Why do some people use the word hippie or tree-hugger as an insult??
454400
I am proud to be a tree hugging liberal.  I honestly think when directed towards a man it is a stab at there manhood.  Caring and compassion are traditionally female attributes.  By calling them hippies I think they are trying to emasculate them.  It is just my opinion.
912414
I think these days the term hippy is just used to people who care for the world around them. People who don’t want to be the cause of our world suffocating and don’t want to see Gods creations fall apart. The stereotype of them going around in a VW van and smoking weed I personally think goes against what people identify as a hippy as they both cause pollution which is therefore killing our world. I don’t think their outer appearance would have changed much from the stereotype however I deeply feel that their inner thoughts would have changed as I feel they would receive more of a feeling of relaxation knowing that they are helping the world as opposed to smoking weed.
770906
Hey I don't know why everyone's getting their knickers in a knot! I totally agree, kids like that do seem middle class. I suppose it's cos there's a kind of intellectual side to this kind of look too, you know poetry, looking for a deeper meaning in lyrics, they've got nothing else to worry about so they can reflect on the meaning of life, or death, politics, etc. \n\nAnd yes this is a question about stereotypes, about people with a certain style. Nobody gets upset when you say 'hippy' or 'punk' do they? Why's everyone being so defensive? Are they all middle class with long hair or what?
516859
you don't have to, but only idiots do.  and hippies. and not the cool hippies that you scored some weed from at the skynyrd concert, but the tree-hugging destroy-the-corporation hippies.
239144
i know alot of hippies that don't use cause they say it is bad for the enviroment???? i have told them several times that so is their b.o.
729627
I would find it quite offensive and racist.  Yes, it's a slang term, but it's use indicates that it is derogatory.\n\nI get irritated when someone tells me how much I must love chocolate since my fiancee is black.
1131637
I believe it is the intent of the person saying the word.  If someone is using it as an insult or to degrade another person, I think any word is inappropriate.
712688
Lets see, since I have joined, I have been called the following:\n\nFreak, Loser, Communist, A--hole, Liberal, Pervert as well as a few others I can't begin to list here because they are a bit over the top!\n\nWere they insults or just keen character observations? I don't know.\n\nI really don't pay a whole lot of attention to what people call me. I love me, and dammit, thats just good enough for me!\n\n< Peace >
951442
yeah are you a hippy me a secret hippie too and a tree hugger..go the hippies!!
993542
Why are these descriptions used anyway?\nNobody says: "Look, there goes a heterosexual!\nWhat do you think of, when you hear that?\nSex? Of course you do - these words imply\na sexual orientation.\nTo use these words to describe somebody is\nrude and show that your mind is in the gutter.
135659
What an obtuse question!\n\nSimply because that word was used by certain people precisely <as> a term of offense to describe 'some other people'.\n\nYour question would have much more validity if it were "why did white people decide to use that word as a term of offense in the first place?"\n\nYes we know that black people use the word within their own community, just as gay people use the word 'queer'. But that doesn't change the fact that the word was first given currency as a deliberate insult.
10921
I have yet to encounter this word...could it be that you mean "uppity"? in which case, this means somebody who thinks TOO highly himself/herself. Simply put, somebody who is arrogant or snobbish.
786505
In Yahoo-land...perhaps people with such beliefs are seen as boring boogers. Abuse. Disrespect and Maturity is obviously more 'sexy'.
471327
It's just a gangsta term. Example: you go up to someone and say, "You're fat!" They(subject A) respond in a nasty tone saying "Your mama!!". It's spos to bounce the insult to a subject, which might not even be in the conversation. Therefore, insulting your mother(subject B), you getting really P.O.'ed, and Subject A has just given you a come back.
469949
b.... is not a dirty word when used in this context.  We as a society have changed to conotation and use it in a derogatory manner.
11715
Becuase that is insulting, and rude, Thats like walking up to a person of another race and using "hate" words to them, like racial slurs etc. its the same concept. It offends them. And maybe they aren't completely out of the closet, and have only told a few people, and you calling them gay is sending a signal, to them that they can nont trust you.
948775
This American had never heard of that term before. It sounds like an unintelligent person who tends to wear certain fashions. I guess we would have names for different fashions. The poorer would tend to be trailer trash, skeezer for the slutty types, redneck for the country jerks, dunce, dope, airhead. I can't think of a generic term to fit them all.