4 ms·

What's the definition of a hipster? Someone you disagree with?

khedoros 10y ago
As an overly broad definition: Someone who is not only counterculture, but who wants you to know exactly how counterculture they are. It's a fuzzy word with a fuzzy definition, and it doesn't mean quite the same thing to everyone. I think you know that, though.
- brian-armstrong 10y ago
  Your definition sounds like it could be inspired more by pop culture or caricatures rather than by actual human beings.
  - khedoros 10y ago
    Exaggeration is a valid rhetorical device. Why, what does "hipster" mean to you? What are the characteristics you think of when you hear it?
    - brian-armstrong 10y ago
      It doesn't mean anything to me. The word has been abused and stretched so far beyond whatever context it originally came from that it seems completely meaningless.
      - b6 10y ago
        Let's please try to use language more precisely. Are you really suggesting "hipster" is "completely meaningless"? I mean, it's not completely meaningless when a baby gurgles. Do a Google Images search and let your mind do its magic.
microcolonel 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it
marknutter 10y ago
There's one in every thread. Are all categorizations meaningless? Can you define what a "nerd" is, or a "jock", or a "goth"? Just because a categorization is fuzzy doesn't mean it can't be agreed upon by the majority of a population.
pjlegato 10y ago
A rather thorough and objective characterization is available at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-without-irony/ http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-... A personality affectation characterized by the adoption of outmoded fashions, faux nostalgia for things and eras the hipster never themselves experienced, ostentatious self-awareness and histrionic introspection designed to showcase the hipster's own moral superiority relative to mainstream society, and above all irony as the sole mode of existence, the denial of the possibility of authentic non-referential experience, and the pervasive implicit and explicit ridicule of those who think that authentic, non-ironic, non-referential experience is possible.

As an overly broad definition: Someone who is not only counterculture, but who wants you to know exactly how counterculture they are. It's a fuzzy word with a fuzzy definition, and it doesn't mean quite the same thing to everyone. I think you know that, though.

brian-armstrong 10y ago
Your definition sounds like it could be inspired more by pop culture or caricatures rather than by actual human beings.
- khedoros 10y ago
  Exaggeration is a valid rhetorical device. Why, what does "hipster" mean to you? What are the characteristics you think of when you hear it?
  - brian-armstrong 10y ago
    It doesn't mean anything to me. The word has been abused and stretched so far beyond whatever context it originally came from that it seems completely meaningless.
    - b6 10y ago
      Let's please try to use language more precisely. Are you really suggesting "hipster" is "completely meaningless"? I mean, it's not completely meaningless when a baby gurgles. Do a Google Images search and let your mind do its magic.

microcolonel 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

marknutter 10y ago

There's one in every thread. Are all categorizations meaningless? Can you define what a "nerd" is, or a "jock", or a "goth"? Just because a categorization is fuzzy doesn't mean it can't be agreed upon by the majority of a population.

pjlegato 10y ago

A rather thorough and objective characterization is available at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-without-irony/ http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-... A personality affectation characterized by the adoption of outmoded fashions, faux nostalgia for things and eras the hipster never themselves experienced, ostentatious self-awareness and histrionic introspection designed to showcase the hipster's own moral superiority relative to mainstream society, and above all irony as the sole mode of existence, the denial of the possibility of authentic non-referential experience, and the pervasive implicit and explicit ridicule of those who think that authentic, non-ironic, non-referential experience is possible.