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According to lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower , the principal American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary , the terms ''hipster'' and ''hippie'' derive from the word '' Hip '', whose origins remain unknown. The words "hip" and "hep" first surfaced around the beginning of the 20th century and spread quickly, making its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1904. At the time, the words were used to mean "aware" and "in the know."1 WOLOF LANGUAGE In the 1960s, African language scholar David Dalby popularized the idea that American slang words could be traced to West African words. Dalby claimed that "hipi" (a word in the Wolof Language meaning "to open one's eyes") was the source for "hip" and "hep". However, Jesse Sheidlower disagrees that the term ''hip'' comes from Wolof origins.2 HIP, HIPSTER AND HIPPIE During the Jive era of the late 1930s and early 1940s, African-Americans began to use the term ''hip'' to mean "sophisticated, fashionable and fully up-to-date".http://www.slate.com/id/2110811/, retrieved 15 January 2007http://www.nytimes.com/library/arts/081900oed-profile.html The term '' Hipster '' was coined by Harry Gibson in 1940, and was used during the 1940s and 1950s to describe Jazz performers. The word evolved to describe Bohemian Counterculture . Like the word ''hipster'', the word ''hippie'' is jazz slang from the 1940s, and one of the first recorded usages of the word ''hippie'' was in a radio show on November 13, 1945, in which Stan Kenton called Harry Gibson "Hippie".NBC studios, live radio program, the "Jubilee" show at Billy Berg's jazz club in Hollywood, CA, and recorded through the transcription service of the Armed Forces Radio Corps, or AFRC, and available on the CD "Stan Kenton And Friends," 2006 This use was likely playing off Gibson's nickname, "Harry the Hipster." Words@Random . (1998, May 21) The Mavens' Word of the Day: Hippie . '' Random House, Inc. '' Retrieved on 2006-10-09. In Greenwich Village , New York City , young Counterculture advocates were named ''hips'' because they were considered "in the know" or "cool", as opposed to being '' Square ''. Reminiscing about late 1940s Harlem in his 1964 autobiography, Malcolm X referred to the word ''hippy'' as a term African Americans used to describe a specific type of white man who "acted more Negro than Negroes."Booth, 2004, p. 212. "A few of the white men around Harlem, younger ones whom we called 'hippies', acted more Negro than Negroes. This paricular one talked more 'hip' talk than we did." In a 1961 essay, Kenneth Rexroth used the term to refer to young people participating in African American or Beatnik nightlife.Rexroth, Kenneth. (1961). " What's Wrong with the Clubs ." ''Metronome''. Reprinted in ''Assays'' In 1963, soul singing group on the Orlons' record label, Cameo-Parkway.http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/bsnpubs/vpost?id=73942&trail=345 See 2006 April 16 from "W.B." and 2006 April 17 from Boppin Brian. Retrieved 2006-12-13. The reference says that at least some copies of the vinyl record included both the then-current and former names. http://www.musicsojourn.com/AR/Soul/page/o/Orlons.htm retrieved 2006-12-13. See Disk 1, song 8, Memory Lane, and Disk 2, song 21, South Street. The reference says that the 2005 re-release of the former is credited to "The Hippies a.k.a. The Tams". A hip person, a hipster, or a hippie, then, is someone who is aware of the latest developments or trends, as in "I'm hip to that." It was also often used as a verb in the early days, such as in the phrase, "I'm hipping you, man," which meant, "I'm making you wise." http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary as of 2006 Dec. 17. MODERN USE The more contemporary sense of the word "hippie" first appeared in print on September 5, 1965. In an article entitled "A New Haven for Beatniks," San Francisco Journalist Michael Fallon wrote about the Blue Unicorn coffeehouse, using the term ''hippie'' to refer to the new generation of Beatnik s who had moved from North Beach into the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Fallon reportedly came up with the name by condensing Norman Mailer 's use of the word ''hipster'' into ''hippie''.Tompkins, 2001, Vol. 7 Use of the term ''hippie'' did not catch on in the Mass Media until early 1967, after San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Herb Caen began referring to ''hippies'' in his daily columns.Mecchi, 1991, 22 Dec 1966 column, pp 125-26. Chronicle columnist Arthur Hoppe also used the term--see "Take a Hippie to Lunch Today," S.F. Chronicle, 20 Jan 1967, p. 37. San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Jan 1967 column, p. 27 PEJORATIVE USE To the late 1950s/early 1960s cartoon character, Eric Cartman .In the " Die Hippie, Die " '' South Park '' episode, the entire town joins Cartman in his negative view of hippies after they arrive in town for a "Hippie Music Jam Festival." In Britain in the 2000s, the term, spelled ''hippy'', is generally seen as a pejorative label. REFERENCES |
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