Society Is Abusing This Word...

coinhoarder (55)in #rant • 8 years ago (edited)

Don't judge me, but this morning while watching Rachel Ray on the television (which is a horrible show to watch when you are hungry by the way), I was reminded of how society has altered the meaning of a certain word from something significant and meaningful to something insignificant and meaningless.

That word is the word "hack". I am sure that you have noticed that society's usage of the word hack is indeed a modern day enigma. Maybe I am "an old", but I remember when the word hack had a meaning- it was kind of a big deal!

Yes hack! I agree, you are kind of a big deal. Yes, I am speaking directly to words now... this could get weird.

Nowadays people abuse you excessively, and while I am sure it bothers you old friend- it is also frustratingly tiresome on my OCD. I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way. In fact, I know I am not alone. But then why do I feel so alone?

I definitely don't want to be all by myself- that sucks. Hello society?!?!! Wake up and smell the coffee! May I please remind you of the definition of the word hack?

Do you smell what I'm stepping in Steemit? The next time your friend, lover or grandma use the word "hack" after celebrating their significant victory of having successfully tied their shoes:

Please slap them for me!!

#hack #linguistics #words #definitions #ocd

8 years ago in #rant by coinhoarder (55)

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alexgr (66) 8 years ago

"Maybe I am "an old", but I remember when the word hack had a meaning- it was kind of a big deal!"

The meaning of words like "virus" and "hack" got altered (or abused) as time went on.

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4 votes

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coinhoarder (55) 8 years ago

Yeah, I guess I am old school.

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2 votes

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anonymint (65) 8 years ago (edited)

According to an authority¹ on the definition, a ‘hacker’ should not be confused with a ‘cracker’:

What Is a Hacker?

The Jargon File contains a bunch of definitions of the term ‘hacker’, most having to do with technical adeptness and a delight in solving problems and overcoming limits. If you want to know how to become a hacker, though, only two are really relevant.

There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you're a hacker.

The hacker mind-set is not confined to this software-hacker culture. There are people who apply the hacker attitude to other things, like electronics or music — actually, you can find it at the highest levels of any science or art. Software hackers recognize these kindred spirits elsewhere and may call them ‘hackers’ too — and some claim that the hacker nature is really independent of the particular medium the hacker works in. But in the rest of this document we will focus on the skills and attitudes of software hackers, and the traditions of the shared culture that originated the term ‘hacker’.

There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn't make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.

The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.

If you want to be a hacker, keep reading. If you want to be a cracker, go read the alt.2600 newsgroup and get ready to do five to ten in the slammer after finding out you aren't as smart as you think you are. And that's all I'm going to say about crackers.

¹ Eric S. Raymond is purported to be the original progenitor of the term ‘open source’.

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2 votes

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