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'The Word Hack is Meaningless and Should Be Retired' (thenextweb.com) 156

Posted by EditorDavid from the word-of-the-day dept.
An anonymous reader quotes The Next Web: The word 'hack' used to mean something, and hackers were known for their technical brilliance and creativity. Now, literally anything is a hack -- anything -- to the point where the term is meaningless, and should be retired. The most egregious abuse of the term "hack" comes from the BBC's Dougal Shaw. In a recent video of his, called "My lunch hack," Shaw demonstrates that it's cheaper to make your own sandwich each day than it is to buy a pre-packaged sandwich from the supermarket. Shaw calls that a hack. I call it common sense.

And that's not nearly the worst example. I haven't touched on "life hacks" yet. This term is nebulous. It means nothing and anything. It's used to describe arts and crafts... That said, the worst dilution of the term "hack" comes from growth hackers... Anyway, I regret to inform you that the word "hack" is now bad, and should be avoided.
A request for alternative words first went up on Slashdot back in 1999 -- but nothing's been settled. Back in 2014 a Gizmodo reporter wrote an impassioned plea titled "Please stop calling everything a hack" -- while others have argued the opposite.

in 2015 the editorial director of Make magazine cited hack's definition in The New Hacker's Dictionary as "an appropriate application of ingenuity," arguing that "my and other Make contributors' use of the term for clever shop techniques, ingeniously simple projects, and epic 'kluges' (i.e. Rube Goldberg-level hacks and fixes) is entirely appropriate."
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'The Word Hack is Meaningless and Should Be Retired' More

'The Word Hack is Meaningless and Should Be Retired'

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  • Or not (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Notabadguy ( 961343 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @12:47AM (#56797382)

    You have to go down 14 definitions of "hack" to get to to this:
    ---------
    Computers.
    to modify a computer program or electronic device in a skillful or clever way: to hack around with HTML.
    to break into a network, computer, file, etc., usually with malicious intent.
    http://www.dictionary.com/brow... [dictionary.com]
    ----------

    Hacking may have been popularized to describe computer hacking, but it means MANY OTHER THINGS TOO.

    • I think you missed #7. The first six are all variants of "cut, crudely". The first definition other than "cut" is:

      Computers.
      A) to modify (a computer program or electronic device) or write (a program) in a skillful or clever way:

      B) to circumvent security and break into (a network, computer, file, etc.), usually with malicious intent

      As a career "hacker", I'd say that 7b could be refined to better indicate what is meant by "circumvent security" or "break" into. Knowing somebody's password isn't breaking in.

      • I would go with an amalgam of my personal internal definition (used below) and their "Skillful and clever" verbiage.

        I think that would neatly cover nearly all computer/tech-circle definitions of hack.

        To circumvent a restriction imposed on a system in a clever or skillful way using obscure knowledge or by exploitation of unexpected behaviors of that system.

        You know, the kind of thing mentioned in "Smashing the stack for fun and profit"

      • In common parlance, hacking (in the sense of breaking into a computer system) includes phishing or other social engineering tricks, brute-forcing a password file obtained elsewhere and trying passwords used on other sites, etc. None of that manipulates the system under attack.

        • Re:Missed #7 (first other than "cut" roughly) (Score:5, Funny)

          by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @06:10AM (#56798114)

          In common parlance, hacking means noticing that a website has '?user=2383' in the address bar and wondering what happens if you change the number.

        • Manipulate:
          1. To manage or influence skillfully, especially in an unfair manner:
          to manipulate people's feelings.

          Social engineering, manipulating the human part of the system, is the first definition of "manipulate".

          Brute forcing very rarely works, so I wonder if you actually mean dictionary attacks. Sometimes people use these terms incorrectly :) A GOOD dictionary attack involves a bit of skill, including figuring out which potential passwords would be allowed by the system, what defense systems are in pla

    • And technically breaking into a network with malicious intent was called cracking, not hacking.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mccalli ( 323026 )
        Naah - this is retconning. It was always called hacking. Cracking was breaking the copy protection on games etc..

    • Re:Or not (Score:4, Insightful)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @04:54AM (#56797912)

      Hacking may have been popularized to describe computer hacking, but it means MANY OTHER THINGS TOO.

      Your point is completely lost on the fact that most words hold multiple definitions. This is why it often comes down to everyday vernacular. If you hear the word "spam" at work, you can safely assume someone is talking about unwanted email and not shitty canned meat. Every email in the world is not spam, just like making your own lunch instead of buying it is not a hack. And changing a car tire doesn't mean you start calling yourself a mechanic. I drove to work instead of walking; does that mean I "hacked" my commute? Am I a "hacker" now? Give me a fucking break.

      We created the term script kiddie to differentiate the idiots from those who actually have computer skills. Perhaps we should come up with a term to describe the life kiddie who thinks every efficiency in life is a hack. Since we're all about generalizing, I say we use "Millennial"...after all, moron probably has too many definitions.

      • I have a nephew who has become a rather successful developer. He happens to be of the 'millinneal' generation. He is sort of an exception to the rule, but isn't that always so?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mentil ( 1748130 )

      How clever is 'clever'? How skillful is 'skillful'? Some words are just inherently nebulous. How obscure does something have to be to be a 'hack'?
      What might be painfully obvious to one person could be a life-changing epiphany to a patent examiner, apparently.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      to modify a computer program or electronic device in a skillful or clever way: to hack around with HTML.

      That definition makes hacks sound like a good thing, it definitively needs some balance that hacks are usually kludges and quick fixes. A hack and a hacker are on opposite sites of the skill scale, so are clever hacks and dirty hacks. Hacks themselves are more neutral, they're small modifications to bypass/replace other code like security systems, safety systems, malfunctioning code or add new functionality. If they're poor, great or malicious depends on the nature of the hack.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zifn4b ( 1040588 )

      A hack means more or less, a shortcut to get to a desired result. Shortcut means a way to do such a thing that is not normally considered the conventional way or best practice to get the result. Sometimes hacks can be good. Sometimes hacks can have side effects and long-term consequences.

      For example, a software engineering hack in which a software algorithm is generating undesirable results given a set of particular inputs is forced to return the correct results, short-circuiting the actual algorithm wou

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by msauve ( 701917 )
      Wrong dictionary, wrong definition.

      "BBC's Dougal Shaw... demonstrates that it's cheaper to make your own sandwich each day than it is to buy a pre-packaged sandwich from the supermarket."

      Surely, this is a near-perfect example of a hack [oxforddictionaries.com].

    • You have to go down 14 definitions of "hack" to get to to this:
      ---------
      Computers.
      to modify a computer program or electronic device in a skillful or clever way: to hack around with HTML.
      to break into a network, computer, file, etc., usually with malicious intent.
      http://www.dictionary.com/brow... [dictionary.com] ----------

      Hacking may have been popularized to describe computer hacking, but it means MANY OTHER THINGS TOO.

      An older non-computer definition was applied to computers originally. "Hacking" was just slapping thing together in a shoddy unprofessional way, albeit often in an experimental way, an exploratory learning way, but sometimes slapped together shoddily, unprofessionally, for expediency, time constraints.

      "Hacked together" vs engineered.

      • Would brute force debugging be considered hacking?

        There are systematic ways of debugging problematic code or even a miss-wired circuit such as divide-and-conquer to isolate the location of a bug, doing a diff against a functioning earlier version, conducting tests to verify assertions and so on? Is it hacking when you keep testing the code with change A, change B, change C in the hope of fixing it?

        As in, "I am just hacking, I need to get up and walk around to clear my head and get back to working on t

        • Probably, I think such debugging is similar to the experimental/learning code I mentioned. One off, temporary, disposable code that does not warrant proper engineering.

  • Linguistics hack: use a dictionary (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 17, 2018 @12:52AM (#56797392)

    As it so happens, one of the definitions of "hack" is "a writer or journalist producing dull, unoriginal work".

    Is that relevant? It sounds relevant.

  • Tuff! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @12:53AM (#56797394) Journal

    English is a hack and you can't do diddly shit about it!

  • ... is cromulent and deserves further consideration.

  • My definition of "Hack (v): " (Score:3)

    by wierd_w ( 1375923 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @12:59AM (#56797418)

    1) To circumvent a restriction (usually technical) through the application of obscure knowledge or by exploitation of unexpected behaviors of a system.

    "This stupid thing's security routine has tripped again-- Can you hack it for me Bob?"

    Hack (n):

    1) An implementation of an exploit or technical circumvention of an imposed restriction on a system. Usually technical.

    "I wrote a dirty hack to get root access to fix Steve's login problem; The security model of this system needs some serious revision."

    2) A person who is unqualified for their current vocational position.

    "I met the new database administrator today. The guy is a total hack; could not put together a tuple query to save his own ass."

    So-- Am I using these words wrong in terms of modern parlance?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Misagon ( 1135 )

      The origin of 1 (noun and verb) is from "hack saw". The verb "hack" means literally to use the hack saw. It then was used to mean doing a simple ugly fix using the hack saw, a kludge,or a bodge.

      Students at MIT were hacking and bodging things in the real world to commit practical pranks that modified something at the campus.
      These pranks (with hack saw or not) were called "hacks" and clever pranksters at MIT were called "hackers". Later such hackers from MIT were influential on early personal computing as we

      • The origin of 1 (noun and verb) is from "hack saw". The verb "hack" means literally to use the hack saw. It then was used to mean doing a simple ugly fix using the hack saw, a kludge,or a bodge.

        It seems I did some real hacking in the late 80s. I used a hacksaw to cut a hole into the side of my PC case so I could get the 80386 In Circuit Emulator plug and cabling to the CPU socket. I couldn't just leave the case open, it was my monitor stand. :-)

        We were on the same floor as the CEO. He wandered into my cube to find out what the hell that god-awlful noise was about, took one quick look, uttered "I'm not even going to ask why", turned around and left.

        • On second thought the hacksaw notion sounds like a redefinition too. An earlier definition might refer to an axe rather than a hacksaw. Since I hacked away at some trees in the 70s I guess that was my first "hack". Definitely not a skillful job of felling those trees.

  • Yet another dictat concerning 'hack' (Score:3)

    by DRJlaw ( 946416 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @01:01AM (#56797428)

    Anyway, I regret to inform you that the word "hack" is now bad, and should be avoided.

    The unwashed 'you' listened so well when the community dictated that 'hacking' was to be reserved for productive uses of technology rather than malicious 'cracking.'

    The unwashed 'you' listened so well when the community dictated that 'hacking' was to be reserved for uses that required technical skill rather than script kiddies' ignorant throw-it-at-the-wall uses of others' prepackaged tools.

    But now, now the unwashed 'you' will listen to advice to avoid calling everything 'hacking' and the results a 'hack.'

    Bwahahaha... keep dreaming.

  • Here's a valuable life hack (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Waffle Iron ( 339739 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @01:02AM (#56797430)

    There's a little-known language hack that can help you feel less stressed out by things like this. It's called a homonym.

    That's when different words with different meanings have both the same spelling and pronunciation. Strange, but true.

    How can you tell them apart? Well, you have to use context:

    If somebody is talking a about a "hack" that uses apple cider vinegar, then you know that it's some silly folk remedy.

    If somebody is talking about a hack that involves breaking into a computer system, then you know that they're talking about cybercrime.

    If somebody is talking about a hack that involves a clever and unorthodox programming method, then you know that some geek figured out a labor-saving way to solve a problem.

    If somebody is talking about a hack and it involves felling a tree, then you know that they're wielding an ax.

    The list goes on, but you get the idea. This is how human language works. If you accept that, then you will live a less stressful life.

    • what if I'm watching a cyber-horror film and the protagonist is accessing files illegally to track down a killer that chops up his victims who is also a failing writer of homeopathic books?

    • The writer of TFA is a hack [macmillandictionary.com].

    • IMHO, these are polysemic rather than homonymous, because they can all be traced back to the same origin with little imagination. Most or your examples are in the category "quick and dirty solution" that derives from the method of hacking down a tree.

      Homonyms, OTOH, are words that happen to share the spelling/pronunciation even if they come from different origins. In a way, polysemy is a divergence and homonymy a convergence in the evolution of a language.

  • Hack - "lifehack" Code - "learn to code" Cloud - "in the cloud" to mean "I don't know where it is" or "to give away all one's personal data" Ping - "ping me later" Program - "program my phone"

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Unfortunately, people coopted this particular technical term hundreds of years ago in the context of cutting things. That must have really pissed off the early computer hackers of the period.

  • Words are words (Score:3)

    by peppepz ( 1311345 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @02:36AM (#56797674)
    It is in the nature of words to have more than one meaning, and to acquire and lose ones depending on the cultural environment and the shifting sensibility. The very usage of the word "hack" to mean "to program" is the result of a fad in a certain scene. Don't play the dictionary police, it's infantile and counterproductive.

  • The tech-illiterate media essentially stole the word to fearmonger with, then its meaning became diluted and distorted though constant overuse and improper use.

    I offer this definition:

    Modifying an object or system to change its capability or purpose, especially in ways unintended or unforeseen by the creator.

    That definition fits everything from making a paper airplane (among the simplest hacks, that almost everyone has seen), hardware/software exploits, to cybernetic implants, and most of what the maker com

    • Language is fluid. Over time, words change meaning through use - sometimes in ways we find stupid or annoying. But that’s just the way it goes.

      I hate the term “life hack”. I hope it dies in a fire. But I have very little control over whether that excremental little turn of phrase ends up having staying power, or if it deservedly fades into oblivion along with the talentless hacks (hey, see what I did there?) who are trying to promote themselves by adopting it.

      • Language is fluid.

        Which is why, in the absence of effort to prevent it, it runs downhill till it reaches a drain.

        I hate the term ''life hack''. I hope it dies in a fire. But I have very little control over whether that excremental little turn of phrase ends up having staying power

        The best you can do is mentally label anyone who uses it as an utter bell-end and move on.

        P.S. Bizarre thing - the double quotes look OK in your post but when I copied them they went all a-hatty. WTF?

  • If you're arguing word abuse, don't do it yourself.

  • If you don't learn from your hack each time you do it, it's not a hack. The things people call hacks aren't really hacks by that definition either. This original definition isn't in the article that I could find.

    Unfortunately geek culture was high-jacked by people unwilling to apply those standards to themselves and that is something we have to acknowledge. If course the short answer is not to derive a new meaning but to reclaim it by associating deliberate breaches of computer security with cracking

  • Programmers need to form a secret society with a secret handshake and magic words not to be uttered to outsiders. Oh, and a magic mysterious symbol. Then they could hand out power rings and decoders.

  • Hack Gallery at MIT Museum (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The MIT Museum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts has a good hall of good hacks. It's described at http://hacks.mit.edu/exhibits/... [mit.edu], but the web page does *not* do it justice. I was involved in a few of them, back in the 80's, and MIT's hacks have a proud tradition.

  • Litmus test (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @04:50AM (#56797902)

    Just because something has multiple meanings doesn't make it meaningless, technically it makes it quite the opposite.

    Here's a simple litmus test for if a word should be "retired":

    1. Use word in context. Does someone know what you're talking about? > Don't retire word.

    This language hack brought to you by someone who's not at war with the ability to communicate with others.
    Don't like the word hack? You have 3 options:
    1. Find an english community that doesn't use it.
    2. Pick a language that doesn't use it.
    3. Sit around miserable and hope that one day it will change.

  • Editor David is also Meaningless and Should Be Retired.

  • Language is dynamic, not static. Words don't have explicit meaning, they have usage. When people no longer have any use for a word, it will automatically run out of fashion and out of the general vocabulary. Arguing to 'retire' words just because a word has loss its use for YOU is, in my opinion, rather arrogant.

  • The words:
    "Cookie" & "Consent"
    Those words has lost all meaning now.
    Burn them, and piss on the ashes!

    Oh, and:
    "Policy"

    • You forgot "gizmo".

      I can't believe I'm still seeing this word in the press (usually by an author that knows absolutely nothing about the item being discussed).

  • In Norway these life hacks and other stuff is what would be categorized as "old ladys advice" or home remedys/advice and yes, common sense.
    My biggest irk is still the use of hack/hacker to depict someone buying a cheat of the net and using it in a game to gain an advantage.
    If someone were to use loaded dice at a casino we would all agree they are cheating. This even holds true for online casinos. Somehow if it's on a game it's hacking?
    Popular words become abused. Annoying words are forgotten. Let's reviv
  • The word "hack" was always an insult translating to "sloppy and just barely working."

  • It was originally an insult (Score:4, Informative)

    by cjonslashdot ( 904508 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @06:57AM (#56798188)
    The original usage was someone who "hacked" at something, instead of crafting it. It was pejorative. If someone was a "hack", they worked without thinking and didn't really know what they were doing, and a "hacker" was the same thing. Then TV shows and news reports came out glorifying this, and the meaning became congratulatory.

    • The original usage was to describe something that was cut up roughly without care. Applying it to crafting something is a derivative of that.

      • Yes, exactly - to "hack" at something, until it works, rather than crafting it carefully. It implies incompetence.

  • "Hacker" is not a technical term.

    The word "hack" has been used for all sorts of things: cab drivers, writers, prison guards - not to mention smokers and hacky-sack players.

  • I think the author's a hack.

  • Inflation, happens all the time (Score:3)

    by Baki ( 72515 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @08:55AM (#56798404)

    Most things lose their value because we get used to them.

    The more people exaggerate, using hyperboles and strong terms for nothing, the more those words will wear off.

    Being at home in multiple cultures and languages, I find it interesting to see the much faster "recycling" of words and phrases in english than, e.g., in german. Somehow, the english/US culture seems to be more geared towards "selling" (not always literally w.r.t. goods, but also in trying to convey ideas to the public at large) and advertisement.

    Thus, you see a fast inflation of the meaning of words in english, and a constant popping up of new words to recapture the original meaning of older words. It is kind of confusing and not very productive, IMHO.

    German, in contrast (note that I'm not a native german speaker, just my outside observation), has a much lower pace of new words, and the meaning of existing words seems to wear off not so fast. Probably just a result of a more conservative and reserved culture.

    Icelandic and finnish are even more conservative (as a language) and hardly have changed in the past 1000 years.

  • Hack saw, hack away, hack up a lung (Score:3)

    by holophrastic ( 221104 ) on Sunday June 17, 2018 @09:11AM (#56798424)

    Last I checked, "hack" was far older than computers. Older, even, than ingenuity.
      https://www.etymonline.com/sea... [etymonline.com]
    https://www.etymonline.com/wor... [etymonline.com]

    chopping wood, coughing, routine work...

    Nice that 700 years later, computer criminals adopted it too. Not surprising that this particular word has finally made it back to its roots.

    Next you'll be saying that "gay" is suddenly being used to describe everyone who's happy. Wait for it.

  • ... because there's a qualifying context of use.

    TFS tells us nothing we haven't already known. Hack is a kind of saw; it's a severe cough, it's a chopping motion of an ax, it's a taxi, and it is a term for picking a computer lock.

    Tilting at windmills includes the misnomer "floppy," for a rigid disk.

    And, outside the confines of the Internet, what the fuck does "google it," even mean?

    Chill out and let it go.

    I have never had a problem with mixed-meanings regarding the word, "hack."

    Perhaps you should find a qui

  • I didn't know words could be retired. Is there a form somewhere for this? Do you have to pay a fee?

  • If what you're doing isn't written about in the 1984 book, you're not hacking. You're misappropriating other people's coolness and need to cut the crap.

  • solution (Score:2)

    by sad_ ( 7868 )

    i have a great hack to hack all these invalid hacks of the work hack.
    simple, just hack the hack out of it, even a hacker could do it!

  • Yesterday I hacked my lentil soup by drinking it straight from the bowl. I saved water resources and time by being able to consume the soup faster and not having to wash a spoon. Haxx0rRulz.
  • The one that grates on me is when someone says "My iTunes account was hacked". No, it wasn't hacked, you had a simple password and someone exploited it.

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