Just saw that this morning in an e-mail from Good Housekeeping - it's all over the place. Sounds dumb tho

Never heard of it.

The 'life hacks' websites have been around for a little while. Most do have good tips.

Here is a link that might be useful: 1000 life hacks

I still haven't accepted "crispy."

Back when Peg Bracken was a popular writer (I Hate to Cook Book, etc.), she publicly objected to the use of the word "crispy" by food writers. Peg said it was pretentious. I think it just makes no sense. Something is either crisp or it's not. We don't say soft things are "softy." But "crispy" is here to stay (unfortunately). :-)

I agree with you....it sounds stupid.

There are a lot of things that people use now that I don't like.

Such as......"old school

patti

I could see calling it a 'hack' only if it was about finding a new purpose for something designed to do something else.

Debby's examples fit that image, but putting an apple into your sack of potatoes to keep them fresh...not so much.

Maybe that's why the old newspaper column wasn't "Handy HACKS From Heloise".

I see it on Facebook all the time.

What did the old newspaper column say - "Handy Hints from Heloise" (or "Handy Helpful Hints from Heloise"?).

o j ... helpful ... as always

See it all the time.

I had no idea there was a controversy over "crispy". Remember the cereal crispy critters?

It is used everywhere, I am very surprised so many have never seen it used. I see it daily in various places that I go online and even on the tv. None in a workplace environment since I am never in that type of environment these days.

I see the term Ikea Hacks all over the forums here at GW.

I CAN'T STAND this new thing of starting a sentence with "So". Like the person's telling a story. Just say you went to the store or whatever. It comes across as egotistical, and is so annoying I tune out or click away as soon as I hear it or see it.

A hack is not a tip, and a tip is not a hack, IMO.
The link Jasdip posted is an example of Web site creators rushing to use a hip word -- hacks -- that has become "click-bait." That is, something that you cannot help but click on, cuz we all want to find new ways of using products, right? (Well, only sometimes, I guess -- these have just multiplied like crazy.)
More "click-bait" sites: Crazy kitties; kitties napping; Hollywood's best abs ...
Somebody's getting rich on this stuff -- really! (And it's not me!)

So...has "so" replaced "well" as the preface to *everything*?

DH's third grade teacher told her class to boo anyone who started an oral report with, "Well..." The speaker had to sit down, and got a zero grade on the report. It worked! The pupils got a head start in life. They knew they needed attention-getting introductions and that they needed to display confidence in holding an audience.

We need it again. I'm hearing almost everyone on TV news begin with, "Well..." Reporting is their *business*, but they lack the gravitas to command attention without that, "Well..."

One thing I keep hearing over and over these days is the lack of pronunciation of the letter T! Why is this happening?
It is in songs, it's on TV shows it's in every day conversation.
Listen if you have not noticed it.
Button is now bu-in
City is now ci-ie
Pretty is now pr-ie
Kitty is now ki-ie
There's like a gap where the omission of the T should be almost a mini stutter
I pointed it out to my husband and he was amazed at how many people are doing it. Including adults.
The theme song for the show Ladies of London is a good example because in it she says pretty and city both in the missing T pronunciation.

Here is a link that might be useful: You tube of the song this is my city

It is a plot to reduce the English language down to SWAG and HACK. The other is to remove all prepositions.

I have never heard it used in every day life...except sometimes to describe various news reporters. I think of it as describing a cough....."a hacking cough" and the British describe going out for a horse back ride as a "hack". I do see it all the time on Pinterest though. It's not a word I would use in conversation....I'd say "tips" also.

I agree - the word "hack" is everywhere now and it's surprising to see so many that haven't heard it/seen it. It's not really a tip, as was said above. It's a tricky way to do something. Hard to describe.

For me, the # (pound) sign being called a hashtag is inexplicable. And the @ sign (which means "at") is often used as "about" - which is without question wrong. @ means at .... it doesn't mean about.

I'm on the East coast and I'm very familiar with the term hack although I do see more often in print than in everyday conversation.

To me, on Vancouver Island (and before that in Montreal, Que. and Ottawa, Ont.) the # sign is translated as 'number sign' not pound.

There's at tv show called "Hack My Life" on cable. Full of tips AKA Hacks.

It probably got the name hashtag because outside of North America, the symbol # is called a hash.

I see it everywhere. Hopefully the novelty will wear off eventually. I'm sick of "need ideas for dinner, and GO!" or whatever. The "go" command, it didn't take long to get old.

I've heard of it. I don't mind it but maybe because I've seen it so often. I'm also surprised that so many haven't seen this.

I agree with Texas_Gem, who explained the origins of both of these very well. Language evolves, in vocabulary, in syntax, and in pronunciation. (I think that lost 't' sound is a glottal stop, and it can be a dialect marker. You hear it in some British accents when they say "La'ers!" for "bye!".) I may not love (or adopt) all the changes, but they are often interesting. Many of them are also, happily, short-lived. But after all, if language didn't evolve, we'd be speaking Old English. Or Proto-Indo-European. Or Cro-Magnon.

"It probably got the name hashtag because outside of North America, the symbol # is called a hash."

I'd agree with that. In Australia the # is a hash, we don't use pounds in weight since we are metric anyway so a pound is the British currency symbol.

# is called hash in North America too, just not as commonly. When I was a kid, even though it was used to represent pounds in typing, it was called "number sign" too (Southern California). It only started being called "pound" a lot when it started being used commonly in electronics, like in using touchtone phones to enter codes, and it was really to disambiguate rather than throwing the word "number" into creating a sequence of a bunch of numbers and symbols on keys.

"Hash marks" also refers to the yard marks on a gridiron, and to non-repetitive stripes or plaids. Hash comes from a root meaning cut, and has the same origin as crosshatch and hatchet. It makes sense to call a crosshatch, #, a "hash".

Hashtag doesn't refer to the keyboard character, unless you were born in the Twitter era and worked that out going backwards. The "tag" part refers to what follows the character, or, if you prefer, to the whole construction. Therefore, #WhatDidZoeySay (old TV show, Zoey 101) is a hashtag. The # is the hash and the WhatDidZoeySay is the tag. It is a device used by Twitter and Instagram for organizing similar themes across posters, hence @jamielynnspears to reference the lead actress. This construction sort of does mean "about", but it's still said "at".

@ is "at" and was originally used for things like pricing. An invoice typed on one of those olden typewriters where there weren't even carriage stops, let alone return levers that turned the platen up one line, would be written "2 jars carbolic acid @ 40¢ ea." When e-mail was invented they figured out that each computer on the network would have an address and there would be a central list that had the name and location of each computer. Each computer would also have a postmaster that would receive the e-mails and distribute them to the users, so the way to address each user would be to address the e-mail to that user's username at the computer name he was a user of. It made sense to use a symbol that everyone who typed knew was called "at". When Twitter arose, they wanted to also be able to organize names of users across the field of users, so figured since anyone who had an e-mail address knew that @ means "at", they should use that also to point to users.

I agree with Suzieque about the meaning of "hack", which has a similar sound but different origin, also meaning "cut". When people talk about "life hacks" or even "lemonade hacks", they're not talking about tips precisely. It's more like "cheats" in video games. They're ways to get around the rules, or to do things differently, or to change up the way things are done. Some are also tips, but "tips" usually means expert advice on how to do things in a straightforward manner, rather than bro ideas for getting around having to know how to do things right. :)

"Hack" in this context comes from tampering with telephones during the mid-20th century, after automation but still copper wires and switches. People would literally "hack" into phone systems by cutting wires. This was extended into computers where phone interfaces first allowed them to communicate with each other. That extended into all kinds of software mischief which no longer required cutting, but was aligned with the whole telecom/datastream stuff. From there, it was used to mean any kind of way to get around things, whether it was reading the code to find ways through games and locate Easter eggs, or fooling a login system, or jailbreaking a phone. So if it means getting around the rules, there you get life hacks. And lemonade hacks.

Oh, Ravan - Yes about the lack of pronouncing the letter "T"! What is UP with that???

AAAAND,this years "new and improved" words are....."no worries" pay attention and see

The only time I've noticed anyone not pronouncing a T is when we watch British shows. The brunette on Scott and Bailey is notorious for that. It must be the British dialect.

Yes, the glottal stop instead of medial t is prominent in British dialectical speech, just as Ginny described. The glottal stop is the sound you make between the words when you say "an apple", and is an actual consonant in many languages (i.e., changes the meaning of the word when spoken, not just a substitute for another sound, or a way of speaking). I haven't heard the substitution from Americans, but likely those who do are trying to speak false Cockney.

Thanks for the 1000 life hacks link

maddielee . There are a lot of good tips there.

I've never used it or seen it anywhere except on the internet - in articles/columns on how to use things other ways than their original use.

Around my house, we still use the term. tips. Hacks reminds me of cats spitting up hair balls.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see a Real Simple ad yesterday and it actually said "ideas" instead of hacks! Yaaayyyy!!!

LOL Jemdandy. Yes Hack a furball. I always say cat-yak.

i'm surprised that east coast folks never heard of these terms; they are everywhere on internet!!

'hack' has the connotation that something is done in a frivolous manner and not completely thought out.

i absolutely hate it. partially due to that i hate computer hackers for screwing things up just for the fun / challenge of it. stealing people's money, or worst their identities!

instead of hacks, tips are better. and even better yet;

'home brew'. some say;

oh you CAN'T say that! that implies that you are making alcoholic beverages in the home and that you are an alcoholic! BAD BAD!

tisk, tisk, you politically correct nutjobs!

i can say home brew and put it on a tee shirt too, start my own trend.

It was coined by the not so cool guys so they would sound like the cool guys. LOL People who know how to hack something be it technology or re-purposing/improving an object don't use the term. I see it as a wannabe term. Also used by people who have no idea the difference between a phreaker ,hacker and cracker.

Never heard of a phreaker or cracker used in that context. In fact I've never heard of a phreaker at all.

Speaking of hacking up the English language, in addition to the decline in pronunciation of "t" (bu--in, etc, per the previous comment) and increase in the meaningless use of "so" at the beginning of sentences, we seem to have stopped employing adverbs where they should be used. All of communication challenges make me a little crazy, but then I still feel faint when "which" is used when "that" is correct.

I have been trying to find out where this word 'hacks', supposedly meaning tips or ideas, has originated from. It has now infiltrated emails from Tesco and it is driving me mad. Perhaps it is the same people who insist on calling men and women 'guys'. Yes, how cool is that when you are the wrong side of ........

"hacks" drives me nuts too Jas......

I've never seen it, guess I haven't been spending too much time on the internet.

I agree...I hate it too...just about put me over the edge...hack is more of a negative word to me...seems to me if a word or expression is changed, it could be more creative.....I refuse to use the term!!!

I don't know who started the new use of the word but maybe its a prank to see how many people fall for it...doesn't make sense!!!

one of those words i can't bring myself to say! kinda like i just can't go all Rachael Ray and say "samm.."... I CAN'T do it! or "EVO.."... PLEEEZE! are we going to have to change to "H**KS" from Heloise???

.....and when did a heart icon replace the word "love"?

I totally agree...stupid

Just say 'no' to using the word...I can't believe TV celebs have bowed to the use of the word...

I have not seen it used as much anymore.

Quite a few of the British also use that glottal stop in a word where Canadians would vocalize an "r": e.g. "fo-y" instead of "forty" (I guess that involves both the disavowed "R" and "T")!

(Spell check doesn't like my pronunciation, either).

ole joyful