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Now that Oxford Dictionary has added the verb 'MacGyver' to the official lexicon, we pay homage to the almighty hack.
With each new update to the online version of the Oxford Dictionary, one can practically hear the laments of pedantic grammarians far and wide. This week, among a few dozen new words, we got “awesomesauce” (having nothing to do with sauce at all) and “mkay” (as in, OK … mkay). Oh how the mighty have fallen.
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In the age of all things DIY, MacGyver has become the patron saint of the hack. And if there’s one thing we love here at TreeHugger, it’s a good hack. A clever use of materials allows old things to live longer, creates new uses for things that may be obsolete, and can basically become a super sustainable way to obviate the need to purchase more and more and more new stuff. Long live the hack! So with that in mind, here’s a round-up of some of our best MacGyver moments.
What follows is a long list of hacks. Some are contrived, some are clever but too niche, some might be useful. Anybody have any to add to the list? Mine is poking string into the can of bacon & chicken grease in the kitchen to make a quick tallow lamp. Works well.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday August 30 2015, @08:27PM
"Make or repair (an object) in an improvised or inventive way, making use of whatever items are at hand"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/MacGyver?q=mcgyver [oxforddictionaries.com]
MacGyver. It's just one of those words, like awesomesauce (I do notice how the built-in dictionary in the browser doesn't recognize any of them yet), that doesn't really need to be in the dictionary. Awesomesauce, mkay and d'oh! are just more examples of stupid words that belong as verbal words only and are not to be used in written conversations. That said I have probably used them all, I just don't think or believe that they belong in a dictionary.
If I had to pick a cool macgyvering (or whatever the word is) I still really like the one about how they lit houses with the sun, plastic bottles, water and bleach.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23536914 [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday August 30 2015, @09:47PM
As a machinist and CNC programmer, I don't see much of a demarcation between MacGyvering and normal work, more of a spectrum. No matter the circumstances, you do the best you can with the resources you have available, including time and money limitations.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday August 30 2015, @10:52PM
Yes, the way they chose to describe the word felt quite general. Many things previously not so now seem to be a form of MacGyverism. Not sure really how one should fix the definition but perhaps add something along the line of "... in a way contradictory to it's original purpose."
"Make or repair (an object) in an improvised or inventive way, making use of whatever items are at hand"
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/MacGyver?q=mcgyver [oxforddictionaries.com] [oxforddictionaries.com]