On 4/20/2011 6:17 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
It's hardly just the press. "Hack" is a fine old English word:
"The jungle explorer hacked at the undergrowth with his machete."
"I was so hungry, I didn't take the time to neatly slice up the meat, but
just hacked off a chunk and stuffed it in my mouth."
"Good lord, have you seen the completely botched job that carpenter has
done? He's such a hack!"
Given the wide range of pejorative meanings of "hack" going back at least
to the 19th century (to cut roughly without skill, a mediocre and
talentless writer, a person engaged to perform unskilled and boring
labour, a broken-down old horse, etc.), what's remarkable is that anyone
decided to start use "hack" in a non-pejorative sense.
How about "The indefatigable exploror hacked through the seemingly
impenetrable jungle for a month to arrive at the well-hidden ancient
temple. Since it was itself covered in overgrowth, he hacked away
another month to reveal it in its ancient glory." Make the appropriate
substution of code jungles and hard-won prize.
--
Terry Jan Reedy
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