- For other uses of the term, see Hip (disambiguation).
Hip is a slang term meaning fashionably current. Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language.
Hip, like cool, does not refer to one specific quality. Cool is an Aesthetic of attitude behavior comportment appearance style and Zeitgeist. What is considered hip is in constant change. The term hip is said to have originated in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the early 1900s, derived from the earlier form hep. African American Vernacular English ( AAVE) – also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Despite research and speculation by both amateur and professional etymologists, the origins of the term hip and hep are disputed. Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time Many etymologists believe that the terms hip, hep and hepcat (e. g. , jazz musicians' now cliched "hip cat") derive from the west African Wolof language word hepicat, which means "one who has his eyes open". West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. [1] Some etymologists reject this, however, and 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. [2]
An alternative theory traces the word's origins to those who used opium recreationally in the 19th century. Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( Opium smokers commonly consumed the drug lying on their sides (i. e. their hips). 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. Synecdoche is taken from Greek sinekdohi (συνεκδοχή meaning "simultaneous understanding" (si-nek-duh-kee (pronounced /sɪˈnɛkdoˌki/ This theory, however far-fetched, is most certainly disproven by the fact that the term hep was used until around 1940, when it was replaced in popular culture with the term hip for no apparent reason other than to make the word current again.
Early currency of the term (as the past participle hipped, meaning informed), is documented in the 1914 novel The Auction Block by Rex Beach (bolding added):
- "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"[3]
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. Rex Ellingwood Beach ( September 1 1877 &ndash December 7 1949) was an American Novelist, Playwright, and Olympic Harry "The Hipster" Gibson ( June 27, 1915 - May 3, 1991) was a Jazz Pianist, Singer, and Songwriter 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!
Footnotes
- ^ Holloway, Joseph E. The Impact of African Languages on American English. Slavery in America. Retrieved on 2006. 10. 05.
- ^ e. g. Grant Barrett, "Humdinger of a Bad Irish Scholar", in "The Lexicographer's Rules", 2007. 11. 09
- ^ Rex Beach, (1914) The Auction Block, New York: A. Rex Ellingwood Beach ( September 1 1877 &ndash December 7 1949) was an American Novelist, Playwright, and Olympic L. Burt, p. 91-92.