# Do the British really use the word "dickhead" to describe what Americans would call a "hipster"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687 "2010-11-06T08:15:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/1 "2010-11-06T08:15:15Z")
One of my friends told me that the British call hipsters “dickheads.” He sent me a link to a [YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_5uVdy5YmA) of “The Dickhead Song.” And indeed, based on this video, it would seem that he’s right. But I couldn’t find anything else on the internet to indicate that the British use “dickhead” for what Americans call a “hipster.” So, just to make absolutely sure, is it true? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/2 "2010-11-06T08:35:35Z")
I think you misunderstand. English people call hipsters dickheads, but the terms aren’t synonymous. Dickhead is a generic insult. A dickhead is a dickhead. There are all sorts of ways to be a dickhead. You can be a dickhead by being a pretentious hipster twat, but you can equally be a dickhead by [displaying any other annoying trait just as well](http://www.3am.co.uk/50-cent-posts-lots-of-pictures-of-himself-with-wads-of-money-on-twitter/24900/). Do English people call hipsters dickheads? Sure they do. They call them all sorts of other names as well. Do they call all sorts of other people dickheads as well? Sure they do. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/3 "2010-11-06T08:39:16Z")
**Blake** beat me to it! But thanks for the link to the video 😃 ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/4 "2010-11-06T08:44:12Z")
While all hipsters are dickheads, not all dickheads are hipsters. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/5 "2010-11-06T08:45:13Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > I think you misunderstand. English people call hipsters dickheads, but the terms aren’t synonymous. Dickhead is a generic insult. > > A dickhead is a dickhead. There are all sorts of ways to be a dickhead. You can be a dickhead by being a pretentious hipster twat, but you can equally be a dickhead by [displaying any other annoying trait just as well](http://www.3am.co.uk/50-cent-posts-lots-of-pictures-of-himself-with-wads-of-money-on-twitter/24900/). > > Do English people call hipsters dickheads? Sure they do. They call them all sorts of other names as well. > > Do they call all sorts of other people dickheads as well? Sure they do. I thought of this possibility, but it made the video seem to make less sense to me. Thanks for the explanation anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/6 "2010-11-06T08:52:14Z")
For what it’s worth, the term “Hipster” as a description that combines elements of “Twentysomething University Student-type”, “Poseur”, and “Smug/Pretentious Wanker” really seems to be a uniquely American one; I’ve never heard anyone in Australia use the term in that sense, for example. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/7 "2010-11-06T09:15:40Z")
> [@firstname](#): > > While all hipsters are dickheads, not all dickheads are hipsters. This. “Hipster” isn’t totally obscure in the UK though. There’s a bit of a pretentious guy at work that everyone calls “The Urban Artist”. I described him yesterday as “being in a hipster band” and the person I was talking to said “ah yeah, makes sense”. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/8 "2010-11-06T10:21:05Z")
I figure they’re trying really _really_ hard to not appear like they’re trying to be cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/9 "2010-11-06T10:27:50Z")
“Hipster” doesn’t seem all that obscure to me, but maybe that’s because I’m so hip. The ultimate hipster-dickhead is of course Charlie Brooker’s creation [Nathan Barley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVGoHome). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/10 "2010-11-06T11:05:28Z")
Charlie Brooker is one of the funniest people on earth. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/11 "2010-11-06T11:33:42Z")
Hipster is a type of flask over here. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/12 "2010-11-06T15:52:15Z")
I have never heard the word “hipster” used in a negative way. Always neutral or positive. Maybe it’s a generational thing – I’m 40. To make the word negative, in all contexts I’v com across, one would have to change it to, say, “hipster wannabe” or “pseudo-hipster”. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/13 "2010-11-06T16:18:02Z")
I’m American and that what I call them, though I generally prefer to use the term “douchebag.” ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/14 "2010-11-06T16:20:10Z")
> [@](#): > > I have never heard the word “hipster” used in a negative way. Always neutral or positive. Maybe it’s a generational thing – I’m 40. Yup it’s only been in the past decade that hipster in the US has acquired a negative meaning. I first heard it as such during the “new rock” movement of indie rockers like the Strokes. While we’re talking about British artists singing about “dickheads”, here’s [Kate Nash’s “Dickhead” (NSFW)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfilqC3CSf0). There’s nothing remotely about hipsters in the lyrics (indeed she wishes her boyfriend was “more intelligent”). So the “hipster=dickhead” notion, if it does exist, certainly isn’t universal even in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/15 "2010-11-06T16:26:40Z")
No, “hipster” is not intrinsically negative here either. It just means a trendy, metropolitan sort of person. You can certainly take the view that all hipsters are dickheads, but the word itself is not a pejorative term. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/16 "2010-11-06T16:41:59Z")
I felt it only right to link to this blog about the [Hipsters](http://hackneyhipsterhate.tumblr.com/post/888932866/fieldday) who inhabit my bit of London 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/17 "2010-11-06T16:49:02Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Hipster is a type of flask over here. Hipster is also a kind of [jacket](http://s7d4.scene7.com/is/image/BonTon/304926?$ibm_large$) - it stops at, and hugs, the hips. Mostly a garment industry term - you couldn’t market a jacket as a hipster; consumers would snicker. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/18 "2010-11-06T16:51:52Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’m American and that what I call them, though I generally prefer to use the term “douchebag.” Naw. Hipsters are the 20-30-something evolution of geeks and nerds, while douchebags are the 20-30-something evolution of jocks. Jersey Shore is a douchebag show. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/19 "2010-11-06T17:46:28Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > No, “hipster” is not intrinsically negative here either. It just means a trendy, metropolitan sort of person. You can certainly take the view that all hipsters are dickheads, but the word itself is not a pejorative term. Hipster is definitely derogatory in NYC. It particularly has shades of being excessively wealthy while pretending to be poor, and caring a lot that you never enjoy anything popular. Let the mockery commence: [Live From Williamsburg Brooklyn, It’s the Hipster Olympics](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAO4EVMlpwM) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687/20 "2010-11-06T17:58:52Z")
Hmm… it seems to me that “hipster” is like other labels, such as “intellectual” or “conservative”, that people might use in a derogatory fashion if they themselves have a dislike for such people, but that is not in itself a derogatory term. That is, one could refer to “hipsters” without being disparaging, unlike “dickheads”, which is insulting any way you slice it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-british-really-use-the-word-dickhead-to-describe-what-americans-would-call-a-hipster/559687.md?page=2)