I am not a Hipster and I guess I am ok with that

[JimNightshade]

See,
I have never been to a starbucks coffee place,
Never had a tattoo,
I am clean shaven,
My hair is neat and short (age - I once had biker hair)
I wear shoes not sandals,

My hipster friend is thoroughly confused.

I like that.

Are you a hipster?

[BeeGee]

I live in sandals/flip-flops as soon as my toes don't freeze. At 77 degrees, that day is today and I am wearing lime green flip-flops and I have purple metallic toenails.
I wear lots of cheap jewelry including a bracelet I made out of tin can (recycle/repurpose). And a thumb ring.
My hair is silver and long and is doing a little Grandmama Addams today.
I wear a fitness watch and I change the bands to match my outfit or nail polish (lime green today and rose pink metallic nail polish)
I have a machine that makes bubbly water out of tap water which I infuse with melon and cucumber or citrus fruits. It will also make sparkling sangria out of flat sangria, so there's that.
I wear t-shirts and jeans to my office job most days. Unless I wear a t-shirt dress. On Fridays, I generally wear a print tee. Today's is a street band called Environmental Encroachment. http://www.encroach.net/catalog.html down toward the bottom of the page. Mine is black, of course.
I eat Brussels sprouts and kale.
I don't have tattoos because I'm a chicken about pain.
I don't go to Starbucks because I'm cheap.
I like Sriracha sauce on almost everything.
On paper, I am a hipster. A 60 year old hipster.
I acted my age for a long time. I wore my hair neatly cut just to my shoulders with bangs to hide the creases in my forehead. I wore skirts or slacks to work. I wore sandals, but proper lady sandals. All I felt was old. Looked it, too.

A lot of what I do/eat/wear/drink would be considered hipster. I consider it comfortable.

I am a comforter.

[Solfy]

I sometimes will splurge on a Starbucks. The vast majority of my coffee (and there is a lot of it) is brewed by me at home.
I have no tattoos nor have I any intention of getting one. I do have a non-traditional piercing.
I, too, am clean shaven.
My hair is one of the approved soccer mom types (but not Karen!)
I wear shoes. And sandals. And slippers. And boots. And go barefoot.
I do not partake in recreational pharmaceuticals.
I do my own tiling and drywalling.
I do not attend large music festivals.
I do attend as much live music as possible.

Sometimes I am 100% polished and corporate-approved.
Sometimes I am a flannel wearing, dirt embracing, tree hugging outdoors person.

Perhaps there is a hipster spectrum?

[Rat Diva]

My shoes (including sandals) are flat and clompy but are usually bright colors and floral and/or sparkly designs.

I am addicted to manicure strips, the more obnoxious the better, and neon nail polish.

My hair is short, blonde, and graying.

I have fancy glasses and wear big dangly earrings every day.

I don't much care for Starbucks and I like tattoos on other people, not me.

I like to crochet delicate lace while drinking beer and swearing at football on TV.

I, too, put hot sauce on my hot sauce.

I'm no hipster; I think of myself as bohemian.

[3acres]

Let's see... no tattoos. Never been to a starbucks - I drink cheap coffee-like swill. Work shoes in cold weather, flipflops when it's warm. Scraggly beard and unkempt hair. I put on my nice jeans when I go to walmart. My sister says I look like I just crawled out of a cave somewhere in the Ozarks. Yep, I'm totally hip, man.

[fucktard loser]

Whatever.

[thylacine]

2 tattoos, both funny rather than cool.
We basically ran Starbucks out of town, we take coffee very seriously in Melbourne and they served crap. Since retirement I have spent very little time in coffee shops
I don’t drink these days but rely on weed for medicinal reasons, I rarely get high though.
After wearing my hair very short for about 40 years the pandemic and lockdowns means it is currently long and ridiculously curly. It amuses me. Last chance before the grey takes over.
I live in cargo pants/shorts/jeans. I don’t carry a bag so need the pockets.
Lung disease means I need to avoid crowds so haven’t seen live music for a long time, I fronted a punk band in my 20s.
I always wore work boots until a medication started giving me leg cramps, shifting to runners lessened the problem.

I think I fail hip which is ok, I’m getting to the age where hips fail, I prefer my order.

[Flying Saucerian]

I own several Best of the Lawrence Welk Show DVDs.

I think that answers that question.

[3acres]

Lawrence Welk was totally hip.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Flying Saucerian

I own several Best of the Lawrence Welk Show DVDs.

I think that answers that question.

As a young child in the 70s, I knew then how unhip Welk was. Perhaps the 3rd most unhip person ever after Polka King (Bobby Vinton?) and Anita Bryant. Even Pat Boone was hipper than Welk.

[Sunny Daze]

I thought Lawrence Welk was the polka king?

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Sunny Daze

I thought Lawrence Welk was the polka king?

Maybe, I might be confusing them. I thought Welk was the Bubble guy and bad music like a Great Aunts party band?

I only know Vinton for Polka, but could be wrong. Was there another Polka guy in the 70s?

[Flying Saucerian]

There were several. Welk had a syndicated television show beloved by grandmas everywhere; trust me, it's a trip. Makes Donny and Marie look like Altamont. He did do polkas quite often and the bubbles were a trademark.

Bobby Vinton I remember mainly for MOR ballads but I can believe he did polkas too.

Welk especially made unhip his brand. His show was the safe space for old people who feared The Seventies and all the long hair and drugs and sex and stuff.

[3acres]

Welk and his accordion were on network TV for ages before the show went into syndication. We used to watch it with my Grandpa when Mom and Dad were at work and he was taking care of us. That and the Jackie Gleason Show - I loved when the June Taylor Dancers would do their kaleidoscope schtick. And Have Gun, Will Travel - we'd all put our hands up when they pointed the gun at the camera during the show intro. And sometimes there would be ice cream sodas. 1960s fun, haha!

[claudius]

Originally Posted by Sunny Daze

I thought Lawrence Welk was the polka king?

Wasn't that Frankie Yankovic?

[Random Precision]

My orthopedist tells me that I will be an artificial hipster in the not distant enough future. Does that count?

[3acres]

Originally Posted by Random Precision

My orthopedist tells me that I will be an artificial hipster in the not distant enough future. Does that count?

That's not just hip, it's metal.

[Peeking Duck]

Originally Posted by 3acres

... I loved when the June Taylor Dancers would do their kaleidoscope schtick...

Woah! Now there's a memory that hasn't surfaced for over fifty years! (Limbs akimbo everywhere!)

[Guinastasia]

I've been to Starbucks, but not in years, and then not all that often.
I don't have a tattoo, but I'm not adverse to getting one.
I have long hair, although it's in bad shape.
I like to paint my nails sometimes, when I'm going somewhere, but they're in bad shape too.
I wear sandals when it's warm out. Right now, you'd be crazy to do so.

[Colonel Plink]

If a Hipster can wear cowboy boots, drink plain coffee black and own guns, then sure. I'm a Hipster.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by Solfy

I do have a non-traditional piercing.

What are traditional piercings? I have 12 in my left lobe and cartilage, one in my right tragus and one in my left nipple. Maybe I hang with a strange crowd, but my piercings all seem to be traditional.

[Solfy]

I think of lobes as traditional. Helix is slightly non-traditional. Daiths, rooks, tragus, etc. and anywhere non-ear solidly non-traditional (at least in western culture).
I.e. if it was a piercing my grandmother had, it's traditional. Our culture has been very accepting of pierced lobes for a long time.

[Doyle]

I've never bought anything from Starbucks.
No tattoos (a huge turn off for me).
I don't seek recreational drugs but rarely turn them down if offered.
Drink way too much.
White hair.
Only shave twice a week.

[3acres]

Originally Posted by kayaker

What are traditional piercings? I have 12 in my left lobe and cartilage, one in my right tragus and one in my left nipple. Maybe I hang with a strange crowd, but my piercings all seem to be traditional.

Yeah, you hang with a strange crowd. Maybe even stranger than us. Ha! But my folks had a little purse and costume jewelry shop when I was a kid, and anything other than one hole in each earlobe is nontraditional. Multiple holes? You're a radical. A hole in only one lobe? You guessed it - radical. Holes in "not your ear"? Super-radical. Bit if you wanted jewelry for your radical holes, they'd have sold it to you with a genuine smile. Mom would have even helped you pick the colors and styles to suit your particular radicality. Dad was always keeping up with fashions when ordering merchandise and encouraged my sisters to wear chokers and stuff when that was hot. Tried to get me to wear stuff too, but I was a lost cause.

[Baker]

Originally Posted by 3acres

Welk and his accordion were on network TV for ages before the show went into syndication. We used to watch it with my Grandpa when Mom and Dad were at work and he was taking care of us. That and the Jackie Gleason Show - I loved when the June Taylor Dancers would do their kaleidoscope schtick. And Have Gun, Will Travel - we'd all put our hands up when they pointed the gun at the camera during the show intro. And sometimes there would be ice cream sodas. 1960s fun, haha!

I remember the Jackie Gleason show. Even thought I was a kid I knew it wasn't coffee in that cup he'd sip out of, and go "WOW!"

[JimNightshade]

Very confusing this, as I have no heritage on these shows.

I was not aware that hipsters go back that far - lesson learned.

I take it that a hippie is a hipster. Have I got this right? Except for the shave and soap part?

[Flying Saucerian]

Not quite. 'Hippie' and possibly 'hipster' started out as derogatory terms indicating poseurs jumping onto whatever the latest trend was. Actual hippies preferred to be called 'freaks', if I understand correctly.

'Hip,' meanwhile, evolved from 'hep,' which meant aware of what was going on. As far as how far back the terms and the concept goes, I'd say at least as far back as the 1950's and the Beats, sort of the precursors of the counter-culture.

And yeah, you might be able to find Lawrence Welk and Jackie Gleason clips on YouTube but they weren't exactly hip even at the time. Beats considered TV strictly squaresville, man.

Anyway, a hipster was a Rat Pack type while a hippie was more acid rock. Not really the same at all.

[JimNightshade]

Ok. So which one was square? And what does that even mean?
So confused.
Tell me more Dr. Flying Sausage, this is very interesting.

Shall we have a video break?
OK, if you insist.

[JimNightshade]

Jeebus that was bad - what WAS I thinking back in the 80's.
I probably wasn't come to think of it.

[Crafter_Man]

I'm a bore: no tats, no piercings, no jewelry, no drugs, no drinking (I quit 7 months ago), short hair, clean cut, plain clothes (jeans & T-shirt). My coworker says I don't have an "edge."

[thylacine]

[Flying Saucerian]

Why do I suspect a certain Belgian is putting me on?

Still, I'll play along. A square is someone who is not hip, who is boring and dull and conventional. Lawrence Welk, for example.

Your turn.

[thylacine]

https://youtu.be/dwarqGmvmJ4 One of my fave songs actually

[JimNightshade]

Originally Posted by Flying Saucerian

Why do I suspect a certain Belgian is putting me on?

Still, I'll play along. A square is someone who is not hip, who is boring and dull and conventional. Lawrence Welk, for example.

Your turn.

No, not at all. And thank you. Over here in Euro lands, we pick up American culture real fast, especially in the 80s, with no clue what we were actually on about. It just sounded cool.

Hip?
Square?
We had no clue what that even meant.
Cool! Lets put on out Lacoste polos and go dance. It was the 80s.

Thank you.

ETA: We have no idea whatsoever who the fuck Lawrence Welk, is/was.

[leafrog]

Friday is Lawrence Welk's birthday.

I think hipsters drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and have man-buns?
And they listen to a lot of obscure music. You've probably never heard of it.


@thylacine thank you for the Blossom Dearie. I hadn't heard this one before.
She is just the perfect kind of cute.

[Guinastasia]

Is a nasal piercing a hipster thing?

[JackieLikesVariety]

I just re-read this entire thread and still don't know if I'm a hipster. likely I am not.

but I do like to wear sandals.

ETA: thank you all for reminding me to check if my lobes are still pierced.

[Rebo]

I wear flip-flops almost exclusively. I abhor bras. I don't wear make-up very often. I don't shave anything. (To be honest, I have no visible armpit hair, and my leg hair is blond.)

Do I qualify?

[Sputnik]

Originally Posted by JimNightshade

ETA: We have no idea whatsoever who the fuck Lawrence Welk, is/was.

Ah one, and ah two and ah three...

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Is a nasal piercing a hipster thing?

My son had his nasal septum pierced and a lobe piercing that was gauged pretty big. He got a job where that wouldn't work so all his piercings are gone. Now he has a wife, two kids, and a buzz-cut. I don't think he was ever a hipster.

[JimNightshade]

Originally Posted by Sputnik

Ah one, and ah two and ah three...

You lost me. Lets drink and be merry.

[Flying Saucerian]

Okay, quickly so we can move on...

Lawrence Welk was a bandleader who became famous in the Fifties when he became host of a television musical variety show. The son of immigrants, he grew up in a small hamlet in North Dakota speaking only German. He didn't learn English until he was in his early twenties. Beginning as an accordion player, he formed a band; originally calling themselves the Hotsy-Totsy Boys, they eventually changed to the Honolulu Fruit Orchestra and finally Lawrence Welk's Champagne Music-Makers.

Welk was a... unique presence on television. He became known for his thick accent, his peppy "Uh-one und a-two" band cues, his polkas, his rather stiff demeanor, and his old- fashioned conservative outlook, which only became more exaggerated as time went on. As times changed, he didn't; in form and content, his show remained stuck in the Fifties, a comfort for older people frightened by social change but a bizarre spectacle for everyone else. He assembled a large cast of musicians and performers as regulars on his show, his "musical family." Though the main criteria for whether a performer stayed or went was audience popularity, Welk was also a stern taskmaster and very concerned with presenting a strong moral image; he once fired a woman for crossing her legs on-camera. Though most people found his show positively antediluvian by the Seventies, his audience of pensioners and grandmas kept him afloat on network TV, then first run syndication, then in reruns for decades.

Any help?

[JimNightshade]

You are very kind, Flying Sausage, and I do appreciate your explanations towards this Fake Belgium.
Honestly, thank you.
Did you know that freedom fries are made in Belgium?

[Sputnik]

Originally Posted by JimNightshade

Did you know that freedom fries are made in Belgium?

Ah, little strips of potatoes dripping with grease and loaded with salt. 3 of the major food groups.

[JimNightshade]

That - and sanctioned by the USA senate, We are very proud.