Pedants' Paradise

[Serial_Apologist]

Hacks
The Guardian uses this term, for example in the phrase Money Hacks, explained as 'Tips and tricks to boost your finances'. Try as I may, I have been unable to comprehend this term as so used. (They also have 'Beauty hacks'.) I see the heading 'Money hacks' to a piece and am unable to connect the word with this new meaning. Maybe this is just age; but I suspect something else is blocking my understanding of the term.

So long as no one is hacking into your bank accounts... !

[Old Grumpy]

Similar to side hustle...


...is it not just a second job?

Side hustle makes it sound like something illegal! *


*Which, of course it could be!

[Serial_Apologist]

That reminds me of an article about the late Queen when she had reached one of her anniversaries and was compared with Queen Victoria. It said that they were similar in that when they were born 'neither was destined to be Queen'. On the contrary; they were both destined to be Queen, i.e. that is what eventually happened. They were not expected to be Queen, perhaps, though in Victoria's case it was more of a certainty than in Elizabeth's.

That is what gets me about the idea of Predestination, too. People say, "That was going to happen", when obviously it was going to happen, otherwise it wouldn't! If they were more precise they might instead have given an indication of likelihood, but I suspect some people hold beliefs that everything is pre-planned, although this would amount to reducing our scope for action, and thus freedom of will, since their argument that X was destined to happen made it unavoidable. My guessing is that for some people, whether or not some result (whether negative or positive) occurs is judged more by moral and ethical standards; i.e. it's down to the sufferer's or beneficiary's actions, than by "inevitability". Either way, the expression "It was going to happen" evaporates by virtue of its tautological inconsequence. Or, as a cynic might say, "Stuff happens".

[kernelbogey]

So long as no one is hacking into your bank accounts... !

That I can understand more easily - like someone using a machete or pickaxe,

[kernelbogey]

....Either way, the expression "It was going to happen" evaporates by virtue of its tautological inconsequence. Or, as a cynic might say, "Stuff happens".

Similarly, people say 'I was lucky to miss that plane, because it crashed'. But in that alternative scenario, where they caught the plane, it might equally not have crashed.

[Serial_Apologist]

Similarly, people say 'I was lucky to miss that plane, because it crashed'. But in that alternative scenario, where they caught the plane, it might equally not have crashed.

Now, that would be entering a quantum world!

[french frank]

Hacks
The Guardian uses this term, for example in the phrase Money Hacks, explained as 'Tips and tricks to boost your finances'. Try as I may, I have been unable to comprehend this term as so used. (They also have 'Beauty hacks'.) I see the heading 'Money hacks' to a piece and am unable to connect the word with this new meaning. Maybe this is just age; but I suspect something else is blocking my understanding of the term.

OED has a verbal usage from 1936: "
III.14.1936– transitive. slang (originally U.S.). To manage, accomplish; to cope with; to tolerate. Frequently in to hack it.

The later noun hack with a similar meaning seems to have been a computer term for 'An inelegant yet effective solution to a computing problem', a workaround.

More generally 7.c. 2005–In extended use: any strategy, adaptation, or expedient solution adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

HTH :-)

[oddoneout]

Hacks
The Guardian uses this term, for example in the phrase Money Hacks, explained as 'Tips and tricks to boost your finances'. Try as I may, I have been unable to comprehend this term as so used. (They also have 'Beauty hacks'.) I see the heading 'Money hacks' to a piece and am unable to connect the word with this new meaning. Maybe this is just age; but I suspect something else is blocking my understanding of the term.

Has replaced tips and/or tricks - with "of the trade" optional - but like you I have problems with "hack" as to me it conjures up something negative. Visions of an incompetent and damaging approach to a task, which might be warranted in extreme situations, but not where a good or improved outcome is wanted. Not helped by modern usage of hacking in relation to computers, which adds to the negative feel.

[kernelbogey]

....More generally 7.c. 2005–In extended use: any strategy, adaptation, or expedient solution adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way.

HTH :-).

I shall try to remember this meaning.

Many thanks, FF.

[LMcD]

Has replaced tips and/or tricks - with "of the trade" optional - but like you I have problems with "hack" as to me it conjures up something negative. Visions of an incompetent and damaging approach to a task, which might be warranted in extreme situations, but not where a good or improved outcome is wanted. Not helped by modern usage of hacking in relation to computers, which adds to the negative feel.

I would have assumed that a Money Hack was a fairly undistinguished financial journalist.

[smittims]

Hacking also used to mean riding a horse on a road. I still wear what I call my hacking jacket.

'Side Hustle' was explained on Radio 4 as a job you do to pay your way while setting up a new business which, while it is your cherished dream, cannot yet be expected to yield a profit. It was used repeatedly in a programme without their explalining the meaning until the end. I think this was a device ot keep one listening.

[oddoneout]

Hacking also used to mean riding a horse on a road. I still wear what I call my hacking jacket.

'Side Hustle' was explained on Radio 4 as a job you do to pay your way while setting up a new business which, while it is your cherished dream, cannot yet be expected to yield a profit. It was used repeatedly in a programme without their explalining the meaning until the end. I think this was a device ot keep one listening.

Not just on a road - and these days ideally not!

as a verb, it describes the act of pleasure riding for light exercise

Used to be a common way to get to local equine events when transport wasn't so ubiquitous - and the roads not so busy and dangerous.

[vinteuil]

.... there are regular complaints about the invasion of Americanisms : perhaps it is nice to note that the traffic is two-way -

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/26/other-british-invasion-how-uk-language-conquered-the-us

.

[smittims]

Hmm. well, the USA is a big place, and I don't think it's valid to generalise about 'Americans'. Some are very Anglophile , just as others are very Anglophobe.

[Pulcinella]

.... there are regular complaints about the invasion of Americanisms : perhaps it is nice to note that the traffic is two-way -

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/26/other-british-invasion-how-uk-language-conquered-the-us

.

I'm not too sure why this has been classified as Science, but I suppose it's because of the frequency of use app!