According to a professor on a linguistics blog, I am the originator of the term “hippie punching” — used today to mean striking out against the far-left. I would have thought hippie punching was as old as time itself, but I’ll take this honor. Seems like something significant enough to go on my Wikipedia page.
Incidentally, the next book I’m working on — my longest yet and the first that will be out in print — will be focused on the punching of hippies… which I’m apparently the leading authority on.
BTW, I thought it was funny that in the comments on this language blog, some of the people were debating my grammar. I write my posts early in the morning and proof right after — all grammar is approximated.
Also, I thought this comment was funny:
Course, what’s bizarre about this usage is the underlying premise that Obama, Clinton, the Democratic party, people who actually are liberals (like e.g. Berube and Krugman), etc represent any part of the left such that it would be odd for any of them to attack leftists. If y’all could drop the McCarthyist conflation and recognise the difference between a leftist and a liberal (as in the different sides of the political spectrum they’re on), the tendency of moderate rightists like liberals, or hard rightists like Democrats (distinguishable from insane rightists like Republicans), to attack leftists wouldn’t need a special term.
If you think that the majority of the country is either hard right to insane right, you might want to apply Occam’s Razor and consider the idea that maybe you’re the nutso extremist. Here; I’ll help you on that journey…
PUNCH!
Slappa blappa!
High praise indeed to be the originator of the term “hippie punching”!
That the phrase was not in wide use before you coined it is truly baffling.
How did we survive so long without this cogent direction “hippie punching”?
Back in 2008, Rachel Lucas declared March 23rd to be the official “Punch a Hippie in the Nuts Day.”
From Rachel’s original post, describing “Punch a Hippie in the Nuts Day:
Rupert reminded me to keep my sense of humor about all this, so I’ll close on this note: I hereby declare March 23 as Punch A Hippie In The Nuts Day. All you have to do to celebrate it is find a hippie, ask him how he feels about the military, and if he says anything other than”I love it because those guys make it possible for me to be a worthless hippie”, punch him right in the nuts.
Sad thing is that that commenter is probably supposed to be well educated, esp. if he’s commenting on a blog associated with a member of UPenn’s faculty.
It’s a bit like Columbus discovering America. There was hippie punching before, you just made it popular.
Time to put ‘YGDFTYLTATSOTE’ on a picture of a hippie being punched?
Maybe preceded by “Just kicking hippies’ asses and raising hell”
As a librarian all I can say is “I’ll believe it when it shows up in the OED.”
@ Walruskkkch — Hippie Punching v. 1. To hit, strike , or punch a hippie with the fist, club, foot, or other solid object with the intent of giving the hippie some sense. 2. A futile effort to bring enlightenment to leftists. 3. adv. To punch a hippie in their ugly monkey face, giving the hippie a chance not to be a giant douche.
4. adv. To punch a hippie by giving them a musket to the junk, in the hopes that the hippie will disavow any knowledge of the destruction of American culture and heritage.
Did I miss anything?
@plentyofbailouts: only the most common usage outside this website.
Hippie Punching: 5. The act by Socialist Purveyors of Big Government to pretend they’re centrist by rhetorical lashing out against all those folks to the far left of them
What!! I didn’t those YGDFT!YLTATSOTEing hippies had nuts! Okay , well maybe the female ones.
@9 The OED would also give first use citation.
@6 CapitalismB, consider this your bacon: one well-punched hippie:
http://www.imao.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/punching-hippies.jpg
Funny thing is, yonder punch recipient may well have actually been a Libertarian.
http://tinyurl.com/YGDFTYLTATSOTE
“Though Fleming’s FAQ is satirical, the hippie-punching part is literal”