<p>Did anyone mention fencing?</p>
<p>Good one, oldfort.</p>
<p>My LAC was preppy (I think it still is). We used to have to get dressed to attend cocktail parties at school (drinking age was 18) - guys had to have a jacket and we had to wear a skirt.</p>
<p>My LAC used to require a posture class!!! Others require (ans some still do) a demonstration of swimming proficiency.</p>
<p>^^^: MIT has ‘swimming proficiency’ as a degree requirement, maintain a very good crew, and pistol shooting sports program.</p>
<p>Does it make MIT as preppy?</p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope, Is it true that whenever you post people jump in and bash you?</p>
<p>^^^:We’ll soon find out that :D</p>
<p>It would be an overgeneralization to label a whole school as “preppy” because of some of its attributes. Could be seen as stereotyping, n’est pas? Some students may fit the bill, but it would not be reasonable to leap to an opinion about the entire school (unless perhaps it is a preparatory school!)</p>
<p>POIH- Make another proclamation that you have “superior values” or something like that and posters might once again respond.</p>
<p>It’s funny: I know, intellectually, that lacrosse is a pretty preppy sport now, but (as with IP), where I grew up the really good lacrosse players were reservation Indians (Senecas and Onondagas, not Punjabis or Gujuratis), or kids from small towns in Ontario where everyone played box lacrosse on the hockey rink during the warm months. They . . . and Jim Brown, who was a lacrosse star at Syracuse before he dropped it to focus on his other sport. In other words, not so preppy, although preppies liked to play it. When my school decided to make it a varsity sport, it decimated the baseball and track teams.</p>
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<p>When I was called selfish for not volunteering, everyone piled on with their superior values though. :-)</p>
<p>JHS, I was wondering the same about lacrosse. It’s an American Indian sport, nothing to do with preppy at all. It’s like the Hare Krishnas. They took a sub sect of a sub religion from sub region in India, and made it cool. I am always amazed at how Americans take peasant food and make it upscale gourmet.</p>
<p>No one called you selfish. People posted their suggestions. POIH announced that he had “superior values.” and several posters responded.</p>
<p>Add sailing and handball. Although I think handball is probably club or an EC these days. But my father’s generation played golf, played tennis, played handball, played squash, and sailed. Most all their friends had favorites, but all the men could do all of the sports with ease.</p>
<p>Today I’d say golf, squash, sailing, crew and handball would probably get a glance on an appliclation. Lacrosse is awfully popular in our public school so not very unique. Just about everyone plays golf, but that’s pretty typical for Michigan so not so unique. Squash, sailing, crew and handball would be unique.</p>
<p>jym626: ‘preppy’ is an attitude and that’s why it’s linked to prep schools. In the most positive connotation it means confidence, etiquette, and elegance.
It doesn’t come from wealth and is generally associated with upbringing.</p>
<p>Preppy got its origins from reference to preparatory schools. Is that^ a wikipedia definition? Don’t understand your point. </p>
<p>There were “preppy” students ant my LAC and there were crunchy granola types, and everything in between. Just because there were preppy types or the school may have a lacrosse team doesnt mean the entire college would be labelled as “preppy”</p>
<p>bclintonk was right when he said that Ivy League competition in many of these sports is a de facto affirmative action program for preppies. If you are fielding men’s and women’s teams in 10 sports hardly anyone plays but preppies, that’s probably about 100 athletic recruits of the right sort you can admit every year without worrying about what they got on their SAT IIs.</p>
<p>When I was growing up, there was a huge squash/handball divide: Squash was played on private school courts, or at the Racquet Club. Handball was played at the Y or the Jewish Community Center. Squash was white shoe, handball blue collar. Not sure why – that’s just how it was.</p>
<p>I learn a lot from these little anecdotes about American history. There is nothing white shoe about squash.</p>
<p>When I was in grad school, racquetball became very popular. It seems to have died down a bit, but many of the health clubs still have courts, and my DH and DS play. Are the size of the racquetball and squash courts the same, JHS? I don’t ever see anyone playing squash in them.</p>
<p>Anyone mention rugby?</p>
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<p>No. Very different sports.</p>