefferson invented America. Preps are usually socially tolerant Republicans, although some may be conservative Democrats.
Preps have always been preps. As far as clothes its a manner of dressing that you are born into. Siblings raid each other's or their parents closets for prep clothes. All generations dress the same with minor variations. Old prep clothes are better than new. Preps are not nouveau. Your dad bought his suits at Brooks brothers or had them made bespoke by his tailor. If you are lucky he may have some nice English tweeds you may come into and shirts with double cuffs from somewhere around St. James's in London, but American preps are generally much more casual than their counterparts in the UK or on the continent. Your prep dad taught you how to shoot (guns are prep). You learnt how to swim, ride, and sail (water and horses are prep). Someday you will get dad's very thin gold watch and you will wear it on a striped grosgrain band just like he did. You inherit your grandfather's thin gold cuff-links and thick ivory-handled coat brush engraved with his monogram or coat of arms. You have and often wear a dinner jacket, and possibly a white tie for full dress with gewgaws.
Preps are the gentry. The real ones have pedigrees that tie them to the English gentry and nobility. You may be a 9th cousin once removed of Prince William. Preps came to America in the 17th c. on boats like the Lady Arabella (better than the Mayflower) named in honor of the Earl of Lincoln's daughter.
Preps did not come through Ellis Island. Some of your friends and someone in your family is in the Social Register. You do not belong to the very expensive clubs and socialize with new minted high tech billionaires. You belong to the older clubs that preps have always inhabited. You may go to a public school but only if you live in the right prep neighborhood so that you will find other WASP preps there including . Super preps will have recognizable "social" names that are like a code only preps know and by which they can identity each other. Preps are often the nicest people on the planet because they have no need to be otherwise. Since they are born with top inherited social status, they have no need to step on others to get ahead unlike the aggressive middle class strivers and class climbers you will find taking over places like Harvard.
Preps may be city slickers for a while, but they are country people at heart. Preps love the land, country houses, and country pursuits like steeple chases, point-to-pointing and gentleman farming.
Preps love the past. Preps have oil paintings of their prep ancestors, often by famous artists of the 18th c. The future belongs to everyone else. Preps know the best stuff (beautiful women, good drink, fine houses, the countryside, hunting, oxford, cambridge, and harvard) has always been around. Preps are not trendy, although the women may be stylilsh and fashionable. Men can be dashing and southern preps tend to have retained a more aristocratic dash from their royalist ancestors than their buttoned- down puritan cousins.
Preps are not "intellectuals" and find the term somewhat alien and amusing in its pretentions. They may be very smart, even scholarly, highly accomplished and full prefessors in which case they are men of letters. Preps like alcohol and good conversation. Hip flasks and good jokes are prep. Preps have beautiful antique furniture (some inherited, some bought at auction or scrounged from estate sales in the country). Preps are rarely found running large American corporations anymore, and except for lucky preps, the old
fortune is not what it once was although you probably still have your trust fund to take some of the hard edges off of life. Some preps are born into branches of the family without the money but will live essentially the same way as their more fortunate cousins, just on a smaller scale. Preps won't change for anybody, or anything. Even poor preps, They have one of the few authentic, distinct and enduring cultures in America reaching back nearly 400 years. Preps like Washington and Jefferson invented America. Preps are usually socially tolerant Republicans, although some may be conservative Democrats.
Happy preps spot a noovo over Bloody Mary's at the Yacht Club on Sunday: one prep says "What's the difference between a porcupine and a range rover?" the other prep answers "With a range rover, the pricks are on the inside!"
by William Byrd September 28, 2005
A prep can take on several forms, but it is most certainly not someone who shops at american eagle, hollister, areo, or abercrombie since 1970. Its a person who comes from a upper class, established family who dresses and lives in a conservative american style. I like to break the prep genre down into three classes:
1) Coastal Sea-farer: A person from an upper class family usually from the New England coast who enjoys boating (sailboats and yachts). Typically has attended a NE boarding school and private college, this education needed to handle their parents' fortune. Can be seen wearing vineyard vines, polo, lacoste, brooks brothers, and anything associated with sailing. When not on the water drives a Land Rover or Mercades. Lives on the coast but does not associate with beach bums or the surfing types, only with other sea-farer families. Family may be established in business, politics, or medicine. See the Kennedy family or the Cleary family from "Wedding Crashers"
2. Country Clubber: Person who can be found at the high end country clubs in most major american cities, though I believe they may be stronger in the south. Grow up at the local private school and wear polo, brooks brothers, lacoste, and other country club attire, drives a BMW. Lives in the high society of their community where the deb ball is more important than the prom and appearance is high on the list of priorities. Plays mostly golf and tennis, though they might suck at both.
3. Outdoorsy Prep: Someone who spends a lot of time outdoors engaging in outdoorsy activities. May draw more from the middle class than the other catagories of prep. Wear Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear, Northface, and other high quality outdoor gear, drive chevy tahoes with DU stickers. Will NEVER be confused with tree hugging hippies, with whom they share only a love for chacos sandles. Outdoorsy Preps support groups like Ducks Unlimited, not Green Peace. Big into hiking, camping, skiing, hunting, and fishing. Theodore Roosevelt is the god-father of outdoorsy prepdom.
1) Coastal Sea-farer: A person from an upper class family usually from the New England coast who enjoys boating (sailboats and yachts). Typically has attended a NE boarding school and private college, this education needed to handle their parents' fortune. Can be seen wearing vineyard vines, polo, lacoste, brooks brothers, and anything associated with sailing. When not on the water drives a Land Rover or Mercades. Lives on the coast but does not associate with beach bums or the surfing types, only with other sea-farer families. Family may be established in business, politics, or medicine. See the Kennedy family or the Cleary family from "Wedding Crashers"
2. Country Clubber: Person who can be found at the high end country clubs in most major american cities, though I believe they may be stronger in the south. Grow up at the local private school and wear polo, brooks brothers, lacoste, and other country club attire, drives a BMW. Lives in the high society of their community where the deb ball is more important than the prom and appearance is high on the list of priorities. Plays mostly golf and tennis, though they might suck at both.
3. Outdoorsy Prep: Someone who spends a lot of time outdoors engaging in outdoorsy activities. May draw more from the middle class than the other catagories of prep. Wear Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear, Northface, and other high quality outdoor gear, drive chevy tahoes with DU stickers. Will NEVER be confused with tree hugging hippies, with whom they share only a love for chacos sandles. Outdoorsy Preps support groups like Ducks Unlimited, not Green Peace. Big into hiking, camping, skiing, hunting, and fishing. Theodore Roosevelt is the god-father of outdoorsy prepdom.
Teenager: Look at that prep coming out of Abercrombie.
Biff: (bitch slapping teenager) Wrong! Look at that prep coming off his fathers yacht, or coming off the TPC golf course, or hunting moose on his family ranch in Idaho.
Biff: (bitch slapping teenager) Wrong! Look at that prep coming off his fathers yacht, or coming off the TPC golf course, or hunting moose on his family ranch in Idaho.
by Bob1776 August 25, 2006
A person who is from an upper middle class family and typically went to private or PREP school (boarding or day). They wear clothes from Brooks Brothers, Polo Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, J. Crew, J. Press, and L.L. Bean (to name a few) because they will never go out of style. They dress this way because they have acquired good taste from their parents and peers. Preps do NOT, as many non-preps seem to believe, wear Abercrombie, Hollister, or American Eagle. These people are merely poor(bad) imitators. However, being preppy is a lifestyle not a fashion. There is more to being a prep than just dressing tastefully. Being a prep means that you most likely attended Cotillion once a month as you grew up, spent summers at the cape or somewhere similar, play tennis, like to watch crew, and love horseback riding. Being a prep means that you have a certain way of speaking wether it be locust valley lockjaw or Boston Brahmin. All preps have read The Official Preppy Handbook (1980) and all non-preps who think they know what a prep is should read it.
Biff: "When do you think people will stop refering to average public school kids as preps just because they pop their collars?"
Skip: "I guess the same time they realize that true preps don't shop at Abercrombie and Fitch."
Skip: "I guess the same time they realize that true preps don't shop at Abercrombie and Fitch."
by JMS September 15, 2005
Preps are generally from a WASP family who tend to be from upper middle class to upper class. They attend preparatory schools on the east coast and are very involved in various activities, including: sailing, rowing, tennis, badminton, lacrosse, field hockey, golf, football and rugby.
Their families usually come from a line of prep families, however new money families are sometimes the exception. Prep families are never flamboyant about their wealth and would much rather buy a very classic architecturally stunning home than an unattractive monster home. Their parents tend to drive cars of good quality such as BMW's and Mercedes Benz but not cars such as Hummers which are very conspicuous.
Their parents either have inherited old money or have very respectable jobs, such as: lawyers, real estate developers, business entrepreneurs, doctors and various different investors.
Their upbringing is very important to the prep lifestyle, they are taught to treat people kindly and with respect unlike common the common prep stereotype which is portrayed in movies such as movies Mean Girls and although it is a very big hit amongst young preps it does not at all represent the true prep lifestyle. Their parents want the best education for their children which is why they end up sending them to prestigious private schools and universities. They tend to belong to various country clubs and/or yacht clubs. Prep families vacation quite a bit to places such as Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard or other exclusives places.
Preps have a very defined style and their clothes are usually in the pastel pallet of colors. They wear brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Lilly Pulitzer, The North Face and Vineyard Vines. A girls wardrobe consists of polos (which are worn with the collar popped up), Lilly skirts, cardigans and oxfords. A guys wardrobe consists of polos (which are worn with the collar popped up as well)seersucker shorts and khakis.
Overall a real prep is not what most people consider one to be (slutty, mean and backstabbing bitches) but more so people that are born into the preppy lifestyle.
Their families usually come from a line of prep families, however new money families are sometimes the exception. Prep families are never flamboyant about their wealth and would much rather buy a very classic architecturally stunning home than an unattractive monster home. Their parents tend to drive cars of good quality such as BMW's and Mercedes Benz but not cars such as Hummers which are very conspicuous.
Their parents either have inherited old money or have very respectable jobs, such as: lawyers, real estate developers, business entrepreneurs, doctors and various different investors.
Their upbringing is very important to the prep lifestyle, they are taught to treat people kindly and with respect unlike common the common prep stereotype which is portrayed in movies such as movies Mean Girls and although it is a very big hit amongst young preps it does not at all represent the true prep lifestyle. Their parents want the best education for their children which is why they end up sending them to prestigious private schools and universities. They tend to belong to various country clubs and/or yacht clubs. Prep families vacation quite a bit to places such as Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard or other exclusives places.
Preps have a very defined style and their clothes are usually in the pastel pallet of colors. They wear brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Lilly Pulitzer, The North Face and Vineyard Vines. A girls wardrobe consists of polos (which are worn with the collar popped up), Lilly skirts, cardigans and oxfords. A guys wardrobe consists of polos (which are worn with the collar popped up as well)seersucker shorts and khakis.
Overall a real prep is not what most people consider one to be (slutty, mean and backstabbing bitches) but more so people that are born into the preppy lifestyle.
by Richard Van Dusen December 9, 2006
The most annoying and useless people on the Earth.
While many groups of people such as nerds, hippies and punks try to change the world for the better through activism and technology, preps spend nine tenths of their time looking down upon others, using their typically upper class parents to buy them things which make others envious.
However, don't worry about them too much; since they tend to drink heavily and go to shitty colleges, many preps find themselves unable to function in society and end up working for their parents, who are generally lawyers or self employed salespeople. Their more worthy parents wind up hating them and they take up jobs at IHOP or Walmart and get old and hideous.
Their idols are generally as shallow as they are, and include any boy band they can find, and typically STD infested sluts like Hannah Montana and Miley Ray Cyrus.
Young preps tend to watch High School Musical; older preps can't afford a TV.
They tend to be Republicans, and pretend to be devout Christians, while drinking more than the average Irish Catholic minister.
While many groups of people such as nerds, hippies and punks try to change the world for the better through activism and technology, preps spend nine tenths of their time looking down upon others, using their typically upper class parents to buy them things which make others envious.
However, don't worry about them too much; since they tend to drink heavily and go to shitty colleges, many preps find themselves unable to function in society and end up working for their parents, who are generally lawyers or self employed salespeople. Their more worthy parents wind up hating them and they take up jobs at IHOP or Walmart and get old and hideous.
Their idols are generally as shallow as they are, and include any boy band they can find, and typically STD infested sluts like Hannah Montana and Miley Ray Cyrus.
Young preps tend to watch High School Musical; older preps can't afford a TV.
They tend to be Republicans, and pretend to be devout Christians, while drinking more than the average Irish Catholic minister.
Nerd: Audrey and her friends are such preps I wish they would die.
Hippie: Yeah but she'll be working night shift at McDonalds in five years once I graduate from UVM and you get out of Yale.
Punk: Hey forget her ass, let's go burn down the army navy store.
Hippie: Yeah but she'll be working night shift at McDonalds in five years once I graduate from UVM and you get out of Yale.
Punk: Hey forget her ass, let's go burn down the army navy store.
by Styxhexenhammer August 30, 2009
Preps are mainly a clique (group) of teenagers or young adults who wear Abercrombie, American Eagle, GAP, AERO, and Hollister, and will socialize with others who are just like them based on their clothing and personality.
by Anonymous September 12, 2003
In the past, the word prep was used to define those individuals priviledged enough to attend East Coast prepatory schools. However, more recently, the word prep has evolved to describe any individual who seems like they would be the type to attend a prep school. In most cases, today's preps had relatives who attended prep schools-- their families are legacies at these institutions. Contrary to popular belief, preps do not wear Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle, or similar clothing companies. In many cases, shopping at these stores would be seen as a waste of money (and a lack of good judgement). Instead, many preps choose to sport Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, J. Crew, Burberry, Lilly Pulitzer, and anything from Nordstrom, Saks, and Neiman Marcus. Loafers, boating shoes, designer sunglasses, and designer purses are also important. Casually, preps can be spotted wearing designer tees (Michael Stars/ C & C California), Uggs, Juicy Couture, Hard Tail, North Face, Rainbow, and jeans by True Religion, 7 for All Mankind, Rock & Republic, etc. Pearls are a must, along with jewelry by Tiffany & Company and David Yurman. Many preps enjoy sailing, golfing, playing tennis-- stereotypical prep activites. They are often members of a country club and use their time there to associate with other preps. Families of preps generally know each other. Many prep families will remain friends through the generations as they gather for charity benefits, dinner parties, and other social events. Preps usually will attend prepatory schools and attend the universities of their choice. Most preps will go on to attend the Ivies, Duke, or one of many east coast private liberal arts colleges. Other acceptable colleges include Michigan, UCLA, Stanford, and UNC. In short, the word prep signifies the "classic" classy individual-- the type of person who embodies the word "class."
I think that my roommate might be a prep. Earlier today, she was talking about summering on the Cape.
My parents love my boyfriend Nate. His father and my father were on the lacrosse team together at Exeter, so our families have known each other forever. When Nate and I finally get married, we're going to have the perfect prep family.
My parents love my boyfriend Nate. His father and my father were on the lacrosse team together at Exeter, so our families have known each other forever. When Nate and I finally get married, we're going to have the perfect prep family.
by prepsteralli May 4, 2006