Quack, Quack, Quack.

Stephanie has written an interesting post about the word “hippie” and asks people what the word means to them. I began writing a comment but it started to run long, so you are getting a post from me on the topic.

The ubiquitous Merriam-Webster defines “hippie” as “a usually young person who rejects the mores of established society (as by dressing unconventionally or favoring communal living) and advocates a nonviolent ethic; broadly : a long-haired unconventionally dressed young person.”

This definition is not bad, but I find it lacking. The problem I have is that the word has evolved quite substantially since the last time ‘ol Merriam-Webster have updated their definition. Using their more broad definition you could include members of the Goth community in the definition of hippie. Hell for that matter you could include Ted Nugent, as his hair is long and skin tight leather pants are just as unconventional as patched corduroy pants.

A hippie isn’t just anyone that “rejects the mores of established society” as we live in a civilization today that is full of many different groups that have rejected “the mores of established society.” A more practical look at the word reveals that hippie has become a lifestyle choice. Just as Goth is a lifestyle choice that encompasses dress, music, literature and slang, it seem to me that Hippie is basically the same thing but with different dress, slang, music, etc. These people may hold down good jobs, raise children, pay their taxes and own a home.

This actually presents a strange situation where you can have an individual that embraces the hippie lifestyle but rejects the more ideological principals usually associated with the word. I personally know individuals that describe themselves as a hippie, would be described as a hippie by most people they meet on the street, listens to hippie music, dresses in hippie clothes, uses hippie slang, BUT votes Republican, supported the war in Iraq and joined the military. So the question is, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, is it really a duck? As much as I hate to admit it, I think it is a duck. Its just that the definition of duck as changed.

The other thing you must consider when looking at the word hippie is that the word has also had a parallel but divergent evolution of its definition. More right wing, conservative, war hawks, have also taken a hold of the word and used it for their purposes. I think the best way to illustrate how they have changed the meaning of the word is by looking at a similar evolution.

The word “yuppie” was originally coined in 1982 and means “young urban professional”, as it gained in popularity it became “young upwardly-mobile professional”. Now I know that many people reading this blog fit that description, so by a show of hands, how many of you want to be described as a yuppie? That’s what I thought. The reason is because the punk movement (also a lifestyle choice with its own music, dress, etc.) incorporated the term to start describing the peers they were rebelling against. Pretty quickly the term evolved from describing a growing segment of the economy to a derisive term describing over-materialistic S.O.B.s. The word hippie has undergone a similar evolution among conservatives. To them a hippie is a smelly, dirty, lazy, no-good, unemployed drifter, with no actual principals but believes in pie-in-the-sky ideas that only work in fairy-land.

A third issue that you have to consider when thinking about hippie is the more broad categorization of liberal-minded, peace oriented, environmental conscious individuals that subscribe to the ideological principals of the original definition of the word, but don’t eschew society’s norms in clothing, hair style, etc. Many of these people may hate music like Phish, Donna the Buffalo, etc. Never have smoked pot in their life. Keep their hair short if men, if women style it like “square-headed, 80's helmet-hair channelling wanna-be teevee news anchor”. Yet believe in the principals of hippies, be described as hippies by others and may even identify themselves as hippies.

So you have three very different definitions, each having almost nothing in common with the others, yet each being defined as a hippie. There have been times in my life where I would have fit each of the above descriptions.

What do you think?