Hipster, like any word in any given language, was created by someone. A hipster is not born but made. Hipster is what I would call a "polar word". A polar word would be any word that might confuse and frighten you if you were learning English as a second language.These words came to be, thanks to the regular use of slang far and wide. These words have two or more definitions and those definitions are the exact opposite of each other. Think of the Earth's magnetic poles. They are exactly opposite of each other but if you agree with the polar shift hypothesis, they could inhabit each others' space. There are many polar words floating around out there but since our time is limited, here are only a few examples: wicked (evil; awesome), gnarly (gross; radical), pissed (angry; drunk).
For me hipster could be considered to be another example of these "polar words". However, hipster falls into a rather large gray area, being that there isn't one black and white definition of the word. You could think of it as floating around in word purgatory. It is not a "bad" word nor is it "good". So it is destined to roam the earth without a definition or a purpose until an English class decides to discuss the word in detail, only to discard it as soon as the semester is over.
There has always been some form of the hipster throughout history. It uses different disguises and never stays in the same place for long. You could say that "hipster" is in the eye of the beholder. And this beholder thinks that all these hip trends that we are seeing everywhere were originally born of comedy. Someone saw a lumberjack and said, "That guy's outfit is really funny. Could you imagine if we all walked around looking like that?" And we did exactly that. What was once simply making fun of one very small subculture, has become the new in thing. You cannot escape red flannel print and the furry Russian style hats with flaps haunt you wherever you go.
Which brings me back to my "Polar Trends hypothesis". What once was hideous will eventually become bitchin. Keep in mind this is only one example how hip has morphed from something lame to something wicked cool. Images of trucker hats, wife-beaters, men in eye-liner, and girls wearing combat boots with a mini-skirt, should be flashing in your head right about now. But have no fear. Just as fate has a fickle finger, so does the hipster. These fashions will soon be dead, only to be replaced with some new monstrosity. Let's just hope these never become hip again. If they do...someone please put me out of my misery! The world can be an ugly place (thanks skinny jeans) without having to see grown men prancing about in these little numbers.
I like this idea of the "polar word." It's useful in this discussion, I think, but also useful when we talk about coded language, irony, and some other things we'll encounter this semester.
This is a theme that connects a lot of material we'll find in the book as well.
Speaking of language, what if we thought about the hipster as someone fluent in the language of the culture(s), someone who can "speak" hip?
I like this idea of the "polar word." It's useful in this discussion, I think, but also useful when we talk about coded language, irony, and some other things we'll encounter this semester.
ReplyDeleteThis is a theme that connects a lot of material we'll find in the book as well.
Speaking of language, what if we thought about the hipster as someone fluent in the language of the culture(s), someone who can "speak" hip?