I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications. I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.
I thought I'd share with you the origin of the term hacker.
The word itself has been around for awhile, most always with a negative connotation. It seems that at one time a hacker was someone who made furniture using only an axe as their tool, with the end result being that their furniture... well, kind of sucked. Later on the word hack was used as a noun to describe someone doing routine drudge work, and I hate to tell you this but it was most commonly applied to writers. In turn, this may have influenced the usage of the word when it came to writing computer software, and it looks like that's where it made the jump from the page to the keyboard - as early as the 1960's.