There is no such thing as a 'hipster', says Carrie Brownstein

A man attends the Burning Man Festival in Nevada (Getty)

Though her comedy series Portlandia relies heavily on parodies of what some people might describe as "hipsters", Carrie Brownstein things the pejorative term is really just a reflection of one's own insecurities.

Asked whether she felt the word means anything anymore, Brownstein responded: "You know, I feel like hipster is one of those terms that no one ever knew exactly what it meant.

"It plays into everyone’s insecurities of someone else being cooler than they are, or trying to be cooler than they are.

"I always felt the term was insufficient in this way. To me, it was like, 'Describe something that you yourself felt like you couldn’t pull off.'

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in Portlandia

"It felt sort of derogatory, but at the same time, there was the element of, 'Should I be wanting to do that?'"

She agreed with Time that it is a 'self-defence' thing people do so they can dismiss something so they don't have to try and keep up with it.

"That’s what I mean," she added. 'Oh, I guess I can’t pull that off, so that person’s a hipster, and I’m not.' But yeah, I don’t think it means anything anymore."

The phrase has certainly become less popular in the last year or two, perhaps as people realise that there are worse traits out there than taking an interest in art, music and fashion.