# Is using the term "hijack" (as a msg board term) insensitive?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 29, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458 "2001-09-29T04:47:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@snermy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snermy)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/1 "2001-09-29T04:47:07Z")
Made me think. I just posted a “hijack” post to [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=89731) thread.
When it took me there on posting, I suddenly read it differently.
It sounded, just, _wrong_.
Am I just being hyper-sensitive?
Any other terms we could use? (I know, we could just stop using other’s thread for our own nefarious purposes, but that would just be _unthinkable_) 😉
like
[randomizer] insert pointless comment here[/randomizer]
or maybe
[I’ll swear this was my little brother if I get any sh\*t for this post]
insert incomprehensible comment here
[/IstwmlbiIgasftp]
Actually this is probably just a _hmmm, isn’t it strange how funny little things catch you when you’re obsessed with something_, but I wondered who else is reading that term a little differently now…
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### Author:  [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/2 "2001-09-29T04:51:19Z")
It’s been [discussed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=88776) a little before.
My opinion is it’s being overly-sensitive.
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### Author:  [@snermy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snermy)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/3 "2001-09-29T04:57:05Z")
thanks for the link 🙂
You’d be amazed how many result turn up when you search on “hijack”…
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### Author:  [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/4 "2001-09-29T17:16:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by snermy \*
> \*\*
> [I’ll swear this was my little brother if I get any sh\*t for this post]
> insert incomprehensible comment here
> [/IstwmlbiIgasftp]
> \*\*
ohh, i LOVE that! i think that i am going to use that as a standard beyond [hijack][/hijack]!
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### Author:  [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/5 "2001-09-29T17:26:33Z")
It doesn’t bother me at all, but I do like Rilchiam’s suggestion of “tangent” as an alternative for those who don’t feel comfortable using “hijack” any more. Just so long as those who do choose to use another term don’t make an issue of it for those who still use it.
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### Author:  [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/6 "2001-09-29T17:51:57Z")
\>\>It doesn’t bother me at all, but I do like Rilchiam’s suggestion of “tangent” as an alternative for those who don’t feel comfortable using “hijack” any more. Just so long as those who do choose to use another term don’t make an issue of it for those who still use it.
Considering that “tangent” makes more sense than “hijack” in most of the situations I’ve seen I think its an excellent suggestion. Hijack would indicate that you were changing the topic of the thread rather than just going down one narrow tangent of the topic.
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### Author:  [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/7 "2001-09-29T17:55:13Z")
Until (and unless) somebody uses a hijacked thread to crash into a large building, I don’t see the problem.
How’s THAT for insensitive?
Of course, considering that some threads start out as train-wrecks waiting to happen [sub]_cough_ **Royal Sampler, Wildest Bill** _cough_[/sub], anything the Teeming Millions can do to take over the discussion in the name of lucidity is a worthwhile gamble.
On a more serious note, stopping the use of “hijack” as a message board term is a mistake. It’s a harsh world sometimes, as has been proved by the events of recent weeks. If we retreat into a shell and hide from the nasty H-word, how can we possibly cope with the larger realities? If you are no longer comfortable using this term, that was used innocuously on this board for years, then stop using it. But don’t put your hands over your ears and shriek “STOP!” to the rest of us.
On preview, I see that the illustrious and rather hot **Geobabe** has already said what I just did, but in a more concise and less confrontative style. She frickin’ RULES, man.
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### Author:  [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/8 "2001-09-29T18:35:17Z")
Personally, I would only object to using “hijack” if it was coined _after_ the terrorist attacks. That would be insensitive.
I reserve the right to judge these matters case by case, but I can’t understand the rush to change anything relating to the WTC and the hijacks. I don’t find it offensive that, in happier times, a cartoon character on the Simpsons said “They put the jerks in tower 1”, and I’m not writing to the networks to complain that the opening credits to \ show the WTC. Insensitive would be adding those things in later, not before.
Just my humble opinion
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### Author:  [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-using-the-term-hijack-as-a-msg-board-term-insensitive/84458/9 "2001-09-29T21:58:59Z")
It’s a tough call. But why didn’t anyone protest the word before the WTC attack? After all, many smaller-scale hijackings have ended in tragedy in the past as well.