of you in the audience probably think of
computers and you and you’re right there
are two main computer definitions of the
word hack the first definition has to do
with breaking in the files or stealing
something from a computer it goes
without saying that we have all heard a
lot about this as I relates to the
election the second definition isn’t
quite as villainous definition number
two is when someone is very good at
programming computers but doesn’t try to
harm anyone with his arrow talent look
at Bill Gates for crying out loud he was
incredible when he was in front of the
keyboard and he and someone could call
him a hacker but how can also mean other
things too such as a dry cough it also
applies to life for instance people talk
about life hacks and it means to make
something easier and more efficient my
water bottle broke when I dropped it at
soccer practice and I fix the lock with
a paper clip it turned out to be better
than the original cat now has anyone
ever thought about hacking a word just
like hack hacking a computer and finding
its best files and parts you can do that
to a word too or you could get down to
the root of the word and then find out
all the other words that come from it
today or it may sound kind of boring but
it’s actually pretty cool wouldn’t it be
funny though if the word someone was
trying to hack was the word hack today
we are going to take one of the most
popular words in modern language and
we’re going to hack it can you hack it
now my last question just brought up
another definition of the word hack and
that is to be able to handle something
as in if I had a big project that I was
working really hard on you could refer
to that as me hacking the project now
the etymology of hack comes from the Old
English location which means to trap
into pieces like if I were father
colonial times i might say son let’s go
hack some firewood and that would mean
we were going out to cut some wood for
the fire place so now you might morning
why do I care about this I don’t live in
colonial times but this first definition
of the word sets the stage for other
meanings of the word because you hack it
something new or inflation it carefully
imagine if your parents what they cut
the turkey on Thanksgiving dinner and
instead of slicing it they hacked at it
so this basic definition of the word
definitely sets the stage for other
means of the word which have an over
connotation of doing something sloppy or
carelessly now in modern days someone
like call someone else a hat as an
insult now if hat can mean sloppy or
careless I could see why someone would
easy as to hurt someone else another
reason had commanded so is because it
comes from the word Hackney Hackney can
mean a horse carriage and driving a
horse carriage for a living wasn’t
considered a very good job therefore
hack started to mean someone doing a bad
job hackneyed on the other hand means
overuse or cliche so that means a word
or idea that’s not doing a good job well
maybe some of you in the audience don’t
use hackney vocabulary too often it’s
actually an extremely popular word in
2015 hack was nominated as the most used
word of the year anyway let’s go back to
computer hacking this year the CIA
confirmed that there were numerous
hacking instances that occurred during
the presidential election basically the
idea is that hackers in Moscow broke
into DNC computers and stole information
and then orchestrated leaks that would
hurt Clint Clinton’s campaign no one
really knows how much this hacking
influence the election did people vote
for Trump after they heard bad things
about Clinton in the news some people
believe it could have changed the tides
of the election it’s clearly no matter
what you think that hacking is used all
around the world and then it can have
huge effects on many things there’s one
last word that comes from the lord hack
hacky sack it’s pretty hard but with a
huge game a few years back it was me as
a life hack actually for someone with a
disability and they’re like this man saw
someone kicking a sandbag on the beach
and thought it would be a good idea that
would help strengthen his leg what you
try to do is keep the sack in the air
without it it hitting the ground without
using your hands here’s how it goes wait
there okay oh so that’s how you do it it
is pretty cool now hack is a word that
has so many means but if you’re hack you
probably don’t want to work hard enough
to find them all out people have even
made up definitions as time goes on
hack-a-shaq was just made as a code word
for basketball teams that meant to
intentionally foul Shaquille O’Neal
because he was too good for anything to
defend him legally people just need to
look up words and millions of
definitions will open up for us that we
didn’t even know about look
I think this was a silly TED talk and it
didn’t really do anything but it makes
you think how many people use words
without actually thinking about what
they’re saying it’s important to know
what words mean actually forget about
words it’s important to know what
concepts mean people need to look up
words and they need to know what they’re
saying because someone could go say
something offensive to someone else and
not even realize it if everyday people
look up one word and find out other
definitions to it worlds will open up
for them and they might just be able to
impress their friends what the world
needs to do is look below the waters
thank you [Applause]