<brightly>From Wikipedia...
Hip, hipster and hippie
During the jive era of the late 1930s and early 1940s, African-Americans began to use the term hip to mean "sophisticated, fashionable and fully up-to-date".[1] The term hipster was coined by Harry Gibson in 1940, and was used during the 1940s and 1950s to describe jazz performers. The word evolved to describe Bohemian counterculture. Like the word hipster, the word hippie is jazz slang from the 1940s, and one of the first recorded usages of the word hippie was in a radio show on November 13, 1945, in which Stan Kenton called Harry Gibson "Hippie".[3] This use was likely playing off Gibson's nickname, "Harry the Hipster."[4]
In Greenwich Village, New York City, young counterculture advocates were named hips because they were considered "in the know" or "cool", as opposed to being square. In a 1961 essay, Kenneth Rexroth used both the terms hipster and hippies to refer to young people participating in African American or Beatnik nightlife.[5]
In 1963, the Orlons, an African-American singing group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania released the soul dance song "South Street", which included the lyrics "Where do all the hippies meet? South Street, South Street...The hippest street in town".[6][7] Some transcriptions read "Where do all the hippist (sic) meet?"[8] Nevertheless, since many heard it as "hippies", that use was promoted. "The Hippies" was also the name of a mixed African American and white soul singing group on the Orlons' record label, Cameo-Parkway.[9] Reminiscing about late 1940s Harlem in his 1964 autobiography, Malcolm X referred to the word hippy as a term African Americans used to describe a specific type of white man who "acted more Negro than Negroes."[10]
A hip person, a hipster, or a hippie, then, is someone who is aware of the latest developments or trends, as in "I'm hip to that." It was also often used as a verb in the early days, such as in the phrase, "I'm hipping you, man," which meant, "I'm making you wise." [11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_(etymology)
Hip, hipster and hippie
During the jive era of the late 1930s and early 1940s, African-Americans began to use the term hip to mean "sophisticated, fashionable and fully up-to-date".[1] The term hipster was coined by Harry Gibson in 1940, and was used during the 1940s and 1950s to describe jazz performers. The word evolved to describe Bohemian counterculture. Like the word hipster, the word hippie is jazz slang from the 1940s, and one of the first recorded usages of the word hippie was in a radio show on November 13, 1945, in which Stan Kenton called Harry Gibson "Hippie".[3] This use was likely playing off Gibson's nickname, "Harry the Hipster."[4]
In Greenwich Village, New York City, young counterculture advocates were named hips because they were considered "in the know" or "cool", as opposed to being square. In a 1961 essay, Kenneth Rexroth used both the terms hipster and hippies to refer to young people participating in African American or Beatnik nightlife.[5]
In 1963, the Orlons, an African-American singing group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania released the soul dance song "South Street", which included the lyrics "Where do all the hippies meet? South Street, South Street...The hippest street in town".[6][7] Some transcriptions read "Where do all the hippist (sic) meet?"[8] Nevertheless, since many heard it as "hippies", that use was promoted. "The Hippies" was also the name of a mixed African American and white soul singing group on the Orlons' record label, Cameo-Parkway.[9] Reminiscing about late 1940s Harlem in his 1964 autobiography, Malcolm X referred to the word hippy as a term African Americans used to describe a specific type of white man who "acted more Negro than Negroes."[10]
A hip person, a hipster, or a hippie, then, is someone who is aware of the latest developments or trends, as in "I'm hip to that." It was also often used as a verb in the early days, such as in the phrase, "I'm hipping you, man," which meant, "I'm making you wise." [11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_(etymology)