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From: mauney@ncsu.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Bad news for hackers
Message-ID: <2446@ncsu.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Jan-84 11:05:56 EST
Article-I.D.: ncsu.2446
Posted: Fri Jan  6 11:05:56 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Jan-84 21:41:37 EST
Lines: 21


Those on the net concerned about the pejoration of the term "hacker"
will be disappointed to know that not only does IEEE Spectrum not
know the 'true' meaning of the word,  they haven't even the foggiest
idea where the new meaning came from.  In the Technically Speaking column
of the January 1984 issue of Spectrum,  an anonymous editor states:

	"... A hacker used to be someone who know little about about
	a sport or other activity but who plunged in enthusiastically,
	attempting to approximate the necessary motions.  ...
	The new usage may have begun with the group of youngsters
	who make up the newest segment of these 'criminals.'  They
	referred to themselves as hackers -- what they were doing
	was just fooling around.  Some of them inadvertently
	gained notoriety ... and the media picked up the slang
	word and changed its meaning."

Shows what the IEEE knows about computer programming.

                Jon Mauney     (mcnc!ncsu!mauney)
                North Carolina State University