Thanks. I'm well aware of what a hipster is and how the term is used in the context of modern slang, this doesn't really help answer my original question, however.
Fair enough. I think that's where we differ - I feel the word isn't quite as ill defined as you suggest, though it is commonly misused. A conversation for another time :)
You've just described the characteristics of a hipster - not a definition.
Not that it matters. Hipster is such a bullshit, reductive pejorative. I find the people that use it either:
a) Don't understand someone or something. Some guy genuinely into a genre of music you've not heard. Is it insecurity? Is it about looking dumb? I'm not sure. But rather than try and engage in an effort to gain knowledge about the genre, people just call it hipster and disengage.
b) Do understand. Someone's trying to do something that is fresh and original to them - but may be old hat to you. Let's say it's being into an alternative author or some kind of fair-trade delicacy. Rather than let this person have their authentic moment in the sun (regardless how unoriginal you know it is) - people label them as hipsters.
TLDR: Calling things hipster is a demonstration of the holier-than-thou attitude it seeks to mock.
"We do know what hipster means—or at least we should. The term has always possessed adequately lucid definitions; they just happen to be multiple. If we refuse to enunciate them, it may be because everyone affiliated with the term has a stake in keeping it murky. Hipster accusation has been, for a decade, the outflanking maneuver par excellence for competitors within a common field of cool."
