freshkicks

The word hippie was developed in the early 1960s to describe a new generation of people. These people were the “counterculture” of the time, during the Vietnam War, and strongly believed in peace, rock music, the sexual revolution, and drug use. These people were very liberal and known to have a free spirit. Not that I was around during the 60’s but I imagine, like any other label, that it had both a negative and positive connotation. It is all dependent on the context of who is using the word. In the 60’s a conservative person might use “hippie” in a negative way, using it to even insult someone else. Or another fellow “hippie” could use it to describe their friend in a positive light. This is similar even today, although the definition of a hippie might have changed a little bit, there is still the variation in connotation, which is based on context.
Just last night my friend was describing these two girls that she works with at a restaurant. She said, “Oh yea, I love Kate and Emily, they are so laid back. They are like the two hippie girls of the staff.” When she said that, I assumed that she thought highly of them, (she said she loved them) and that they were probably free spirited and fun to be around. I did not think that they were heavily into drugs, promiscuous, or anti-war, although they might be. In today’s society “hippie” to me, suggests a person is laid back, “chill,” and could possibly smoke weed. It is also key to note that all of the things I know about hippies today is reflected by what I have learned about hippies in the 60s. All social fads in the past have seemed to make another appearance in my generation. Especially when talking about style and clothing. Bell-bottoms from the 60s, tight straight jeans from the 80s, bright neon colors from the 90s. They have all come back around. Learning about fashions and social groups from the past affects the fashion and social groups of today. There is no question. I will reiterate the phrase, “affects our world today” because bell-bottoms today were inspired by fashion in the 60s, but they do not look the same as they did in the 60s. This is similar to the word hippie used today, compared to its meaning in the 60s. They are similar, but have definitely changed.
The word “hippie” is a label. It has a general meaning that most people in our nation and world can understand to some extent. In the Chinese language the word for hippie is, “xi pi.” (Phonetically pronounced: She pea). Xi means “to play.” And although each society can have a variation of the word hippie, it has a very broad meaning. When someone uses a label they are taking the easy way out to describing an individual. Instead of talking about their personality or way of dress, they can simply use this term and the person they are talking to will get a vague idea of what they mean. Although this label might be extremely far from what this person is actually like, using a label simplifies the whole communication experience in general. This is not saying it is either wrong or right to use labels. I am just stating that using a label is arbitrary and almost completely dependent on context.