# "Hipster" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442 "2014-09-24T16:41:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/1 "2014-09-24T16:41:51Z")
This term has sort of snuck up on me. Pretty sure I know what it means. The question: it’s totally a term of derision, right? Nobody self-identifies as a hipster, do they? ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/2 "2014-09-24T16:59:28Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > This term has sort of snuck up on me. Pretty sure I know what it means. The question: it’s totally a term of derision, right? Nobody self-identifies as a hipster, do they? Unfortunately, they do. Ironically, even. They do use fewer eye rolls when doing so though. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/3 "2014-09-24T17:01:55Z")
> [@Aangelica](#): > > Unfortunately, they do. Ironically, even. Do they do anything any other way? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/4 "2014-09-24T17:18:18Z")
In hipster enclaves, like Logan Square, Chicago (where I live) there are absolutely folks who would describe themselves as hipsters unironically. I mean, I have mismatched plates, a pachinko machine, bad airbrush art, thrifted houndstooth, and a corgi. It feels like it would be disingenuous not to. It kinda describes two things: an aesthetic and an attitude. People that really really have the hipster attitude…yeah, they’re not going to self-identify that way. It’s a very snobbish, clique-y, not particularly self-aware thing. The somewhat-recursive definition of hipster I’ve been advocating for a while is that a hipster is anybody who denies being a hipster and has to. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/5 "2014-09-24T17:40:04Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > The somewhat-recursive definition of hipster I’ve been advocating for a while is that a hipster is anybody who denies being a hipster and has to. [“When everyone is hipsters, no one will be.”](http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/your-homework-is-to-go-rewatch-incredibles) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/6 "2014-09-24T17:55:15Z")
Q: How many hipsters does it take the change a lightbulb? A: It’s a really obscure number, you’ve probably never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/7 "2014-09-24T18:44:30Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > This term has sort of snuck up on me. Pretty sure I know what it means. The question: it’s totally a term of derision, right? Nobody self-identifies as a hipster, do they? [I think this book popularized the term in the modern sense.](http://www.amazon.com/The-Hipster-Handbook-Robert-Lanham/dp/1400032016) If so, yes, it was self-applied and obviously ironic. And yes, it also became a term of derision that gradually expanded to mean something like ‘any annoying youngish person or a non-young person with at least one obscure hobby/interest.’ To that end: > [@Balance](#): > > [“When everyone is hipsters, no one will be.”](http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/your-homework-is-to-go-rewatch-incredibles) > > 😃 Yes. > [@typoink](#): > > In hipster enclaves, like Logan Square, Chicago (where I live) there are absolutely folks who would describe themselves as hipsters unironically. I mean, I have mismatched plates, a pachinko machine, bad airbrush art, thrifted houndstooth, and a corgi. It feels like it would be disingenuous not to. > > It kinda describes two things: an aesthetic and an attitude. People that really really have the hipster attitude…yeah, they’re not going to self-identify that way. It’s a very snobbish, clique-y, not particularly self-aware thing. > > The somewhat-recursive definition of hipster I’ve been advocating for a while is that a hipster is anybody who denies being a hipster and has to. I think that pretty much nails it. It’s funny because my friends have had a recurring conversation that follows this pattern: person A describes a situation he found himself in, the group jokingly calls A a hipster, A denies it, and the group lists a bunch of reasons A is obviously a hipster (you have lots of tattoos/play shuffleboard/have your hair shaved on the sides/own a record player/knit/have a beard/blog/etc.). It’s pretty funny. What actually matters is that none of these people are jerks and don’t look down on people based on their taste in food or music or clothes. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/8 "2014-09-24T20:46:48Z")
“Hipster” has been watered down to mean almost anything. The whole “ironic” thing is overblown, I think. How does anyone do anything ironically? I shave with a straight razor, knit, lift weights and fiddle with electronics because I want to. I’m sure dudes who collect obscure vinyl, drink PBR and walk on slacklines do those things because they want to also, not to be ironic. But skinny jeans are popular. Beards are popular. Short shorts on guys and high-waisted shorts on girls are popular. Black plastic frames are in style. Biking is cool, etc. Anyone involved in modern society is _part_ hipster, and young people with more money than brains are simply the ones we all point to as clear examples of the genre. It’s putting a mirror up to ourselves, as the future might see us. I think that hyper-awareness of our place in history is currently in style as well. We make fun of hipsters today the way people in the 80s made fun of their former, 1970s selves for wearing bell bottoms. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/9 "2014-09-24T20:48:36Z")
I remember when “hipster” just referred to the low-rise cut on your jeans. Remember that? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/10 "2014-09-24T20:59:22Z")
I hate hipsters. Their smug hairy faces, vegan diet, tiny feet and sawdust bedding. No wait. Hamsters. I hate hamsters. _-[Political Math](https://twitter.com/politicalmath/status/261306448234024960)_ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/11 "2014-09-24T21:00:43Z")
[My daughter introduced me to this song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yPfmRoSfpA) But only the audio. \*I had no idea until just now that the video was of Disney Princesses. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/12 "2014-09-24T21:02:28Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > “Hipster” has been watered down to mean almost anything. The whole “ironic” thing is overblown, I think. How does anyone do anything ironically? I shave with a straight razor, knit, lift weights and fiddle with electronics because I want to. I’m sure dudes who collect obscure vinyl, drink PBR and walk on slacklines do those things because they want to also, not to be ironic. I think that’s probably mostly true, but I’m still not sure about some of the mustaches. However there is definitely a lot of ironicization of language. It’s not unique to anybody you’d call hipsters, but it might’ve started with “epic.” These days you can find people describing any ridiculous or dumb thing as “awesome” or any number of other things, and if they’re not being outright ironic, they’re at least being hyperbolic. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/13 "2014-09-24T21:29:59Z")
Portland is approaching hipster critical mass, I’m afraid. Also may have already exceeded its slacker quotient. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/14 "2014-09-24T21:55:42Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Q: How many hipsters does it take the change a lightbulb? > > A: It’s a really obscure number, you’ve probably never heard of it. Q: How did the hipster burn his mouth? A: He was eating pizza before it was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/15 "2014-09-24T22:37:14Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > In hipster enclaves, like Logan Square, Chicago (where I live) there are absolutely folks who would describe themselves as hipsters unironically. I mean, I have mismatched plates, a pachinko machine, bad airbrush art, thrifted houndstooth, and a corgi. It feels like it would be disingenuous not to. > > It kinda describes two things: an aesthetic and an attitude. People that really really have the hipster attitude…yeah, they’re not going to self-identify that way. It’s a very snobbish, clique-y, not particularly self-aware thing. > > The somewhat-recursive definition of hipster I’ve been advocating for a while is that a hipster is anybody who denies being a hipster and has to. I lived in Logan Square in the late 60s-Early 70s, when I was a boy. What’s the neighborhood like these days, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/16 "2014-09-24T23:40:52Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I lived in Logan Square in the late 60s-Early 70s, when I was a boy. Before it was cool, then? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/17 "2014-09-25T00:49:21Z")
They have completely invaded my neighborhood since it became cool to live here. They are hard to miss. They never make eye contact with me. They never make eye contact with each other. All they do is look at their iPhones. They order expensive beer that they do not touch. They are a vodka-soaked scourge. Their level of self-absorption is appalling ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/18 "2014-09-25T00:53:16Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > “Hipster” has been watered down to mean almost anything. Agreed. > [@](#): > > The whole “ironic” thing is overblown, I think. Agreed. Irony went out in the early 2000s. I know a few hipsters, and “ironic” is not how I would describe their attitude. It’s more of a genuine appreciation for art and attitudes that might have been described as “low brow” at one time. Like, for example, Top 40 music. Been pretty big among the “hipsters” I’ve known since the 2000s. The idea that hipsters are all about obscurism is quite outdated, in my observation. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/19 "2014-09-25T00:57:42Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Their level of self-absorption is appalling One might argue that being this annoyed at people who have done nothing to you and are not even interacting with you is more appalling. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442/20 "2014-09-25T01:11:45Z")
I think “hipster” any time I see an adult younger than 30 wearing nerdy glasses, skinny jeans, and a hat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hipster/699442.md?page=2)