American English offers us plenty to consider, discuss, and define. Some items warrant their own full and separate treatment; others gather as grammatical bits to be captured and held up like fireflies in a jar.<\/p>\n
We’ve collected another group of these linguistic lightning bugs to arrive at more direction for concise and careful writing. Let’s look at what’s flashing:<\/p>\n
Hack<\/em> (verb)<\/strong> This word dating back to the thirteenth century has a range of meanings and uses as a verb, a noun, and an adjective. Applying it to a specific verb definition (one of several other than “to cut or sever with crude strokes”), correspondence to GrammarBook suggested the correct meaning of\u00a0hack<\/em> is “to break into a computer or computer files.” It also pointed out that the word is mistakenly used, particularly in blogs, to mean “to take a shortcut or a more efficient way to do something,” as in\u00a0He hacked the test to finish with a better score in less time than everyone else.<\/em><\/p>\n Within this context, both dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster define\u00a0hack<\/em> as “to circumvent security and break into (a network, computer, file, etc.), usually with malicious intent” (Some teenagers down the street found a way to hack the school’s report-card system<\/em>).<\/p>\n Dictionary.com further defines\u00a0hack<\/em> as “to modify (a computer program or electronic device) or write (a program) in a skillful or clever way” (The developers hacked the app to protect it better from viruses<\/em>).<\/p>\n More informally, it also provides “to make use of a tip, trick, or efficient method for doing or managing (something): to hack a classic recipe; to hack your weekend with healthy habits.”<\/p>\n Drawing from these current definitions, we would allow that, beyond meaning to break into or adjust a computer or computer files,\u00a0hack<\/em> can more broadly convey “to properly apply ingenuity.”<\/p>\n First<\/em>\u00a0vs.\u00a0Firstly<\/em><\/strong> Most of us have probably seen both uses and wondered which is correct. Perhaps we can settle the matter, at least among our community of writers and grammarians.<\/p>\n Theodore M. Bernstein explores it in his book\u00a0The Careful Writer:<\/em> “Some have for obscure reasons objected to the word\u00a0firstly.<\/em>\u00a0Yet all have sanctioned\u00a0secondly, thirdly, fourthly\u2026.<\/em>If there is going to be quarreling over whether to use\u00a0first\u2026secondly<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0firstly\u2026secondly,<\/em> perhaps the obvious and simplest way to handle a series is\u00a0first\u2026second<\/em>\u00a0(both of which words, by the way, are as much adverbs as are\u00a0firstly, secondly<\/em>). This solution, incidentally, takes care of [adverbs such as]\u00a0forty-thirdly.<\/em>”<\/p>\n