recessionista

These are the brand addicts every company dreams about -- engaged, highly loyal consumers. But one has to wonder if there are just too many istas these days. Frugalistas, recessionistas, Palinistas, urbanistas and more -- it's enough to make a buzzwordista burst.

Lisa Birnbach's True Prep, the long-awaited sequel to her 1980 opus, The Official Preppy Handbook, looks at how the prep lifestyle has weathered the past thirty years. Although upper class styles in the U.S. seem to be more influential than ever, the question arises: have the old standards of taste and decorum been replaced by something completely -- and incompatibly -- different?

The financial collapse has brought about many changes to our lifestyles -- from how we work (or don't) to how we spend our money and even to how we talk. These changes have prompted the creation of new terms, and the revival of old ones, to describe activities and actions that have gained new...