hippies

[Wilson Gray]

I don't believe it. I was living in L.A., at the time, and such people
hanging out on Sunset Boulevard were called "hippies" in the local
Southland media without reference to Frisco and prior to the
development of The Haight into a Mecca for the faithful.

Besides, the story has no explanatory power. Why did the author and
her friends apply a soubriquet that was originally jazz slang [at
least, this correspondnt and his ace boon coons believed this to be
the case at the time and wondered how and why this bit of BE slang
came to be applied to white people; it took a while to become
accustomed to the hearing the word in its new meaning] to the wannabes
in the first place?

-Wilson

On 2/21/07, FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at salkeiz.k12.or.us> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US>
> Subject:      hippies
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here is part of an email from a colleague introducing herself to the
> staff:
>
>
> After high school, I moved to San Francisco for a few years. Yes, it
> was the 1960's and I  took up residence in The Haight - Ashbury
> District. Here's a little tidbit that you may enjoy. The name "hippies"
> was actually glommed on to by the press that used to visit the area all
> the time. Us residents would watch all the young kids come into the
> Haight all decked out in their jeans and beads and whatever they felt
> would allow them to "fit in" to the scene. They often came in driving
> their parents fancy cars or family station wagons. We used to refer to
> them as "hippies" - now a days I guess we would have called them
> "wannabes".  When the newspapers heard that name, it stuck to everyone -
> including us! We all had a good laugh about it.
>
>
>
> Fritz J
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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