Many people have never heard the screech of fingernails on a blackboard. It is used as a metaphor for a familiar, grating, scary, razor-sharp sound to those educated in schools with boards on which teachers etched the knowledge we lacked. (Do teachers still use chalkboards and erasers?)
The frequency of Internet writers’ choice of “hack” is more than annoying, because it is a blatant ploy, based on the perennial bait of: “Tips,”” Tricks,” & “Fixes.” My initial attraction to articles about “hacks” ended the day I saw an article entitled, “Ten Hacks for Indigestion,” or something like that. My disgust level for this lame conflation rises by the day. How lazy and inept.
I thought imagination was part of writing; not just “copy and repeat.” I have hacked down oak trees with an ax, and hacked them into firewood; I have had hacking coughs; accusations of being a hack (writer), not being able to hack it, hacking my way through turpitudes, and fear of having my computer presence hacked, but never have I found a hack for the problems I face in life.
Why are these cheap-shot amateurs using the word? Because “hack” is a strange, threatening, “danger” term that strikes terror in the hearts of DNC Democrats, and heedless, computer email, banking, and smart-phone users, whose passwords are “password.”
It also shows up in many SEO search keyword algorithms because it is “popular;” anything for attention. Many people wage a relentless battle for fame, or infamy; ” It’s the 21st century, so please, please, just notice me!” amid the inundation of feeble cries for actuality in a virtual world.
Today, what wins online are keywords. Keep feeding your posts hot keywords, and spicy hash-tags, to be noticed. Or at least, you will believe your “Google” results are hallmarks for the current inaccurate slang for what used to be writing and journalism.
I know I am Quixotic, but I choose to tilt against the windmill dragons of “Hack.”
Above the Noise 