Friday, April 17, 2015

What the Heck Is a Hack?









Who the heck is doing PR for the word “Hack”.

I want to hire that guy—or gal—to help hack my on-line presence.

Heck, before they hacked “hack” it was just an ordinary word indicating the act of reckless whacking, of somebody or something…I think.

Then it extended a bit to mean someone who does inferior work, as in, “He’s just a hack…he writes a blog.”

Then of course came the cyber age and hacking was something done to override something else…or something like that.    

Sometimes the something was legal and sometimes the something was not so legal.

But nowadays, a hack is just about anything.

There are Life Hacks, Business Hacks, Shopping Hacks, Home Hacks, Money Hacks, Handy Hacks, Food Hacks, Relationship Hacks…just about anything hacks.

You get the idea.

Or maybe you don’t, because I sure don’t.

I mean the last time I tried to hack a relationship I nearly got arrested.

And had to sleep in the garage for most of the late 1990’s.

But, somehow, a simple word like “Hack” has become the key go to word of the decade.

Which has put a lot of pressure and a lot of undo stress onto a simple little word, who once led a very nice, quiet, manageable existence.

An appearance here, a drop in there…nothing to it.

Now…Hack  can’t open a magazine or watch a TV show without tripping over itself.

It’s as if the guy who owns the deli down the street, a serviceable little business, with a small but loyal clientele, has been enlisted to provide catering services for the entire country.

What?

Actually I don’t think it’s anything like that, at all.

See…I tried to do a comparison hack and ended up just hacking the whole thing into pieces.

What a hack job!

If I had said it properly, then I would be lauded for my creativity and prowess in artful solution management in providing an apt description.

It would have been said I came up with the perfect description hack for the problem at hand.

Instead I just hacked the heck out of it.

Which is different.

Apparently….

So I suppose I’m in need of some sort of a writing hack…or perhaps more of an overall hacking hack.

Something to hack my visibility and popularity, on-line.

Maybe I can get everyone to start using the phrase “Freelance Retort” before everything.

Like – “10 Great Life Freelance Retorts!”

            “5 Sure Fire business Freelance Retorts to success!”

            “25 Top Freelance Retorts Guaranteed to Get You Out of Anything!”

Or I could just pick up a jaunty hat and sunglasses.

Heck…that might be all the hack I need….

Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack…

Sorry…I just swallowed my peach pit….

Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack… Hack…



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4 comments:

  1. Great idea Brian! It reminds me:
    I had a hacking cough once. I felt infiltrated. The wife said I ought to do something about it. So I bought an antivirus programme, got defragged but the hacking prevailed. #Life

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  2. Funny Brian ... and your friend beat me to it as I, too, was going to make a crack about a hacking cough. So instead, though I'm not one of the horsey set, I'll suggest you don't hack around the back of a hack, unless you watch where you're steppin'.

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    Replies
    1. Yes Linda I hacked your thoughts on the cough idea. Beware when thinking aloud especially when your mucking out ;-)

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    2. I thought you did that Ropeyrhyme Letts but I wasn't going to point a finger! It's getting pretty deep in here isn't it?

      Delete

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“Is there anybody alive out there…”