The history of substitution of concepts is long and vicious: the sophists, Orwellian Newspeak, modern journalism of military conflicts or ordinary conversations on the train. When we don’t want to call a spade a spade, euphemisms come to the rescue - deception words. With which you can hide yourself, like masks in a commedia dell'arte. What do people who profess the sharing economy and call themselves downshifters or media consultants really mean?

Flex vegetarian = meat eater

We heard an interesting term at a picnic from Borjomi, where the Minsk Cycling Society encouraged people to switch to bicycles and go on vacation. Restaurateur Alexey Sadovoy called himself a flex vegetarian. This is a vegetarian who allows himself to eat meat once or twice a week, without ceasing to be a vegetarian. Paradox! - you say. No, just the crafty magic of linguistics. After this incident, we collected the top inverted words common in Belarus, which help you to be not exactly who you are.

Downshifter = parasite

About this theme: A dozen Belarusian pearls with history

When you desperately don’t want to work, pay rent, see people and build a career, downshifting will come to the rescue. By calling yourself this word, you, of course, become a little eccentric in the eyes of your interlocutor, but still a romantic. Especially if you remember that Buddha is officially recognized as the first downshifter in history - about 2.5 thousand years ago, he, while still Prince Siddhartha Gautama from the Shakya-Muni family, left his luxurious home, his beloved wife and son and went to be homeless and reflect on the essence life. Belarusians have the most popular destination vagrancy is still Goa. Another option is to leave the city, buy a farm and set up an agricultural estate there (like the estate of Ales Bely near Volozhin, for example). In neighboring Russia, entire movements are being created, such as a VKontakte group called “Development of Abandoned Villages. Common cause. Like-minded people, unite and return to Mother Earth!” ( https://vk.com/osvoenie), which, by the way, consists of more than 16 thousand people.

Trainee = unpaid worker

Let's say you come to work in an office, but you haven't been paid yet. Because " probation", "little experience", and in general you are practically from the street. The word intern is filled with the romance of prospect. You are like a caterpillar about to become a butterfly. Like a chick that is about to be able to break away from its mother and fly to a bright future. Another plus is that interns are often pitied. For example, in 2006, in Hamburg, there was a gang called the “Robin Hood Gang,” which posted an ad on the Internet that it was distributing food to interns, because interns are the most vulnerable part of society (the action was inspired by the film “The Educators”).

One way or another, experience is important. But when they tell you again that you are not yet competent enough to receive even 3 million rubles, think about the Google and Facebook interns who earn from $5 thousand monthly.

Procrastinator = loafer

When you need to urgently and convincingly explain why all the deadlines have been missed, the work has not been done, and what you were doing here in general, the following term comes to the rescue. As soon as you publicly declare that you are a procrastinator, you rush to catch knowing glances and encouraging nods. Everyone knows this wonderful feeling of putting off tasks, setting the alarm clock for another half a minute and “I urgently need to educate myself and watch a chemistry lecture” when I have to submit an urgent report. We recommend using the word procrastinator with additional references to literature, which will confirm that this is not a deviation or fiction, but a character trait. If that doesn’t work, you can put on your desk the book “The Art of Procrastination” by John Perry, which describes how to procrastinate and procrastinate correctly and profitably. And try to convince your bosses and colleagues that you have almost mastered procrastinator zen. But the deadline will still catch up with you. Sooner or later.

Sharing economy or “joint consumption” = poverty

About this theme: Cohousing in Belarusian: “Where you stock the refrigerator, there is a home.”

Admit that you use BlaBlaCar not because you love travel companions, but because you don’t have money. Since it’s embarrassing to admit this, a now fashionable term comes to the rescue. The advantages of joint consumption are an obvious trend in the modern economy. In 2011, Time magazine even included this concept in its list of ten ideas that will change the world.

If you start talking about the sharing economy, don’t forget to bring all the fashionable resources into the conversation: from Uber to Airbnb. You can go further and tell your interlocutor about Airpnp - a map with accessible and verified toilets throughout Europe. In Belarus, perhaps not everyone is familiar with the fashionable term sharing economy, but this does not prevent people from consuming, sharing and saving together. What's it worth? group on VKontakte where food is shared. More than five thousand people are ready to give away or take away excess, unnecessary or even simply over-salted food.

Blogger = a person without a specific profession

You have a LiveJournal or a Facebook account – that’s probably all. Being a blogger has many benefits. On the one hand, you are invited to events, courted different sides, fed and doused with alcohol for posts with photos of the label. You need to be careful here, because bloggers in Belarus (with the exception of talented and original individuals like Malishevsky) have a so-so reputation. They say they write poorly and only for food. So if you call yourself a blogger, you have to work hard to prove that you are really worth something. On the other hand, a blogger is a title with more status than just a “freelancer.” If a person says that he freelances on a large scale, in his speech there will certainly be markers like “serious customer”, “one new project, but I can’t talk yet,” and so on.

Coach = demagoguery for money

About this theme: “You don’t have to sit and jerk off in front of the mirror at how bad everything is.” Marathon Banker's Rules of Survival

You worked in a prestigious company, realized what exactly the main problem was, quit and are ready to share your experience. Read: open the way to heaven for people at $300 per training. You can talk platitudes for three hours without examples or explanations about how important it is to learn to work effectively. You can call on the audience to become stupid and decisive, insult everyone left and right and kick people out of the audience, suspecting them of religiosity (as it happened), you can advise the heads of large companies to manage on the principle of totalitarian cruelty (as it happened). Carefully! In America, the psychotraining system failed after some of its graduates began to end up in psychiatric clinics or commit suicide.

Situational gay = gay

They say once doesn't count. When you really want it. The beauty of the design is that depending on your environment, “situational gay” can easily turn into “situational straight.” Remember: I twist and turn and want to confuse you, and you may end up hanging between a situational straight man and a situational gay man, sooner or later you will confuse the situations. And then trouble is not far away. And vice versa. It is curious that in Russian scientific literature a term that dates back to Soviet times is more often used - “false homosexuality” (as opposed to “true homosexuality”), implying temporary sexual same-sex behavior, or bisexuality.

Orthodox atheist = Orthodox on holidays

Indications for use are the same as in the case of situational gays. Essentially, an Orthodox atheist is a person who is Orthodox by baptism, but does not share religious views. In fact, while maintaining your status as an atheist, you can go to church with peace of mind, paint eggs and swim in the illuminated font at Epiphany.

In the same way, you can celebrate Sukkot, Kurban Bayram and Veles Awakening Day without remorse. Be careful and try not to hurt anyone's feelings. According to research by the sociological center ZERKALO-INFO LLC, in 2013, as many as 68% of Belarusians called themselves Orthodox. And only 4% are atheists.

Expert = talking head person

About this theme: Alexey Aleksenko: “The fact that hipsters like Nabokov does not make them intelligentsia”

If you have no professional merit or experience in some field, but you damn well have something to say, sooner or later you will come across a PR person who is writing an article, organizing an event, preparing a lecture, advertising a new shampoo. A PR man needs a speaker, but he hasn’t found a professional. But a talking head turned up, which needs to be named somehow. An expert always sounds respectable. Just listen: expert opinion, expert review, expert advice. Experts are often invited to court and to conferences, they are asked to comment and appear on TV. But they say that experts are paid mainly not with money, but with fame. There is only one way out: tighten your expert belt and retrain as a media consultant. Compared to a blogger, a media consultant has an obvious advantage: for some time you will probably be able to receive money for the work done. The danger is that they may not believe you.

I smoke-while-drinking = drinking and smoking

By imposing conditions on smoking, you demonstrate the following: embarrassment of your own bad habits. Although there are certainly advantages to using tobacco with alcohol. Because nicotine stimulates nervous system, you can stay awake for quite a long time and have conversations over a glass of sparkling wine all night long. This is also where the disadvantages come from. First of all, smoking kills. And secondly, there is Great chance, that you will become so accustomed to drinking that you smoke more often that you will simultaneously destroy your liver, lungs and good name.

If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl+Enter

The history of substitution of concepts is long and vicious: the sophists, Orwellian Newspeak, modern journalism of military conflicts or ordinary conversations on the train. When we don’t want to call a spade a spade, euphemisms come to the rescue - deception words. With which you can hide yourself, like masks in a commedia dell'arte. What do people who profess the sharing economy and call themselves downshifters or media consultants really mean?

Flex vegetarian = meat eater

We heard an interesting term at a picnic from Borjomi, where the Minsk Cycling Society encouraged people to switch to bicycles and go on vacation. Restaurateur Alexey Sadovoy called himself a flex vegetarian. This is a vegetarian who allows himself to eat meat once or twice a week, without ceasing to be a vegetarian. Paradox! - you say. No, just the crafty magic of linguistics. After this incident, we collected the top inverted words common in Belarus, which help you to be not exactly who you are.

Downshifter = parasite

About this theme: A dozen Belarusian pearls with history

When you desperately don’t want to work, pay rent, see people and build a career, downshifting will come to the rescue. By calling yourself this word, you, of course, become a little eccentric in the eyes of your interlocutor, but still a romantic. Especially if you remember that Buddha is officially recognized as the first downshifter in history - about 2.5 thousand years ago, he, while still Prince Siddhartha Gautama from the Shakya-Muni family, left his luxurious home, his beloved wife and son and went to be homeless and reflect on the essence life. For Belarusians, the most popular destination for vagrancy is still Goa. Another option is to leave the city, buy a farm and set up an agricultural estate there (like the estate of Ales Bely near Volozhin, for example). In neighboring Russia, entire movements are being created, such as a VKontakte group called “Development of Abandoned Villages. Common cause. Like-minded people, unite and return to Mother Earth!” ( https://vk.com/osvoenie), which, by the way, consists of more than 16 thousand people.

Trainee = unpaid worker

Let's say you come to work in an office, but you haven't been paid yet. Because “probationary period”, “little experience”, and in general you are practically from the street. The word intern is filled with the romance of prospect. You are like a caterpillar about to become a butterfly. Like a chick that is about to be able to break away from its mother and fly to a bright future. Another plus is that interns are often pitied. For example, in 2006, in Hamburg, there was a gang called the “Robin Hood Gang,” which posted an ad on the Internet that it was distributing food to interns, because interns are the most vulnerable part of society (the action was inspired by the film “The Educators”).

One way or another, experience is important. But when they tell you again that you are not yet competent enough to receive even 3 million rubles, think about the Google and Facebook interns who earn from $5 thousand monthly.

Procrastinator = loafer

When you need to urgently and convincingly explain why all the deadlines have been missed, the work has not been done, and what you were doing here in general, the following term comes to the rescue. As soon as you publicly declare that you are a procrastinator, you rush to catch knowing glances and encouraging nods. Everyone knows this wonderful feeling of putting off tasks, setting the alarm clock for another half a minute and “I urgently need to educate myself and watch a chemistry lecture” when I have to submit an urgent report. We recommend using the word procrastinator with additional references to literature, which will confirm that this is not a deviation or fiction, but a character trait. If that doesn’t work, you can put on your desk the book “The Art of Procrastination” by John Perry, which describes how to procrastinate and procrastinate correctly and profitably. And try to convince your bosses and colleagues that you have almost mastered procrastinator zen. But the deadline will still catch up with you. Sooner or later.

Sharing economy or “joint consumption” = poverty

About this theme: Cohousing in Belarusian: “Where you stock the refrigerator, there is a home.”

Admit that you use BlaBlaCar not because you love travel companions, but because you don’t have money. Since it’s embarrassing to admit this, a now fashionable term comes to the rescue. The advantages of joint consumption are an obvious trend in the modern economy. In 2011, Time magazine even included this concept in its list of ten ideas that will change the world.

If you start talking about the sharing economy, don’t forget to bring all the fashionable resources into the conversation: from Uber to Airbnb. You can go further and tell your interlocutor about Airpnp - a map with accessible and verified toilets throughout Europe. In Belarus, perhaps not everyone is familiar with the fashionable term sharing economy, but this does not prevent people from consuming, sharing and saving together. What's it worth? group on VKontakte where food is shared. More than five thousand people are ready to give away or take away excess, unnecessary or even simply over-salted food.

Blogger = a person without a specific profession

You have a LiveJournal or a Facebook account – that’s probably all. Being a blogger has many benefits. On the one hand, you are invited to events, courted from different sides, fed and poured alcohol on you for posts with photos of the label. You need to be careful here, because bloggers in Belarus (with the exception of talented and original individuals like Malishevsky) have a so-so reputation. They say they write poorly and only for food. So if you call yourself a blogger, you have to work hard to prove that you are really worth something. On the other hand, a blogger is a title with more status than just a “freelancer.” If a person says that he freelances on a large scale, in his speech there will certainly be markers like “serious customer”, “one new project, but I can’t talk about it yet” and so on.

Coach = demagoguery for money

About this theme: “You don’t have to sit and jerk off in front of the mirror at how bad everything is.” Marathon Banker's Rules of Survival

You worked in a prestigious company, realized what exactly the main problem was, quit and are ready to share your experience. Read: open the way to heaven for people at $300 per training. You can talk platitudes for three hours without examples or explanations about how important it is to learn to work effectively. You can call on the audience to become stupid and decisive, insult everyone left and right and kick people out of the audience, suspecting them of religiosity (as it happened), you can advise the heads of large companies to manage on the principle of totalitarian cruelty (as it happened). Carefully! In America, the psychotraining system failed after some of its graduates began to end up in psychiatric clinics or commit suicide.

Situational gay = gay

They say once doesn't count. When you really want it. The beauty of the design is that depending on your environment, “situational gay” can easily turn into “situational straight.” Remember: I twist and turn and want to confuse you, and you may end up hanging between a situational straight man and a situational gay man, sooner or later you will confuse the situations. And then trouble is not far away. And vice versa. It is curious that in Russian scientific literature a term that dates back to Soviet times is more often used - “false homosexuality” (as opposed to “true homosexuality”), implying temporary sexual same-sex behavior, or bisexuality.

Orthodox atheist = Orthodox on holidays

Indications for use are the same as in the case of situational gays. Essentially, an Orthodox atheist is a person who is Orthodox by baptism, but does not share religious views. In fact, while maintaining your status as an atheist, you can go to church with peace of mind, paint eggs and swim in the illuminated font at Epiphany.

In the same way, you can celebrate Sukkot, Kurban Bayram and Veles Awakening Day without remorse. Be careful and try not to hurt anyone's feelings. According to research by the sociological center ZERKALO-INFO LLC, in 2013, as many as 68% of Belarusians called themselves Orthodox. And only 4% are atheists.

Expert = talking head person

About this theme: Alexey Aleksenko: “The fact that hipsters like Nabokov does not make them intelligentsia”

If you have no professional merit or experience in some field, but you damn well have something to say, sooner or later you will come across a PR person who is writing an article, organizing an event, preparing a lecture, advertising a new shampoo. A PR man needs a speaker, but he hasn’t found a professional. But a talking head turned up, which needs to be named somehow. An expert always sounds respectable. Just listen: expert opinion, expert assessment, expert advice. Experts are often invited to court and to conferences, they are asked to comment and appear on TV. But they say that experts are paid mainly not with money, but with fame. There is only one way out: tighten your expert belt and retrain as a media consultant. Compared to a blogger, a media consultant has an obvious advantage: for some time you will probably be able to receive money for the work done. The danger is that they may not believe you.

I smoke-while-drinking = drinking and smoking

By setting conditions for smoking, you demonstrate the following: constraint on your own bad habits. Although there are certainly advantages to using tobacco with alcohol. Since nicotine stimulates the nervous system, you will be able to stay awake for quite a long time and carry on conversations over a glass of sparkling wine all night long. This is also where the disadvantages come from. First of all, smoking kills. And secondly, there is a high probability that you will become so accustomed to drinking that you smoke more often that you will simultaneously destroy your liver, lungs and good name.

If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl+Enter

All Hipster, hipsters is a term derived from the slang “to be hip” (English), which roughly translates as “to be in the know” (hence the “hippie”). This word originally meant that these were representatives of a special subculture formed among fans jazz music. And already in our time this word is usually used in the sense of “wealthy urban youth interested in elite foreign modern culture and art, fashion, alternative music and indie rock, arthouse cinema, modern literature and so on.". Ancient folk wisdom says: “Everything new is a well-forgotten old…” everyday life is old,” says popular wisdom. Over time, this statement finds itself increasingly erased.

The history of the development of this informal youth movement.

I was very surprised to learn that the first hipsters appeared in the early 40s of the last century. These were guys and girls who preached ideas such as sexual liberation and a contemplative, disregardful attitude towards everyday life, spoke slang, were two hands in favor of soft drugs, made sarcastic jokes about the philistines around them and were proud of their poverty and inability to adapt to the socio-political foundations of society. Earning money hard was considered the lot of the good-for-nothing masses. Conducting conversations in human language on everyday topics was considered a crime for them. And spending money on anything philistine is incredible stupidity.

But it should be noted that all hipsters were united by jazz. But there is a strong suspicion that they listened to it not because it hooked them so well, but simply because at that time it was the only progressive music available. Of all jazz, hipsters cited its most recent style at that time - bebop. After the swing(*9) of the 30s, it was the next step away from academicism and cloying orchestral “correct” jazz. The artists experimented with rhythms, forms and harmonies; their jazz was more cacophony than music, that is, something as non-canonical and relevant as possible. Their musical heroes were jazzmen like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bing Crosby. The latter can be taken as the standard of the hipster of that time. Bing Crosby was called the Huckleberry Finn of jazz. Slippery, boorish, always positive and relaxed, the actor and singer appeared on stage in a striped suit, straw hat and cane. He sang cheerful couplets and preached the principle: “life should be lived easily and frivolously.” Without Crosby, by the way, there would be neither Frank Sinatra (*10) nor Dean Martin (*11) - he came up with the basic rules and model of behavior for all future generations of the same informals.

Initially, the “hipster” phenomenon arose among whites and, on top of everything else, the first hipsters copied the manners and habits of black artistic outsiders, adopted some slang words and facial expressions from them. Well, again - jazz. Hipsters of the 40s could be considered the first invaders musical subcultures blacks. Fifteen years before whites took rock and roll away from them, and almost half a century before they took on hip-hop(*12). In general, hipsters unwittingly provoked a clash between orthodox black jazzmen and modern white youth. The first were sure that jazz was the music of people with black skin. The latter imagined themselves as a popular avant-garde and tried not to react to the cries of the old people. The first hipsters existed somewhere until the 60s and didn’t really leave anything behind. They had bebop, but that music would probably have developed just fine without the hipsters. Dizzy Gillespie once made excuses to journalists about the fact that the public associated modern jazz at that time exclusively with slackers and drugs. He said that, firstly, there is no need to be prudes, and secondly, that really cool artists make music first and foremost and pay little attention to the crowd around them. Pianist Lenni Tristano stated that almost all those who came out of the hipster environment at that time were engaged in epigonism, and they were driven mainly by the desire to be fashionable guys who play fashionable jazz. On the other hand, bebop initially owed its popularity to hipsters. Average people learned about this music from newspaper articles that featured a new type of outsider.

There is some information about the hipsters of that time, the most thorough of which is Norman Mailer's White Negro. Norman Mailer's “White Negro. Quick thoughts about a hipster." Questions of philosophy. No. 9, 1992, p. 131-145. Hipsters did not create any manifestos or any canonical texts about themselves. Cab Calloway released a bantering hipster-human dictionary, and Garry The Hipster Gibson wrote several songs about hipsters and included a short hipster phrasebook on the sleeve of one of his albums. From it you can learn that the expression “uniform in drapery” means a stylishly dressed person, and “like a motherless child” - calm and reasonable.

And then again the term “hipsters” surfaced in the late 90s. They designated that part of the youth who preferred a non-radical alternative popular culture. Declassed elements did not fall under the definition; rather, it was the middle class. The new audience had little in common with Harry "The Hipster" Gibson's definition of classic hipsters (characters who were into hot jazz). What remains is demonstrative unsociability and an arrogant attitude towards others who do not belong to the caste. Hipsters have become something of a layer between the underground and mass culture. They don’t reach the first level due to the lack of ideology, that is, hipsters don’t protest against anything, don’t do anything creative, don’t believe in anything, don’t take anything seriously, except perhaps their own narcissism. But they don’t make it into pop culture because things that initially interested them, when they go into circulation, are immediately declared yesterday.

What's interesting about hipster culture is that it's endlessly sterile. Hipsters, in part, were also punks of the 90s. The hippies themselves were hipsters. Western newspapers of that time wrote that this is an entire nation - they are losers who do not care at all about objective reality. They took LSD and marijuana, wrote crazy and naive poems, made new, interesting music. They had their own journalism, their own stars, their own authorities. At the same time, Elvis Presley was also considered a hipster. All these subcultures organized their own environment, circulated in isolation, spoke a language only they understood, and were full of contempt and creative anger towards pop culture. But hipsters don’t use this soil for anything creative. This is an excellent example of postmodernism, a movement that consists entirely of borrowings and ends with them. And I think it’s clear why they appeared again. Because the first hipsters were something of a reaction to the financial crisis, totalitarianism and a couple of world wars. The current ones are something like the heartburn of a society that has devoured information, brands, trends and consumer goods. Well, the eternal maximalist desire, no matter what, to be more fashionable than everyone else!

Analysis of the hipster subculture

In Russia, the word “hipster” came into wide use after an article by Yuri Saprykin in the Afisha magazine, where he proposed calling hipsters everyone who goes to the Moscow Solyanka club, sits on the Look at me website and reads the Afisha magazine " Yu. Saprykin accused hipsters of lack of ideas and compared this Russian subculture with the same unprincipled Russian glamor. Then his text caused widespread criticism and heated discussion on the Internet.

In the hipster community, it is very difficult to discern a structure. You can try to highlight stratification using P. Bourdieu’s concept of “socio-cultural capital” (knowledge acquired in the process of upbringing and education, providing social status) and interpret the concept of hipness (English - awareness) as a form of subcultural capital, the owner of which is well versed in the latter fashion trends, latest musical styles and so on. Looking to the West: cultural globalization and Russian youth cultures in Russia, then young people in the community will be divided into more “advanced” and less “advanced”.

Respect is enjoyed by those young people who read certain magazines, both domestic and foreign, attend certain series of parties, dress in certain stores, when choosing a computer and music player, give preference to Apple Macintosh products - Mac Book laptops and iPod players, watch on TV exclusively cartoons on the “2x2” TV channel.

Nowadays it is becoming difficult to identify certain hangout spots when it comes to clubs. A series of parties that each time take place at different places, for example, such as Viva Party. From the announcements of some parties you can read: “We like the scale and the interior of Sochi, but the Basement is the place without which we can no longer imagine parties. There are only familiar faces here, the most correct system face control, the kindest and most understanding staff (including security), a friendly atmosphere and yes, of course, very cheap drinks here!” The location is most often dictated by the price of rent and alcohol, because the event is not aimed at wealthy young people. They are not trying to prove anything to anyone, they simply live the way they like, and, first of all, this concerns appearance. But if punks, rockers, goths and hippies dress based on the main idea of ​​their subculture, then main idea hipsters - in general, there is a certain style of clothing.

The choice of clothing is dictated by the latest trends, which are set by certain clothing brands and “current” designers. From famous brands that are considered “hipster” include the American American Apparel, the British Topshop and the Japanese Uniqlo. But purchasing exclusively trendy clothes is not at all necessary. On the contrary, if an item was bought at a second-hand store, found in a “grandmother’s chest,” or made independently, it is valued much more. In the past, hipster culture presupposed an indie style (from the English individual - individual), do-it-yourself, non-commercial, non-consumer lifestyle. The main thing is that it fits into the trend. Among the distinctive details of hipster clothing, the following can be distinguished: tight-fitting jeans (usually black) - skinny jeans, which are also “ business card» performers of Britpop and emo subculture, black Leather Jacket, a flannel shirt with a large check, high-top sports sneakers that were popular in the 80s, RayBan Wayfarer sunglasses and T-shirts with bright prints of a certain style.

The hipster listens only to the trendiest progressive music. In the 40s it was jazz, in the 60s it was very hard rock, and in the 90s it was trip-hop, and already in 2007-2008 it was nu-rave. It's hard to pick one Musical direction, which is given preference. Mainly Electonic music with impurities from different directions: electropop, synthypop, electrorock, techno, etc. Another principle of choice musical performers- his belonging to an independent recording studio(indie - from English, also stands for independent, independent). A hipster must know all the promising debutants and be well versed in new terms in order to be “in the know.” LJ communities, social networks (Lastfm, Look at me), blogs, where information about all the most interesting releases appear almost daily, are of great benefit in this. Among the representatives of the Western reference group, the following characters can be distinguished: Pete Doherty and Kate Moss - a couple whose news does not leave the tabloids not only in Britain, but throughout the world. He is the lead singer The group Babyshambles, a bully with a history of drug charges. She is a supermodel, an icon of the fashion world, the embodiment of the idea of ​​“heroin chic”. A couple leading a bohemian lifestyle and being trendsetters. Corrie Kennedy is a young girl who has become popular thanks to her blog on the Internet. A striking example of what a properly structured self-presentation can give in social network. Agyness Deyen is a top model with perhydrol hair. Eddie Slimane is a former designer of the Dior men's line, and now a fashion photographer. It is believed that it was he who brought skinny jeans to the catwalk. Hipster slang is “advanced” youth slang - words borrowed from English, spread through the media. For example, “hoodie” (introduced by the magazine “Afisha”) is a sports jacket with a hood, “collaboration” (magazine “Hooligan”) is cooperation, collaboration, “look” / “street look” (LookAtMe website) - this means a photograph of a stylishly dressed person.

If the first hipsters were something of a reaction to the financial crisis, totalitarianism and a couple of world wars, then the current ones are something like heartburn of a society that has eaten up information, brands, trends and consumer goods. A constant maximalist desire, no matter what, to be more fashionable than everyone else. At first glance, these current ones have little in common with the classic hipsters of the 40s. But the essence remains the same: something like a layer between the underground and mass culture.

The description of the hipster subculture drew direct parallels in the development of today's youth culture and society as a whole - copying Western lifestyle models, constructing identity through consumption and the race for “modernity”, “relevance”.

Hipsters are a vivid illustration of modern public consumption in general - this is the music and fashion industry, which is part of a general system that implements a special ideology, it is formed from an insatiable consumer, for whom consumption is the main content of his life. Individual consumption becomes a way of constructing one's identity. Due to this, complete satisfaction of even basic needs becomes impossible, since identity requires daily reproduction.

Hipsters, or indie kids, are quite new for Russia, but already very common youth subculture. Her object of cult is not the action, but the surroundings: things, accessories, fashion trends. The average hipster will not walk through a cemetery at night and will not cut his wrists while crying, but will narcissistically discuss arthouse cinema, music “not for everyone,” countercultural books, complex and contemporary art, and fashionable clothes, shopping in London or the latest Afisha picnic.

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How to spot a hipster

Hipsters is a term that originated in the 1940s in New York City. The word is derived from the slang “to be hip,” which translates roughly as “to be in the know” (hence the “hippie”). In the forties, everyone who was “against the grain” called themselves hipsters. In the 21st century, the concept has significantly transformed. In Russia today, this is the name given to prolific young people in sneakers and skinny jeans, looking at their iPad through horned glasses (iPod and iPhone are also included). Other features hipster - long bangs, bright scarf, T-shirts and bags with prints, love for unknown indie bands, vinyl records, vegetarianism and organic food, TV channel “2x2”, exhibitions at Winzavod, magazines “Afisha” and “TimOut”.

In general, hipsters are not trying to change the world, their goal is simply to be fashionable.

Their fetish is indie, handmade, their philosophy is non-commercial things, non-consumer lifestyle, external and internal freedom. Clothes “from grandma’s chest”, second-hand ones are welcome, however, Zara, Topman, Topshop, Pull & Bear, Gap, KixBox stores are also suitable.

Being a hipster is quite tiring: for example, your “responsibilities” include the ability to understand promising trends in music and promising debutants. By the way, play on some musical instrument necessary too. And you also need to have a bunch of different things: in addition to the entire line of gadgets with a bitten apple, you also need a moleskine and a camera (Lomo, Zenit or Holga). Photographs, by the way, are worth a special mention: hipsters love to take pictures of themselves (and you can’t smile in the frame), as well as photograph all sorts of strange things like their own sneakers next to horn-rimmed glasses.

Wikipedia lists the following signs of a hipster:

• Unisex prevails in clothing;
• vintage is used in combination with the latest fashion trends;
• skinny jeans, colored leggings, torn to big holes tights;
• glasses with thick colored plastic frames (for example Ray Ban Wayfarer), usually without tinting;
• beards;
• classic haircuts, haircuts in the style of the Hitler Youth, the use of hairsprays and wax, deliberate negligence, hair tied up in a bun;
• hair dyed green, blue, pink color;
• sweaters;
• stretched and worn T-shirts;
• sneakers or chunky heels and platforms, top-siders, loafers;
• voluminous scarves;
• colorful clothes;
• triangle tattoo;
• modern reflex camera;
• Apple products (iPod, MacBook, iPad)

On the Internet, hipsters are, as a rule, treated quite tolerantly; they do not cause rabid hatred, like, for example, emo. But the standardness and predictability of the image cannot but cause ridicule.

Hipster bingo

How many hipsters does it take to change a light bulb?

Well... This is such a little-known number. You won't understand him.

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“Listen, let’s hang out in a coworking space, I have an idea for a startup, I’ve already done some research. I’m done with a smoothie!” - have you, dear Kievite, ever heard something similar from your friend in tight pants? Didn’t you want to immediately pour his own latte on him after hearing this?

Vgorode was seriously concerned about the topic of newfangled words in the everyday life of young Kiev residents and decided to make a whole selection of such neologisms. After all, you must admit that behind all this verbal husk it is often very difficult to grasp the meaning of what is being said, and the person saying this sometimes himself, in such a simple way, tries to seem smarter and more fashionable than he really is.

So, to better understand the urban hipsters living among us, check out the list below.

Brunch. The average Kiev resident believes (we checked) that brunch is a late lunch. No, friends, the word brunch was formed as a result of the merger of breakfast and lunch and is usually served between 11 and 14 pm. To avoid confusion, it is better to call our afternoon snack an afternoon snack.

Granola. What we previously called “muesli” has transformed into granola. Alternatively, a mixture of cereals, nuts and dried fruits with the mysteriously melodic name “granola” is much more readily sold in cafes than tired muesli. Marketing and nothing personal.

Cupcake. See "muffin" with a cap of cream on top and the same injected into the biscuit using a syringe. In England they say that fairies eat cupcakes. Dear Kyiv fairies, be careful when eating cupcakes - you can turn from a fairy into an elephant.

Muffin. Cupcakes became sad when the fashion for muffins came. After all, a muffin is the same as a cupcake, but in a cuter shape. The true muffin should fit in the palm of your hand. Mi-mi-mi!

Meatballs. Were you fed meatballs in kindergarten and did it leave an indelible mark on your memory? You have grown up. Grow a beard and bravely order meatballs at the nearest canteen. The taste of childhood is with you again.

Polenta. In western Ukraine, polenta is called mamalyga. But, you must admit, you wouldn’t dare pay two hundred hryvnia in a restaurant for mamalyga, but for the mysterious polenta...

Smoothie. Mash the strawberries thoroughly with a fork. Press well until smooth. Congratulations, your smoothie is ready.

Upgrade. This is a word for those who are not satisfied with the “decoration”. Upgrade today.

Case. Case, case - translated from English. Hipsters use it instead of the word "task". That is, when your mother makes you take out the trash, she puts a case in front of you. Mom has many cases, you could say she is your case manager.

Collaboration. This is when at the institute you and Masha were preparing for the laboratory together. Or any other joint activity of two or more people to achieve common goals.

Coaching. If you are already a subscriber to public pages like the “millionaire’s commandments,” then the next step for you will be to go to a training where a coach (English “trainer”) will teach you how to become rich/make your mother happy/be successful with women/find nirvana/grow a lemon from bones.

Lifehack. Oh, we have them for you

Compliance reference. P try saying it out loud. It seems that this spell can cause a thunderstorm, but no.The compliance reference, as smart people explained to us, is a reference to the code of corporate conduct. If a conductor is rude to you on a tram, give her a reference. For compliance, of course.

Startup. All young entrepreneurs want to be like Zuckerberg. Therefore, in pursuit of “cash” and popularity, they shelve their economics degree and produce various short-term projects and businesses, proudly called startups.

Facelift. Minimal updates that are made to a model to increase consumer demand for it until a new model is released. A classic example is the story of iPhones.

Eichar. Personnel officer. All.

Barbershop. Men's hairdresser. "Honey, I'm going to the hairdresser!" - does not sound very courageous. Or it’s the case with men in a barbershop, where a courageous man will courageously shave your manly cheeks.

Onion. If a girl asks you to “check out her onions,” don’t look for the one in her hands. Take a better look at her outfit and exclaim with delight: “Anrial! Test!”

Snickers. Well, there’s nothing complicated here, you might think. Snickers is a sneaker in English. But no. A sneaker is a sneaker, and a snickers is a platform sneaker (for girls only).

Sweatshirt. The name is derived from the combination English words"sweater" (sweater) and "shirt" (shirt). When you wear a sweatshirt instead of a sweater with deer, there's only one sad grandma in the world.