[net.misc] I\"m not a hacker

wagner (06/08/82)

Seems to me we have digressed to a low-level discussion of 
the semantics of the word hacker.  Lets settle this 
squabble by recognizing that, like many other words in English,
hacker has two meanings, neither meaning is universal, and they
tend to contradict, conflict or confuse.  Lets use hacker(1)
to be the noble knight on a white terminal, and hacker(2) to
be the guy who hacks away at code with a hack-saw until it
sort of works. OK?

Seems to me we got away from the real issue, which as I saw
it was computer addiction.

Michael Wagner, University of Toronto Computing Services

wichman@sri-unix (07/21/82)

Two meanings?  That's somewhat narrow minded.  Hacker can also mean
a weekend golfer, a cab driver or a number of other things.  (Okay,
so I'm picking nits.