

The Word "Hacker" (2004) - messel
http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html

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systemtrigger
Last night on 60 Minutes, Leslie Stahl interviewed Vint Cerf and some security
experts for a story on identity theft and malware. Cerf was on for maybe 20
seconds and the rest of the segment was your typical the-sky-is-falling
doomsday report. What bugged me about Stahl's piece was how rotten she
presumed hackers writ large to be. She said the word _at least_ 20 times with
no consideration given for honest hackers.

I once used the h-word in a corporate setting in front of my boss. The benign
context left no doubt as to my meaning but old pointy hair later assured me I
had crossed a line. Memo: the safewords are "code" and "program."

Good to be working on a startup today. Essays like this continue to remind me
why I left the establishment.

------
matthias
"Hacker" may very well be (helpfully) keeping the size of HN down. The last
time I sent someone a link to an HN discussion they took one look at the url
and phoned to tell me that my email had a virus.

~~~
sounddust
Well, the English language is defined by its usage, and if 99% of English
speakers think that a hacker is someone who illegally tampers with computer
systems, then that's what it means. I don't know why hackers are always
fighting an impossible uphill battle to change public perception of the word
rather than just coming up with a new word or phrase that defines the positive
aspects of being a hacker. In fact, if done properly, the new phrase could
even contain the word "hacker".

~~~
pg
_the English language is defined by its usage_

Any language is, but not by simple majorities. In practice there is something
like a pagerank for people for language usage, just as there is for most
topics.

For example, it could be that 99% of people who use the phrase "begs the
question" misuse it. But the 1% who don't are not merely a random 1% of the
population. So in disputes about how to use the phrase, those who get it wrong
tend to defer to those who get it right. You couldn't say the meaning of the
phrase had changed till that stopped happening, because it implies by
induction that everyone who misuses the phrase would change their usage if
called on it.

~~~
sounddust
That's not how it works, at least as explained by linguists. Those 1% do not
exist to be the "pagerank 10" sources; they exist to analyze how language is
being used, and adjust the official meanings of words to reflect that usage.
That's how words and meanings get added to (English) dictionaries and grammar
books.

Old meanings are not considered wrong of course, but are often pushed back to
the higher-numbered definitions and eventually considered an old or archaic
usage.

It doesn't work the same in all languages; for example, French has the
l'Académie française which strongly attempts to regulate the meanings of
French words, and is quite successful.

To prove my point: there are two official meanings of "begging the question,"
including the one you assume to be incorrect in your post:

<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/begs>

Furthermore, I'm confident that with some research, we could find several
words and phrases in your post which were considered "incorrect" several
hundred years ago (despite being commonly used then) but are considered
"correct" today.

~~~
pg
The 1% of people (assuming it's that) "exist to analyze how language is being
used?" What does that mean? I'm in the 1% who understand "begs the question."
Do I exist to analyze how language is being used?

Nor is the shift of meaning in a word over time identical with people
misunderstanding the previous meanings. That type of shift is quite rare. It's
much more common for words to shift meaning the way "computer" has than the
way "buxom" did.

There's nothing official about dictionaries, incidentally. They describe usage
(as well as they can); they don't prescribe it. If dictionaries defined terms
in the prescriptive sense, I could refute you by starting one.

~~~
sounddust
Well, I suppose we're talking about a different 1%. Perhaps you feel that you
are a "pagerank 10" person regarding "begs the question" because you
understand the original meaning. I would argue that the "pagerank 10" would be
the person who has studied its usage and has observed that "raises the
question" has also become an acceptable use.

Assuming that a shift in a word's meaning due to "incorrect" usage is rare,
what makes it any less valid of a change? And are you willing to have the same
view regarding _all_ English words that turn out to have been formed as a
result of misuse that you have toward "hacker" and "begs the question," even
if you are forced to use an obsolete word?

You argue that dictionaries can't prescribe language, and I agree. I'm saying
that there are limits to how much you can prescribe language _in general_ ,
including the attempt to prescribe the meaning of "hacker" and "beg the
question." The "beg the question" of 2009 is no less valid than the one of
1600.

------
jgrahamc
Do we really need to go over this again? It's pretty simple: within the
computer community 'hacker' has a positive context. For everyone else it's
negative.

It's like 'fag'. Say that in the UK and you are talking about cigarettes. Say
it in the US and it's offensive.

~~~
bisceglie
not to cut teeth here, but the 'fag' analogy doesn't really hold up. no matter
how you swing it, the term 'hacker' relates to technology (hardware, software,
wetware, whatever). in this case, 'fag' has two very different meanings. i'm
reminded of the story posted a month (or so) ago on the linux hacker dad whose
son received some flack from an ignorant teacher (anyone have a link?).

~~~
unalone
Perhaps not "hacker", but call something a "hack" and programmers will get a
positive connotation, other people will see a negative one.

~~~
Xichekolas
Well as a programmer, I'd say "a hack" has a mild negative connotation
(something hastily thrown together and brittle).

But the terms "to hack" and "hacking" are both positive (to get stuff done).

I have no problem with the term 'hacker', but I don't call myself one. To me
it feels the same as calling myself a 'player' or something... like I'm a
poseur.

------
windsurfer
Maybe we need a story called "The Word 'News'"

~~~
unalone
That might make for an interesting story! There're arguments about the origin:
there's the mindset that says it's slang for "the new things", using "news" as
a plural for new. Then there's the one that says "NEWS" is an anagram of
"North East West South." It leads to some interesting arguments in media
class, when it comes to defining "What is News?" (That's an argument that
Hacker News seems to have as well, so it's far from dead.)

~~~
baha_man
[http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/...](http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwordorigins/news?view=uk)

"The original sense of news was 'new things'; this is long obsolete. Since the
15th century it has been used to mean 'tidings, the report of recent events,
new occurrences as a subject or report or talk.'"

------
Raphael_Amiard
There is some interresting things for a non american guy in this article,
although i think the way he bounds the fact of being a hacker, and the fact of
being american is truely stereotypical, and a little bit sad also seen from
outside.

I'd have prefered if he dug the intellectual property thing a bit more.

------
callmeed
I don't agree that everyone in the tech world agrees on the term.

When I was in school (late 90s/2000), one of our professors made a clear
distinction between "hacker mentality" and "software engineer
mentality"–emphasizing that the latter was professional/preferred and the
former was undesirable/rogue.

To him, a "hacker" didn't plan, didn't show an engineering thought-process,
didn't think long-term, and wasn't a team player.

So, at least in academia, not everyone thinks "hackers" are good.

~~~
dhimes
Even some of the people we would call "hackers" consider a "hack" to be a
temporary fix they put in that's meant to work until they have the opportunity
to do it right.

------
messel
There's a lot more to this post than semantic arguments. Get past the first
three paragraphs and read about the profound connection between hacking and
liberty. It's tied to our past, our present and our future innovations.

------
cadalac
Nuts. I thought it was a new one.

