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''Hip'', like '' cool'', does not refer to a quality. What is considered hip is continuously changing. Being ''hip'' is also about being informed about the latest ideas, styles, and developments.


Origin of term

The term ''hip'' is recorded in
African American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE, ), also referred to as Black (Vernacular) English, Black English Vernacular, or occasionally Ebonics (a colloquial, controversial term), is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urba ...
(AAVE) in the early 1900s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it had become a common slang term, particularly in the African-American-dominated
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
scene. The origin of ''hip'' is unknown; there are many explanations for the etymology of ''hip'', but they remain unproven. Research and speculation by both amateur and professional
etymologists Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...
suggest that "hip" is derived from an earlier form, ''hep'' but that is disputed. Many etymologists believe that the terms ''hip'', ''hep'' and ''hepcat'' derive from the
west Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
n
Wolof language Wolof (; Wolofal: ) is a language of Senegal, Mauritania, and the Gambia, and the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer language, Serer and Fula language, Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian languages, Senegam ...
word ''hepicat'', which means "one who has his eyes open". Some etymologists reject this, tracing the origin of this putative etymology to David Dalby, a scholar of African languages who tentatively suggested the idea in the 1960s and some have even adopted the denigration "to cry Wolof" as a general dismissal or belittlement of etymologies they believe to be based on "superficial similarities" rather than documented attribution.. Alternative theories trace the word's origins to those who used opium recreationally. Because opium smokers commonly took the drug lying on their sides or ''on the hip'', the term became a coded reference to the practice and because opium smoking was a practice of socially influential trend-setting individuals, the cachet it enjoyed led to the circulation of the term ''hip'' by way of a kind of synecdoche. This etymology is rejected by Sheidlower. Slang dictionaries of past centuries give a term ''hip'' or ''hyp'' meaning melancholy or bored, shortened from the word ''hypochondriac''. This usage, more prevalent around 1800, was virtually extinct by 1900.


Development

The word ''hip'' in the sense of "aware, in the know" is first attested in a 1902 cartoon by
Tad Dorgan Thomas Aloysius Dorgan (April 29, 1877 – May 2, 1929), also known as Tad Dorgan, was an American cartoonist who signed his drawings as Tad. He is known for his cartoon panel ''Indoor Sports'' and comic strip '' Judge Rummy'', as well as the ma ...
and first appeared in print in a 1904 novel by
George Vere Hobart George Vere Hobart (1867 – 1926) was a Canadian-American humorist who authored more than 50 musical comedy librettos and plays as well as novels and songs. At the time of his death, Hobart was "one of America's most popular humorists and playwr ...
, ''Jim Hickey, A Story of the One-Night Stands'', where an African-American character uses the slang phrase "Are you hip?" Early currency of the term (as the past participle ''hipped'', meaning informed) is further documented in the 1914 novel ''The Auction Block'' by
Rex Beach Rex Ellingwood Beach (September 1, 1877 – December 7, 1949) was an American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player. Early life Rex Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan, but moved to Tampa, Florida, with his family where his father ...
"His collection of Napoleana is the finest in this country; he is an authority on French history of that period—in fact, he's as nearly hipped on the subject as a man of his powers can be considered hipped on anything". After the Second World War, the term moved into general parlance. The English humorist P. G. Wodehouse has his aristocratic narrator, Bertie Wooster, use the term "get hep" in his 1946 novel ''Joy in the Morning''. Jack Kerouac described his mid-century contemporaries as "the new American generation known as the 'Hip' (the Knowing)". In 1947, Harry "The Hipster" Gibson wrote the song "It Ain't Hep" about the switch from ''hep'' to ''hip'',
Hey you know there's a lot of talk going around about this hip and hep jive. Lots of people are going around saying "hip." Lots of squares are coming out with "hep." Well the hipster is here to inform you what the jive is all about.

The jive is hip, don't say hep
That's a slip of the lip, let me give you a tip
Don't you ever say hep it ain't hip, NO IT AIN'T
It ain't hip to be loud and wrong
Just because you're feeling strong
You try too hard to make a hit
And every time you do you tip your mitt
It ain't hip to blow your top
The only thing you say is mop, mop, mop
Keep cool fool, like a fish in the pool
That's the golden rule at the Hipster school
You find yourself talking too much
Then you know you're off the track
That's the stuff you got to watch
Everybody wants to get into the act
It ain't hip to think you're "in there"
Just because of the zooty suit you wear
You can laugh and shout but you better watch out
Cause you don't know what it's all about, man
Man you ain't hip if you don't get hip to this hip and hep jive
Now get it now, look out
Man get hip with the hipster, YEAH! Got to do it!
The 1936 drama film '' August Week End'' uses the term "hip" in dialogue. Norman Mailer, one of the voices of the Hipster-Movement, formulated the content-related interpretation of the terms "hip" and "square" in an
Essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
in 1957 as opposites in attitudes towards life,
Hip - Square / wild - practical / romantic - classic / instinct - logic / Negro - white / inductive - programmatic / the relation - the name / spontaneous - orderly / perverse - pious / midnight - noon / nihilistic - authoritarian / associative - sequential / a question - an answer / obeying the form of the curve - living in the cell of the square / self - society / crooks - cops / free will - determinism.
Norman Mailer: ''The Hip and the Square: 1. The List''. In: ''Advertisements for Myself''. Putnam’s, New York 1959


See also

* Hip hop music * Etymology of ''hippie'' *
Hipster (1940s subculture) 240px, The "classic quintet": Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis">Tommy_Potter.html" ;"title="Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter">Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach performing at Three Deuces in New York ...
*
Hipster (contemporary subculture) The 21st-century hipster is a subculture (sometimes called hipsterism). Fashion is one of the major markers of hipster identity. Members of the subculture typically do not self-identify as hipsters, and the word ''hipster'' is often used as a pe ...
* ''Square'' (slang) *
Woke ''Woke'' ( ) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexi ...


References

{{reflist


Further reading

*
Anatole Broyard Anatole Paul Broyard (July 16, 1920 – October 11, 1990) was an American writer, literary critic, and editor who wrote for ''The New York Times''. In addition to his many reviews and columns, he published short stories, essays, and two books dur ...
, 'A Portrait of the Hipster' ''Partisan Review'' June 1948 * Norman Mailer, 'The Hip and the Square' ''1. The List.'' In: ''Advertisements for Myself'' Putnam’s, New York 1959


External links


Crying Wolof: Does the word hip really hail from a West African language?
by Jesse Sheidlower at '' Slate''
"Hip Song (It Does Not Pay to be Hip)"
lyrics of
Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before ...
song recorded by
Chad Mitchell Trio The Chad Mitchell Trio, later known as The Mitchell Trio, were an American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed traditional folk songs and some of John Denver's early compositions. They were particularly notable for perf ...
on 1964 album ''Reflecting''
The New Cab Calloway's Hepsters Dictionary: Language of Jive, 1944
Slang 1940s slang 1950s slang 1960s slang