Hipster is now comparable to a racial slur

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AfroMW

Member
The girl got pretty upset. She said that hipster is like saying nigger to a black person.


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kewlmyc

Member
I can understand that. Every time I see a hipster talking to their white wife and her friends, I tell them to scram.
 
I always wondered, why do hipsters hate the label hipster instead of embracing it?

It's a really ambiguous term. Anything can be "hipster" essentially. You ask a bunch of people what they think a "hipster" is, and you'll likely get a ton of different answers. Just from hearing the way "hipsters" have been described over the years, you'll get a multitude of things like:

Beanies
Beards
"Trendy" Mustaches
Bicycles
Tight jeans
Indie rock
Twee pop
Living in Brooklyn and wearing normal jeans/black t-shirt
Thick rimmed glasses
Cinch belts
Cardigans
Chuck Taylors
Vintage shirts
Thrift shoppers
"Scene" hair
Faux-hawks
Shemagh scarves
Suspenders
Messenger bags
Trucker or "racing" caps
Stretched ears

Combine any of these things and chances are someone out there will define you as a "hipster." Also, "hipster" has negative connotations, which is why I imagine people distance themselves from the term, too. When someone says "hipster," they're basically calling the person a try-hard who thinks they're somehow outside of the mainstream while conforming to some other sub-culture or whatever they perceive "hipster" to be on that particular day. It's saying the person is trying hard to be original and different by conforming to the way other people dress/what they listen to, which is a pretty lazy and broad brushed approach to characterizing individuals.
 
Hipster doesn't even mean anything anymore. It's just a lazy term used to stoke the flames of social tribalism, i.e. "this person doesn't conform to mainstream culture so I'll call them out as different/weird/laughable". Basically no different than how mainstream Americans used "hippie" derogatorily in the '60s.
Think of the word "hippie" and you'll get an image in your mind. Chances are it's the stereotypical picture of a hippie. Same thing with "hipster."

It's a really ambiguous term. Anything can be "hipster" essentially. You ask a bunch of people what they think a "hipster" is, and you'll likely get a ton of different answers. Just from hearing the way "hipsters" have been described over the years, you'll get a multitude of things like:

Beanies
Beards
"Trendy" Mustaches
Bicycles
Tight jeans
Indie rock
Twee pop
Living in Brooklyn and wearing normal jeans/black t-shirt
Thick rimmed glasses
Cinch belts
Cardigans
Chuck Taylors
Vintage shirts
Thrift shoppers
"Scene" hair
Faux-hawks
Shemagh scarves
Suspenders
Messenger bags
Trucker or "racing" caps
Stretched ears

Combine any of these things and chances are someone out there will define you as a "hipster."
Yeah. Combine those things and you probably have a stereotypical image of a hipster. Same with hippie, think of "hipster" and most people get a similar image. I don't see button-down shirt, polo, rolled khakis, boat shoes, knotted sweater, web belt, no socks on that list, but that sounds like how a preppie looks. Is preppie derogatory?
 

AxelFoley

Member
I asked a guy and his girlfriend if they were from around the area while at a pool hall last night. The girl was offended. She asked why I would pose such a question. I plainly said they looked a little hipstery and I've never seen them before.

The girl got pretty upset. She said that hipster is like saying nigger to a black person. I didn't agree. One is a label used to classify a social occurrence, the other is well, horrible.

Labels are bad, and I probably was a little too glib with them, but what the fuck?

She's a fucking idiot.
 
When someone says "hipster," they're basically calling the person a try-hard who thinks they're somehow outside of the mainstream while conforming to some other sub-culture or whatever they perceive "hipster" to be on that particular day. It's saying the person is trying hard to be original and different by conforming to the way other people dress/what they listen to, which is a pretty lazy and broad brushed approach to characterizing individuals.

Except that most everyone conforms to either mainstream culture or some subculture of fashion and lifestyle choices, so calling someone "hipster" is just an insult used on people who don't conform to your (typically mainstream) brand of conformity. As I said in another message, it's basically social tribalism. People threatened by people that have other viewpoints or cultural identification. Like the guys in southern states who "roll coal" around 'green' cars like the Prius. It's high school out there.

I don't see button-down shirt, polo, rolled khakis, boat shoes, knotted sweater, web belt, no socks on that list, but that sounds like how a preppie looks. Is preppie derogatory?

In '80s teen John Hughes movies it was...
 

Novoitus

Banned
People love being offended, especially this (20 somethings) generation. No surprise there's people out there that think being called hipster is equivalent to calling someone something truly awful.
 

Shy

Member
I asked a guy and his girlfriend if they were from around the area while at a pool hall last night. The girl was offended. She asked why I would pose such a question. I plainly said they looked a little hipstery and I've never seen them before.

The girl got pretty upset. She said that hipster is like saying nigger to a black person. I didn't agree. One is a label used to classify a social occurrence, the other is well, horrible.

Labels are bad, and I probably was a little too glib with them, but what the fuck?
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I asked a guy and his girlfriend if they were from around the area while at a pool hall last night. The girl was offended. She asked why I would pose such a question. I plainly said they looked a little hipstery and I've never seen them before.

The girl got pretty upset. She said that hipster is like saying nigger to a black person. I didn't agree. One is a label used to classify a social occurrence, the other is well, horrible.

Labels are bad, and I probably was a little too glib with them, but what the fuck?

Maybe she was ironically offended.

But yeah. That's an incredibly dumb thing to say.
like, really dumb.
 

Mully

Member
You must not be Asian.

Though, to be honest, if the person had an accent, I'd probably ask where they were from, since, assuming the accent means they are from not America.

I also ask people with different American accents what state they are from, if their accent is different from California.

Not sure if that's offensive though...

It's a common thing to ask in NY. We like to relate where people are from. A lot of times, getting to know where a person is from is a great way to either find out if they know someone you know from the same place or they're familiar with places you're familiar with from the area.

Essentially it's a great way at opening up conversations.
 

Mooreberg

is sharpening a shovel and digging a ditch
Budweiser had a really racist commercial tonight. Imagine if they did that at the start of hipster history month.
 

akira28

Member
It's a really ambiguous term. Anything can be "hipster" essentially. You ask a bunch of people what they think a "hipster" is, and you'll likely get a ton of different answers. Just from hearing the way "hipsters" have been described over the years, you'll get a multitude of things like:

Beanies
Beards
"Trendy" Mustaches
Bicycles
Tight jeans
Indie rock
Twee pop
Living in Brooklyn and wearing normal jeans/black t-shirt
Thick rimmed glasses
Cinch belts
Cardigans
Chuck Taylors
Vintage shirts
Thrift shoppers
"Scene" hair
Faux-hawks
Shemagh scarves
Suspenders
Messenger bags
Trucker or "racing" caps
Stretched ears

what if you do 75% or more of those things? hipster? I would say hipster
 

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
I wish I could pull of rockabilly without looking like an enormous dingus. Those cats are swinging, daddy-o

Tool a fast shore, swing with a gassy chick. Turn on to a thousand joys, smile on what happened, or check what’s going to happen, you’ll miss what’s happening. Turn your eyes inside and dig the vacuum. Tomorrow is a dragsville, cats, tomorrow is a king-sized bust.
 

Sigmaah

Member
You must not be Asian.

Though, to be honest, if the person had an accent, I'd probably ask where they were from, since, assuming the accent means they are from not America.

I also ask people with different American accents what state they are from, if their accent is different from California.

Not sure if that's offensive though...

I'm Pakistani and I consider myself Asian, dunno if you do or not. (Being serious here, some people do, some don't)

People ask me where I'm from, I just say born in cali and I'm Pakistani. Nothing to cry over.
 

Syriel

Member
I like asking people too! If NY is anything like a college campus, asking "where are you from" when you meet a new person is normal, since it's assumed that the chance of someone not being from that city is very high.

But I do worry at times it might come off as offensive... like, highlighting that you're different from "us." Maybe this is more pronounced is everyone else is <x> and you're the only <y> in the room. It can be accent, skin color, or socio-economical indicators (clothing, dress, manner of speaking).

Whenever I meet someone new I always ask where they are from. It's a good ice breaker.

Not to mention, it seems like most of SF consists of transplants. Rare is the person who responds "born and raised right here in SF!"
 
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