If you hear the word “hackney” today it’s nearly always in the context of some idea that’s tired or played out. A “hackneyed expression” is one that’s simply overused; a cliché. You can have a “hackneyed excuse” (your dog ate your homework AGAIN?), hackneyed speeches (“We offer our thoughts and prayers…”), and even people can be hackneyed (“the hackneyed White House reporters made another attempt at an actual question”).
If you go back to 1800s London, though, you’d be able to hire a “hackney coach”, which was the predecessor to a taxi cab. In fact London taxis are still known as “hackneys”. The word apparently got a bit damaged when being shipped to New York, though; New York cabs are (or have been) just called “hacks”.
If you go back even further you’ll discover the origins of the word “hackney” and why it came to be used for coaches you could rent for a ride. Back in the 1300s there was a village near London called “Hackney” (the name still exists but now it’s a London neighborhood). In those days Hackney was made up of lovely green pastures; a good place for horses. Hackney horses were bred for riding rather than farm work or cavalry charges — they were called “ambling” horses.
Owning a horse in London in those days was probably just as inconvenient as owning a car there now, and Hackney was not yet part of London, but it was close by. All of that enabled the villagers come up with a business innovation: instead of selling their horses outright, they rented them. You didn’t think there was anything original about Uber, did you? The system became so popular that any horse for hire — no matter where it was; even outside England — became known as a “hackney”.
Over the next century or so the term “hackney” began to be applied to just about anything (and anyone) available for hire. Need some temporary help unloading your wagonful of vegetables in the London market? There were guys waiting around to do just that, and they, too, were called “hackneys.” Before long the hackney carriages came along and turned into even a better business than the original hackney horses; after all anybody can ride in a coach without being dressed or prepared to ride a horse. The carriages and their horses worked hard in London and many of them kept working even well past their prime. The tired horses and worn-out carriages gave rise to the still-remaining meaning of “hackney:” something overused, boring, or bored.
That also led to the term “hack writer”; an author who churns out bland, boring prose or a journalist who just relies on conventional stories and explanations without ever digging deeper. The “hack” used in connection with computers, by the way, is (probably) a different word. It’s derived from the Old English word “tohaccian” (chop into pieces). One use of that “hack” was to cut your way through a thicket or a jungle (“hack your way through”). That gave rise to a metaphorical sense in which you “hack your way through” a difficult problem. That’s probably the source of the “hack” used by “hackers,” whether or not they’ve ever heard of Hackney or hackneys.
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