Hacking: The New Cheat

    Over the years the english language has, undoubtedly, progressed (although some could argue regressed, rather) to taking words and changing the meaning into something entirely different than the original word was intended for. Example: Gay. Once it meant 'happy', and was thrown around in everyday speech without a thought ("He was rather gay," said the butler, polishing the silver diligently. "Although I imagine it had something to do with the visit he received from Madame Pomfrey."). These days, however, if someone uses the word 'gay' in a sentence it means 'homosexual', and may or may not be taken negatively.

    That brings me to my current subject. As I'm sure you've already guessed by the title of this post, it's the word 'hack'. I've read the definition as provided by dictionary.com, several times, and while there are many uses for the word...the very common use of it in reference to 'life hacks' or 'kitchen hacks', or so on is what really bothers me for some reason. Once, I believe, hacks in those particular examples were just referred to as 'shortcuts' or 'helpful tricks'. I think the closest idiom is to handle or cope with a situation or an assignment adequately and calmly, and somehow I still don't really think that fits well. Nor does the definition meant for computers, where hacking is to break into (a server, website, etc.) from a remote location to steal or damage data. 

   There are others- feel free to check http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hack and form your own opinions. 

   Now, I'm guilty of using plenty of words in a form they weren't intended for. I like 'epic', for example, and I toss it around pretty liberally, although not as much as I used to. To me it's a form of expression and I prefer it whether or not it drives people crazy and they want it banished to the far corners of vocabu-land. Many may wish to see 'hack' go the same way, and while I realize this entire piece may make it sound like I'm among those people...I don't necessarily care. It just...bothers me somehow, the application of 'hack' these days, and sometimes I worry that people who use words in ways they weren't meant to be aren't using them that way because they think it fun, but because they don't really understand the original application intentions.

   That goes with my concern that typos, once rare and labelled typos because of such, are now becoming acceptable and commonplace because no one wants to manually edit their work. If someone finds a typo in my work I will freely admit it's because I don't edit, and someone may take that as a sign that I lack pride in what I do. But were I actually being paid to produce work for the public eye in a reputable form of media like a newspaper (the popularity of which isn't being helped, in my opinion, when it loses respect by having a gross amount of misspellings and horrific errors in countless print editions and online articles), I'd probably take the time to be sure I was using the proper form of 'you're and your' and actually not rely on spellcheck to do it for me.

    Sorry. I went off on my personal soapbox again. I'm stepping down and putting it away in favor of taking the time to thank you all for reading what I DO write. Because without you I wouldn't have an audience, and without an audience I'd never progress toward my dream of doing this professionally, one of these days. Everyone who even takes a moment to read my words is important, and as many of you are my friends, I thank you. SO much. I'm grateful for you all. 

    If I'm ever going to hack it (see what I did there?), it's your support that helps me believe that I can.