Does it really matter? (Score 1)

I frequently see many programmers becoming irate over the apparent incorrect usage of the word "hacker" in the common vernacular. I find it strange that any group claims to own the definition of a word that until recently gaining its negative connotation was meaningless to most people. I never have had a problem being simply called a programmer, or a coder, or even a nerd. Hell, I even tell people I am "geeking" and they usually get the clue. It seems to me that those who desperately are seeking to "correct" the meaning of the word "hacker" merely have some sort of elitist view of programming and feel that their private term for this superior coding echelon has been compromised. Let's grow up people, words mean whatever the majority of people mean when they use that word. If the majority of society is using the word "hacker" to refer to "crackers", then that is the word's new meaning. Get over it. I mean what is the real appeal to the word hacker anyways? So you say "I slashed away at some code" instead of "hacking away at it." Big deal.

Thanks,
David W. Lovell