DINK
DINKY is an acronym and can stand for any of the following:
- Dual (or double) income, no kids.
- Dual (or double) income, no kids yet.
- Dual (or double) income, no kids yuppie.
DINKY is occasionally used (in the UK, Canada, India, and China) to describe a high-earning couple who choose not to have children and are therefore able to afford a more expensive consumer lifestyle than those with families. The term was coined during the 1980s, at the height of "yuppie" culture. The post-2000 economic crises have made this social pattern more permanent.[1]
A version of the acronym, DINK, is still used in the United States, South Korea, and Japan; especially for a subset of yuppies. DINK is sometimes used in reference to gay and lesbian couples who are childless.[2] This may also be a more appropriate term for heterosexual couples who prefer not to have children and consider themselves childfree.
Some marketers have proposed yappie as a term to describe similar couples who do have children.[3]
An "opposite" term, mainly intended as a joke, is SITCOM: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage.[4]
References
- ^ Wouter van Gils/Gerbert Kraaykamp, The Emergence of Dual-Earner Couples. A Longitudinal Study of the Netherlands, in: International Sociology, Jg. 23, 2008, p. 345-366
- ^ Cf. Chasin, A., Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market, New York: Palgrave, 2000; Fejes, F., “Advertising and the Political Economy of Lesbian/Gay Identity”, in E. R. Meehan and E. Riordan (eds.), Sex & Money: Feminism and Political Economy in the Media, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
- ^ http://www.cim.co.uk/cim/ser/html/infQuiGlo.cfm?letter=Y
- ^ http://www.jokebuddha.com/joke/Fun_with_words_1