Proud Hipster
September 24, 2013 12:47 PM Subscribe
I have been told a number of times that I'm "totally a hipster" but "not actually cool enough" to be one for real. I don't know how to feel about this.
posted by phunniemee at 12:53 PM on September 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 12:53 PM on September 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
I still make the 'yuppie food stamp' joke whenever someone hands me a $20. Soon enough, people will just look at you funny if you mention hipster (or laugh uncomfortably, like you brought up high school), and you'll be required to explain yourself (or apologize).
posted by carsonb at 12:56 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by carsonb at 12:56 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm starting to think Metafilter is a front for hipster recruiting.
posted by thinkpiece at 12:57 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by thinkpiece at 12:57 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Oh, man, I got into a huge weird argument with my twitter feed today about this article.
Basically, I don't actually understand how people are able to tell that a given beard-wearing person doesn't actually like having a beard (maybe?) and is only wearing their beard ironically. It seems like projection to me.
posted by gauche at 12:57 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Basically, I don't actually understand how people are able to tell that a given beard-wearing person doesn't actually like having a beard (maybe?) and is only wearing their beard ironically. It seems like projection to me.
posted by gauche at 12:57 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've thought about the word hipster a bit. I'm tired of thinking about it, but I've come up with a personal definition that works for me..
It always seems like it has less to do with style, and more to do with cultivating an image of wealth of time, versus wealth of money. For example, riding bikes instead of cars, because you have nowhere to be. Having the time to growing a nice beard instead of shaving every day for a corporate gig. Less money-centered responsibilities, and more time-centered responsibilities (I take the time to make artisinal X product). Time to peruse record stores, time to blog and tweet, time to nerd out on all the new music and know things about it.
If we all slowed down a bit, and thought more about having more time than money, I think we'd be healthier. In that respect, we should all strive to be hipsters.
(as a post-thought, yes, we can't all afford to have that much time--and I think that's where lots of the trust-fund-baby hate comes from, at least)
posted by hanoixan at 1:01 PM on September 24, 2013 [29 favorites]
It always seems like it has less to do with style, and more to do with cultivating an image of wealth of time, versus wealth of money. For example, riding bikes instead of cars, because you have nowhere to be. Having the time to growing a nice beard instead of shaving every day for a corporate gig. Less money-centered responsibilities, and more time-centered responsibilities (I take the time to make artisinal X product). Time to peruse record stores, time to blog and tweet, time to nerd out on all the new music and know things about it.
If we all slowed down a bit, and thought more about having more time than money, I think we'd be healthier. In that respect, we should all strive to be hipsters.
(as a post-thought, yes, we can't all afford to have that much time--and I think that's where lots of the trust-fund-baby hate comes from, at least)
posted by hanoixan at 1:01 PM on September 24, 2013 [29 favorites]
Google predicts that we will continue to have this tired, tired conversation for some time.
so tired
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:04 PM on September 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
so tired
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:04 PM on September 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
Impossible - they do not exist
posted by thelonius at 1:04 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 1:04 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Eh. I'm probably a hipster. The term generally describes a crowd of people by trying to reduce them to the traits of their most insufferable members, which isn't great, but nothing really to be done about it.
posted by Navelgazer at 1:05 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by Navelgazer at 1:05 PM on September 24, 2013
I don't even know if I believe any of the stuff I just wrote. It seemed like it might sound cool at the time and I thought by sharing it people would notice me and I'd end up feeling, albeit briefly, less lonely.In other words, the perfect Slate contributor. Camile Paglia, Luke O'Neil is coming for your job, also.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:06 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
If there is anybody who is confused about hipsters and how they work, I invite you to come look at my okcupid feed and look at every dude with a 95% or higher match rating to me.
The vast majority of them are relatively interchangeable, photos and profiles alike. I have seen at least three profiles of beardless plaidshirts that actually apologize in their "first things people notice about me" section that they are unable to grow a beard.
posted by phunniemee at 1:06 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
The vast majority of them are relatively interchangeable, photos and profiles alike. I have seen at least three profiles of beardless plaidshirts that actually apologize in their "first things people notice about me" section that they are unable to grow a beard.
posted by phunniemee at 1:06 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
beardless plaidshirts
You must write a field guide.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:08 PM on September 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
You must write a field guide.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 1:08 PM on September 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
I'm starting to think Metafilter is a front for hipster recruiting.
Just starting? It's always been very apparent to me, hence all the hipster hatred, because this joint is nothing if not a deep and yet profound continent of self-loathing.
But I don't go in for facial hair or Animal Collective, and I've never been much irked by Banksy, so I seem to be okay. Also, I was born in 1959. So if I'm a hipster, then I was into the earlier more obscure stuff.
posted by philip-random at 1:08 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
Just starting? It's always been very apparent to me, hence all the hipster hatred, because this joint is nothing if not a deep and yet profound continent of self-loathing.
But I don't go in for facial hair or Animal Collective, and I've never been much irked by Banksy, so I seem to be okay. Also, I was born in 1959. So if I'm a hipster, then I was into the earlier more obscure stuff.
posted by philip-random at 1:08 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
It seemed like it might sound cool at the time and I thought by sharing it people would notice me and I'd end up feeling, albeit briefly, less lonely. If that's not hipster, then I don't know what is.
That's not hipster, that's attention seeking bullshit. If you were good at it, it would be 'writing fiction' or perhaps 'being a storyteller'. Do you think 'hipster' covers the entire human condition or something?
posted by jacalata at 1:09 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's not hipster, that's attention seeking bullshit. If you were good at it, it would be 'writing fiction' or perhaps 'being a storyteller'. Do you think 'hipster' covers the entire human condition or something?
posted by jacalata at 1:09 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'd like to see AskMe do a thoughtful analysis of "hipster" as we did with "fedora" yesterday - I want to finally get to the bottom of this thing.
I'm basically a 40 year punk. Out of inertia and fashion illiteracy, I dress the same as I did ~20 years ago, and I know a lot of subcultural, middle-aged people that fit the same mold. Did all of those styles get boiled down into a fake media construct called "the hipster" that people like Luke O'Neil are now "embracing"? What is the point of origin for this thing?
posted by ryanshepard at 1:10 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
I'm basically a 40 year punk. Out of inertia and fashion illiteracy, I dress the same as I did ~20 years ago, and I know a lot of subcultural, middle-aged people that fit the same mold. Did all of those styles get boiled down into a fake media construct called "the hipster" that people like Luke O'Neil are now "embracing"? What is the point of origin for this thing?
posted by ryanshepard at 1:10 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
I think the author has mistaken the world Hipster for the the word Douchebag.
Also, at the end where it says, "Luke O'Neill is a journalist, He blogs at ..." I read Luke O'Neill BRAGS.
Also, that's not journalism.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:12 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Also, at the end where it says, "Luke O'Neill is a journalist, He blogs at ..." I read Luke O'Neill BRAGS.
Also, that's not journalism.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:12 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
I have seen at least three profiles of beardless plaidshirts that actually apologize in their "first things people notice about me" section that they are unable to grow a beard.
To be fair, a lot of women specify that they like beards.
posted by josher71 at 1:13 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
To be fair, a lot of women specify that they like beards.
posted by josher71 at 1:13 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wouldn't that make you an uber-hipster, p-r? Or Grandpa Hipster? Or whatever?
It's actually nice being too old to worry if I'm a hipster. If I look frumpy, or just odd-but-not-hipster-approved-odd, I am no longer going to be graded on it, because my age already exempts me. When New Hipster Thing arrives, I feel no pressure to adopt it (though I do approve of tasty craft beers and Tumblr, if those are still considered hip).
Physically speaking, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be younger and fitter, but if I was, I'd spend a lot more time agonizing over what I wore and what haircut I had and whether I should get chickens and learn to knit or [insert hipster fad]. Because I'd feel like I was supposed to, especially if I was still dating.
posted by emjaybee at 1:14 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's actually nice being too old to worry if I'm a hipster. If I look frumpy, or just odd-but-not-hipster-approved-odd, I am no longer going to be graded on it, because my age already exempts me. When New Hipster Thing arrives, I feel no pressure to adopt it (though I do approve of tasty craft beers and Tumblr, if those are still considered hip).
Physically speaking, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be younger and fitter, but if I was, I'd spend a lot more time agonizing over what I wore and what haircut I had and whether I should get chickens and learn to knit or [insert hipster fad]. Because I'd feel like I was supposed to, especially if I was still dating.
posted by emjaybee at 1:14 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
A collection of the author's Instagrams.
And it is that sentence, my darlings, that marks the first place in "It’s Hip to Be Hip, Too" at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:14 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
And it is that sentence, my darlings, that marks the first place in "It’s Hip to Be Hip, Too" at which Tonstant Weader fwowed up.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:14 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
What is the point of origin for this thing?
Irony was invented in early 2006 and suddenly all the emo kids had to get haircuts and figure out what to do with their lives. And then someone found a shirt with a wolf on it. Enter the hipster.
posted by phunniemee at 1:17 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Irony was invented in early 2006 and suddenly all the emo kids had to get haircuts and figure out what to do with their lives. And then someone found a shirt with a wolf on it. Enter the hipster.
posted by phunniemee at 1:17 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
I tried to think of something insightful to say about this article, but I gave up and made a shiba inu macro about it instead.
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:20 PM on September 24, 2013 [13 favorites]
posted by Metroid Baby at 1:20 PM on September 24, 2013 [13 favorites]
Also, due to the excesses of the mid to late nineties, we were in the midst of a worldwide denim shortage.
posted by phunniemee at 1:20 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by phunniemee at 1:20 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm so relieved the Shiba Inu didn't leave out "personal brand," because I can't get enough of that concept.
posted by thinkpiece at 1:22 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by thinkpiece at 1:22 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
The general trajectory goes:
What is a hipster? -> Fuck hipsters -> Wait, I'm a hipster -> I'm a hipster and proud of it -> Hipster is a meaningless word anyway -> The entire discussion is passe and embarrassing, let's move on -> Oh god, we haven't moved on -> Why haven't we moved on already
So he's currently in like phase 4 of the predictable steps of hipster discussion, cool. Most of us have heard all this before, and we just got into an embarrassing rehash of the arguments last week (and I'm responsible for that FPP, whoops). I guess what I'm saying is I'm in like phase 7 or 8.
posted by naju at 1:22 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
What is a hipster? -> Fuck hipsters -> Wait, I'm a hipster -> I'm a hipster and proud of it -> Hipster is a meaningless word anyway -> The entire discussion is passe and embarrassing, let's move on -> Oh god, we haven't moved on -> Why haven't we moved on already
So he's currently in like phase 4 of the predictable steps of hipster discussion, cool. Most of us have heard all this before, and we just got into an embarrassing rehash of the arguments last week (and I'm responsible for that FPP, whoops). I guess what I'm saying is I'm in like phase 7 or 8.
posted by naju at 1:22 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Used to be wrong (but acceptable) to tell jokes about different races, religion, midgets, the mentally ill, dead babies, AOL users, blondes, or whatever. (The 70-90's was a weird time.) Eventually we got down to only being allowed to joke about fat people (I'm a fat people). Now I am told this is wrong as well!
Hipsters gave the world a group of people we could all free to hate. Hipsters and terrorist.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:24 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Hipsters gave the world a group of people we could all free to hate. Hipsters and terrorist.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:24 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
I literally remember the ’90s.
Me too, man, me too. Freaky-deaky.
posted by Frowner at 1:26 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Me too, man, me too. Freaky-deaky.
posted by Frowner at 1:26 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
"Personal Brand?" Granted that people usually lumped under the heading of hipster are frequenters of Internet Social Networking (tm) scenes where "you are the product" then this makes sense.
posted by njohnson23 at 1:29 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by njohnson23 at 1:29 PM on September 24, 2013
don't mix whine with PBR
posted by shockingbluamp at 1:30 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by shockingbluamp at 1:30 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
This reminds me of the articles in the 1980's where the local newspaper would hire a "Generation X" writer to try and appeal to younger readers. He or she would invariably write about fashion trends that had peaked years before, all the while talking about just how different our generation was.
At the end of the year there'd always be a list of What's In and What's Out.
The irony (which neither Gen X nor Hipsters invented) is that these self-appointed arbiters of cool were never, ever cool. Or hip.
posted by kanewai at 1:32 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
At the end of the year there'd always be a list of What's In and What's Out.
The irony (which neither Gen X nor Hipsters invented) is that these self-appointed arbiters of cool were never, ever cool. Or hip.
posted by kanewai at 1:32 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
In short, I Don't Care. I Love It.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:41 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:41 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's a relief to hear they exist, actually. My visits may not be the soberest, but Portland seethes with far too many keffiyeh-cocooned cartoon lumberjacks in skinny cutoffs and Chinese old man slippers for me to have hallucinated all of them.
posted by perhapsolutely at 1:41 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by perhapsolutely at 1:41 PM on September 24, 2013
Poor guy, thinks hipsters actually exist.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:43 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ad hominem at 1:43 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
This young man is very Brave.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 1:44 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 1:44 PM on September 24, 2013
People don't like things ironically. Either they like them, or don't.
Somehow we managed to get this filtered version of hipsterdom in Finland, which is pretty great. We got the bikes and mustache and craft beers, but we dropped all the irony and hating. So if you think that retro T-shirts from the 1990s, go for it! No need to pretend that you like them only ironically.
So, I guess I'm a hipster and proud of it, and I mean it.
posted by intellect and romance at 1:44 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
Somehow we managed to get this filtered version of hipsterdom in Finland, which is pretty great. We got the bikes and mustache and craft beers, but we dropped all the irony and hating. So if you think that retro T-shirts from the 1990s, go for it! No need to pretend that you like them only ironically.
So, I guess I'm a hipster and proud of it, and I mean it.
posted by intellect and romance at 1:44 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
too hipster; dr
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 1:47 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 1:47 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm starting to think Metafilter is a front for hipster recruiting.
My name isHarvey MilkCarles and I'm here to recruit you!
posted by modernserf at 1:47 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
My name is
posted by modernserf at 1:47 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Nice try
posted by ReeMonster at 1:48 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by ReeMonster at 1:48 PM on September 24, 2013
At the end of the year there'd always be a list of What's In and What's Out.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:50 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Out: Evans and Novak : In: Bartles & JaymesMy LOLs started in and then came out.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:50 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think people assume you must love something ironically, because how could you possibly love it honestly?
I mean, I love polka. I taught myself to polka dance. I buy old polka dances. There's a polka hall of fame in Omaha that has its events a few blocks from me, and I drag my friends and happily twirl them round the dance floor.
And some people think, my god, what an odious musical form. And look at those skinny pants and chunky glasses. He must be doing it ironically!
But I ain't. I grew up in a Jewish family, and we didn't have polka, so I came to it as a yougn adult, on my own and without the weight of it being a creaky old cultural thing that only grandparents did. I didn't see it as a mark of certain ethnic whites being unable to assimilate. It just seemed like fin dance music, and I like old people, and I like oompa oompa, and I like to dance. I also think polka was often like the newspaper of white ethnic communities -- it's surprising how many topical polkas there were, often satiric. Sometimes offering ironic commentaries on recent events or politics, and I love that ...
Oh shit. I love polka for its irony. God damn. We hipsters are just cliches of ourselves.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
I mean, I love polka. I taught myself to polka dance. I buy old polka dances. There's a polka hall of fame in Omaha that has its events a few blocks from me, and I drag my friends and happily twirl them round the dance floor.
And some people think, my god, what an odious musical form. And look at those skinny pants and chunky glasses. He must be doing it ironically!
But I ain't. I grew up in a Jewish family, and we didn't have polka, so I came to it as a yougn adult, on my own and without the weight of it being a creaky old cultural thing that only grandparents did. I didn't see it as a mark of certain ethnic whites being unable to assimilate. It just seemed like fin dance music, and I like old people, and I like oompa oompa, and I like to dance. I also think polka was often like the newspaper of white ethnic communities -- it's surprising how many topical polkas there were, often satiric. Sometimes offering ironic commentaries on recent events or politics, and I love that ...
Oh shit. I love polka for its irony. God damn. We hipsters are just cliches of ourselves.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
Man, I wrote my college cult. anthro. paper on hipsters as a subculture back in, like, 2003, and the two criteria were: Knows what a hipster is; denies being one.
This shit's a decade old, at least, and even more boring than ever.
(The real secret? Stop giving a fuck about hipsters and they will have no power over you.)
posted by klangklangston at 1:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
This shit's a decade old, at least, and even more boring than ever.
(The real secret? Stop giving a fuck about hipsters and they will have no power over you.)
posted by klangklangston at 1:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
^^^^ that's for you naju
posted by klangklangston at 1:52 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by klangklangston at 1:52 PM on September 24, 2013
Bah, not a hipster unless, in addition to a goatee you are always seen attired in BOTH suspenders and a fedora that just doesn't quite match the rest of the outfit.
posted by sammyo at 1:59 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by sammyo at 1:59 PM on September 24, 2013
200-motherfucking-3.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 2:03 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 2:03 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I was a hipster back in the day but I didn't know it then. Now all I know is that I'm not doing all that cool stuff anymore. I'm just lame. Ironically lame.
posted by nicolin at 2:08 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by nicolin at 2:08 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
intellect and romance: Somehow we managed to get this filtered version of hipsterdom in Finland, which is pretty great. We got the bikes and mustache and craft beers, but we dropped all the irony and hating.
Yeah same here! In São Paulo, you can find flyers advertising hipster parties
posted by Tom-B at 2:13 PM on September 24, 2013
Yeah same here! In São Paulo, you can find flyers advertising hipster parties
posted by Tom-B at 2:13 PM on September 24, 2013
It'd be easier to describe the utter loathability of the hipster if Blue States Lose was still happening.
posted by Flashman at 2:13 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by Flashman at 2:13 PM on September 24, 2013
hanoixan: "(as a post-thought, yes, we can't all afford to have that much time--and I think that's where lots of the trust-fund-baby hate comes from, at least)"
That, and the economic effects of dumping a ton of effortlessly-wealthy 20somethings into an urban center.
posted by schmod at 2:18 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
That, and the economic effects of dumping a ton of effortlessly-wealthy 20somethings into an urban center.
posted by schmod at 2:18 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I say it every time hipsters come up on mefi...
I'm a hipster! So hipster! Everyone I know is a hipster!
Where the hell are these ironic hipsters you all talk about about? I don't know anyone who likes things ironically. I am not even really sure how that works. A personality built around pretending to like things you dislike? Who has time for that! I have craft cocktails to drink and bikes to ride and I have to mix hand-made nail polish up for my etsy shop tonight!*
*seriously, I am on a deadline for a new release.
posted by Windigo at 2:23 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'm a hipster! So hipster! Everyone I know is a hipster!
Where the hell are these ironic hipsters you all talk about about? I don't know anyone who likes things ironically. I am not even really sure how that works. A personality built around pretending to like things you dislike? Who has time for that! I have craft cocktails to drink and bikes to ride and I have to mix hand-made nail polish up for my etsy shop tonight!*
*seriously, I am on a deadline for a new release.
posted by Windigo at 2:23 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
For what it's worth, Google N-grams shows that the greatest usage of the word "hipster" occurred in 1961, after which it generally declined until the mid-1980s. It's currently on an upswing, though, and we could overtake that peak in a couple of years if current trends continue.
posted by baf at 2:29 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by baf at 2:29 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
bunny_ultramod, I dig polka too! Though down here we have more square dancing and a few other folk dances such as the scottische. The part where you all twirl under one another is super fun. I've never understood the folk dance hate. I would kind of love it if hipsters managed to make it more of a thing.
posted by emjaybee at 2:38 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 2:38 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
People don't like things ironically. Either they like them, or don't.
That's not true at all. I only like Robocop because it pretty much taught me irony.
I only like Ramen noodles because they are the same price as they were 20 years ago. I used to eat them because I had little choice. Now I eat them for the taste of irony.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:43 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's not true at all. I only like Robocop because it pretty much taught me irony.
I only like Ramen noodles because they are the same price as they were 20 years ago. I used to eat them because I had little choice. Now I eat them for the taste of irony.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:43 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
What's ironic about being lame is that it's precisely that present state of yours that allows the awareness of a former hipness. At some point, you were hip. You're not anymore : that realization make the daily grind and its tedious lameness somehow accusatory.
posted by nicolin at 2:46 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by nicolin at 2:46 PM on September 24, 2013
> Irony was invented in early 2006 and suddenly all the emo kids had to get haircuts and figure out what to do with their lives. And then someone found a shirt with a wolf on it. Enter the hipster
Someone at a party who had been hoping to pick me up called Mr Corpse a hipster in 1998. Specifically, a "hipster doofus." Is that a different thing, though? When it's used as an adjective?
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:46 PM on September 24, 2013
Someone at a party who had been hoping to pick me up called Mr Corpse a hipster in 1998. Specifically, a "hipster doofus." Is that a different thing, though? When it's used as an adjective?
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:46 PM on September 24, 2013
But I ain't. I grew up in a Jewish family, and we didn't have polka, so I came to it as a yougn adult,
Your background is Jewish and yet you've come to love the party music of the Third Reich. That's irony. The good kind.
posted by philip-random at 2:49 PM on September 24, 2013
Your background is Jewish and yet you've come to love the party music of the Third Reich. That's irony. The good kind.
posted by philip-random at 2:49 PM on September 24, 2013
I don't know anyone who likes things ironically. I am not even really sure how that works.
You mean all those hip types actually like that risible Journey song? Now I don't hate them anymore. I feel sorry for them. And I fear them.
posted by philip-random at 2:52 PM on September 24, 2013
You mean all those hip types actually like that risible Journey song? Now I don't hate them anymore. I feel sorry for them. And I fear them.
posted by philip-random at 2:52 PM on September 24, 2013
The solution (obviously) is that we all continue to be Hip As Fuuuck.
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 2:53 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 2:53 PM on September 24, 2013
Whatever else he is or isn't, the author is fucking insufferable.
posted by gingerest at 2:54 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by gingerest at 2:54 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
(The real secret? Stop giving a fuck about hipsters and they will have no power over you.)
posted by jacalata at 3:02 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jacalata at 3:02 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
> It'd be easier to describe the utter loathability of the hipster if Blue States Lose was still happening.
Until very recently Joey Arak and I were neighbors. We'd have random conversations once in a while because our dogs were kind of mean to other dogs in the building but buds with each other. I never did tell him that blue states lose was the best recurring gawker feature of all time (but it was).
posted by subtle-t at 3:08 PM on September 24, 2013
Until very recently Joey Arak and I were neighbors. We'd have random conversations once in a while because our dogs were kind of mean to other dogs in the building but buds with each other. I never did tell him that blue states lose was the best recurring gawker feature of all time (but it was).
posted by subtle-t at 3:08 PM on September 24, 2013
Are we supposed to be proud of eating at chain restaurants, and being ignorant about culture?
I grew up surrounded by people who would give an emphatic "yes" to this. Because of the weird stuff I was into, I would get ragged on a lot for being dorky/liberal/poor (the only-partially-true assumption being that my family could not afford chain restaurants). I am still into weird stuff as a 30ish adult, and I still kind of wear that fact on my sleeve (albeit not this ostentatiously), so now the Jocks and the Preps and the Rednecks get to slap some other label on me? Fuck that.
posted by Rustmouth Snakedrill at 3:10 PM on September 24, 2013
I grew up surrounded by people who would give an emphatic "yes" to this. Because of the weird stuff I was into, I would get ragged on a lot for being dorky/liberal/poor (the only-partially-true assumption being that my family could not afford chain restaurants). I am still into weird stuff as a 30ish adult, and I still kind of wear that fact on my sleeve (albeit not this ostentatiously), so now the Jocks and the Preps and the Rednecks get to slap some other label on me? Fuck that.
posted by Rustmouth Snakedrill at 3:10 PM on September 24, 2013
ah, one of the few gifts of aging: being too old to know or understand or care.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 3:28 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 3:28 PM on September 24, 2013
In short, I Don't Care. I Love It.
Until this morning, I thought that song was by Miley Cyrus and I kind of hated myself for it. But curiosity got the better of me this morning and I learned it is actually Icona Pop?
I haven't felt this good since I learned the only Doors song I liked was actually the Zombies!
posted by thecaddy at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Until this morning, I thought that song was by Miley Cyrus and I kind of hated myself for it. But curiosity got the better of me this morning and I learned it is actually Icona Pop?
I haven't felt this good since I learned the only Doors song I liked was actually the Zombies!
posted by thecaddy at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
If it's literally cool to be lame, then does that mean being lame ironically is neither cool nor ironic?
The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse comes full circle.
posted by FatherDagon at 3:59 PM on September 24, 2013
The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse comes full circle.
posted by FatherDagon at 3:59 PM on September 24, 2013
Can we get "hipster thread" under "pick a reason to flag:"?
As a side note to moderators, I just accidentally flagged this as something while looking at what's already there. I have no idea what. Whoops.
posted by brennen at 4:26 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
As a side note to moderators, I just accidentally flagged this as something while looking at what's already there. I have no idea what. Whoops.
posted by brennen at 4:26 PM on September 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
As a product of the grunge era, where at least at first people down dressed because they just didn't give a shit, I say a hearty fuck you to Hipsters. To me, the difference between not caring enough to conform and conforming to a norm of cool irony is a huge difference.
Setting yourself unintentionally apart is the domain of all glorious misfits. It is the defining characteristic of the nerd, geek, truly cool, Olympian, genius, true leader, muse, and otherwise fascinating person.
Intentionally trying to set yourself apart from something by conforming to norms set by a subculture us boring and annoying. It was boring and annoying when people started slurping up Birkenstocks and plaid shirts in the mid to late 90s just to conform to the fading grunge era and it's boring and annoying now.
posted by Muddler at 4:54 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Setting yourself unintentionally apart is the domain of all glorious misfits. It is the defining characteristic of the nerd, geek, truly cool, Olympian, genius, true leader, muse, and otherwise fascinating person.
Intentionally trying to set yourself apart from something by conforming to norms set by a subculture us boring and annoying. It was boring and annoying when people started slurping up Birkenstocks and plaid shirts in the mid to late 90s just to conform to the fading grunge era and it's boring and annoying now.
posted by Muddler at 4:54 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I figured hipster was one of those irregular nouns.
I am a free spirit.
You are an interesting individual.
He/she is a hipster.
We are the in-crowd.
You all are a bunch of weirdos.
They are hipsters.
posted by fings at 5:15 PM on September 24, 2013 [6 favorites]
I am a free spirit.
You are an interesting individual.
He/she is a hipster.
We are the in-crowd.
You all are a bunch of weirdos.
They are hipsters.
posted by fings at 5:15 PM on September 24, 2013 [6 favorites]
Deep in the unfathomable wastes beneath the ocean, Cthulhu wakes. His eldritch majesty hears a distant echo of a single word from some vague place in the vague, senseless world of the human mob. "No," he ... thinks, if that word truly can express the incomprehensible machinations within a god older than reckoning ... "Are we still talking about this?"
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:18 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:18 PM on September 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
> Where the hell are these ironic hipsters you all talk about about? I don't know anyone who likes things ironically. I am not even really sure how that works.
Oh man, you should come over on Thursday night for DragonRaid. Amie's cleric just picked up an apprentice you can play and Chris grew up Baptist so it really adds to the whole experience.
posted by postcommunism at 5:49 PM on September 24, 2013
Oh man, you should come over on Thursday night for DragonRaid. Amie's cleric just picked up an apprentice you can play and Chris grew up Baptist so it really adds to the whole experience.
posted by postcommunism at 5:49 PM on September 24, 2013
Re how liking things ironically works, I think this was best described in Homestuck:
It's your brother's MR. T PUPPET, which of course is kept in the apartment with a sense of profound humorous irony. But as usual with your BRO's exploits, this is no ordinary irony, or anything close to a pedestrian TIER 1 IRONIC GESTURE which is a meager single step removed from sincerity. This is like ten levels of irony removed from the original joke. It might have been funny like eight years ago to joke about Mr. T and how he was sort of lame, but that was the very thing that made him awesome and badass, and that his awesomeness was also sort of the joke. But in this case, the joke is the joke, and that degree of irony itself is ALSO the joke, and so on.
Only highly adept satirical ninjas like you and your BRO can appreciate stuff like this. It's cool taking stuff that other people think is funny but you know really isn't, and making it funny again by adding subtle strata of irony which are utterly undetectable to the untrained eye.
Also, for good measure, Mr. T is wearing a LEATHER THONG and handcuffed to a pantsless CHUCK NORRIS PUPPET.
posted by baf at 5:58 PM on September 24, 2013
It's your brother's MR. T PUPPET, which of course is kept in the apartment with a sense of profound humorous irony. But as usual with your BRO's exploits, this is no ordinary irony, or anything close to a pedestrian TIER 1 IRONIC GESTURE which is a meager single step removed from sincerity. This is like ten levels of irony removed from the original joke. It might have been funny like eight years ago to joke about Mr. T and how he was sort of lame, but that was the very thing that made him awesome and badass, and that his awesomeness was also sort of the joke. But in this case, the joke is the joke, and that degree of irony itself is ALSO the joke, and so on.
Only highly adept satirical ninjas like you and your BRO can appreciate stuff like this. It's cool taking stuff that other people think is funny but you know really isn't, and making it funny again by adding subtle strata of irony which are utterly undetectable to the untrained eye.
Also, for good measure, Mr. T is wearing a LEATHER THONG and handcuffed to a pantsless CHUCK NORRIS PUPPET.
posted by baf at 5:58 PM on September 24, 2013
I'm also a product if the grunge era. And they all cared as much as anyone what their appearance said about them.
posted by Windigo at 6:47 PM on September 24, 2013
posted by Windigo at 6:47 PM on September 24, 2013
Same as it ever was.
Quite a lot of people think that Thoreau was pretending to be a hermit in his cabin on Walden Pond while cheating by going home and visiting people and eating in town and otherwise being convivial and enjoying himself and benefiting from civilization. They think he is a hypocrite.
posted by Twang at 7:15 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Quite a lot of people think that Thoreau was pretending to be a hermit in his cabin on Walden Pond while cheating by going home and visiting people and eating in town and otherwise being convivial and enjoying himself and benefiting from civilization. They think he is a hypocrite.
posted by Twang at 7:15 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Identifying as bros, or tech nerds, foodies, gamers, health-conscious types, fashionistas, politicos, or the sports-obsessed are all viable branding options.
Um, is it me, or all these identities (including hipster) based mostly on what you buy? I mean, they sound like they're derived from big data analysis of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, prepared into handy bite-sized marketing segments for advertisers.
I mean, to put it another way, weren't all the above just called "yuppies" 25 years ago?
posted by FJT at 7:46 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Um, is it me, or all these identities (including hipster) based mostly on what you buy? I mean, they sound like they're derived from big data analysis of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, prepared into handy bite-sized marketing segments for advertisers.
I mean, to put it another way, weren't all the above just called "yuppies" 25 years ago?
posted by FJT at 7:46 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Your background is Jewish and yet you've come to love the party music of the Third Reich
I also think they had terrific fashion sense, even if the skulls made them obviously baddies.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:25 PM on September 24, 2013
I also think they had terrific fashion sense, even if the skulls made them obviously baddies.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 8:25 PM on September 24, 2013
"I mean, to put it another way, weren't all the above just called "yuppies" 25 years ago?"
In the "Young Urban Professional" sense, hipsters are almost perfectly "yuppies," especially since preppy hipster is a subset of hipster. (Hipsters smoke more weed than yuppies; yuppies are hipsters on coke.)
posted by klangklangston at 8:34 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
In the "Young Urban Professional" sense, hipsters are almost perfectly "yuppies," especially since preppy hipster is a subset of hipster. (Hipsters smoke more weed than yuppies; yuppies are hipsters on coke.)
posted by klangklangston at 8:34 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't mind hipsters. They seem harmless and unchallenging enough. Actually that's just about my only issue with them, come to think of it.
posted by Decani at 9:27 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Decani at 9:27 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think it's very possible that everyone on Metafilter but St. Alia of the Bunnies is a hipster.
posted by josher71 at 9:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by josher71 at 9:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
Only highly adept satirical ninjas like you and your BRO can appreciate stuff like this. It's cool taking stuff that other people think is funny but you know really isn't, and making it funny again by adding subtle strata of irony which are utterly undetectable to the untrained eye.
This explains SO MUCH to me, not about hipster irony but about the previously utterly incomprehensible Homestuck.
posted by elizardbits at 10:06 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
This explains SO MUCH to me, not about hipster irony but about the previously utterly incomprehensible Homestuck.
posted by elizardbits at 10:06 PM on September 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
(as a post-thought, yes, we can't all afford to have that much time--and I think that's where lots of the trust-fund-baby hate comes from, at least)
Hells yeah. I am whatever about hipster whatever, but I remember the instant hate I had when I heard that a trust-fund baby I went to college with had moved to New York. Oh really, sez I. What's he doing? Oh, was the response, he's in Williamsburg, making his art.
*HATE*
posted by angrycat at 4:48 AM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hells yeah. I am whatever about hipster whatever, but I remember the instant hate I had when I heard that a trust-fund baby I went to college with had moved to New York. Oh really, sez I. What's he doing? Oh, was the response, he's in Williamsburg, making his art.
*HATE*
posted by angrycat at 4:48 AM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
> (Hipsters smoke more weed than yuppies; yuppies are hipsters on coke.)
Wait what. Hipsters are hipsters on coke. Cocaine use is one of the standbys for hipster jokes. See hipster olympics, LATFH, or any number of party pic sites.
Or is this that thing where hipster means anything outside of office work and old people.
posted by postcommunism at 5:28 AM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
Wait what. Hipsters are hipsters on coke. Cocaine use is one of the standbys for hipster jokes. See hipster olympics, LATFH, or any number of party pic sites.
Or is this that thing where hipster means anything outside of office work and old people.
posted by postcommunism at 5:28 AM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
That came out as snarky towards both office work and old people. I did not intend that.
posted by postcommunism at 5:37 AM on September 25, 2013
posted by postcommunism at 5:37 AM on September 25, 2013
Hipster is a way to say 'people who are younger than me doing things I do not approve of. Also, something something irony'.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 6:55 AM on September 25, 2013
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 6:55 AM on September 25, 2013
"Wait what. Hipsters are hipsters on coke. Cocaine use is one of the standbys for hipster jokes. See hipster olympics, LATFH, or any number of party pic sites."
Coked hipsters are a subset; coked yuppies are all of them. Stoned yuppies were not really a thing; that was seen as outdated boomer bullshit.
posted by klangklangston at 12:12 PM on September 25, 2013
Coked hipsters are a subset; coked yuppies are all of them. Stoned yuppies were not really a thing; that was seen as outdated boomer bullshit.
posted by klangklangston at 12:12 PM on September 25, 2013
A yuppie is what happens in 1978 or so when a hippie sells utterly out on every last ideal except possibly a token knee-jerk Dem vote and a pet charity or two, and switches pot for coke, and freelovin' commune funkiness for got-mine suburban mid-level management. A hipster is the inevitable offspring of this trajectory, indoctrinated with vaguely incongruous youthful 60's ideals manqués and a double down on the first-world consumerist me-generation ethic. If, I mean, they existed.
posted by perhapsolutely at 4:15 PM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by perhapsolutely at 4:15 PM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]
is a hipster who lives in da U.P., eh.
Uttar Pradesh?
posted by FJT at 10:45 PM on September 27, 2013
Uttar Pradesh?
posted by FJT at 10:45 PM on September 27, 2013
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well, i'm glad we've all learned something today
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 12:51 PM on September 24, 2013 [2 favorites]