True Origin of 'Hijack' Has Been Hijacked
Have you noticed that people don't "steal" political ideas, programs or organizations anymore? They "hijack" them.
Last January, for instance, Spencer Kornhaber wrote in The Atlantic, "Strong voices are good, but voices that hijack the conversation with an agenda and dehumanize other participants are not." And columnist Barbara Lippert recently wrote, "It's sad that sex scandals continue to hijack attention from economic, educational and health care issues."
"Hijack" is an American word and, when you consider the fact that thieves have been commandeering cargoes for thousands of years, it's astonishingly recent; it first appeared in print in 1923. Its emergence is associated with the Prohibition era, when crooks frequently "reallocated" cases of illicit liquor being transported by bootleggers.
Most dictionaries list "hijack" as "origin unknown." Some speculate it's derived from the term "jacker" for a holdup man, or from "jacklight," a light used in hunting and fishing to attract or mesmerize animals.
But two other explanations probably land closer to the jackpot. H. L. Mencken's masterpiece "The American Language" jacklights this quotation from H. K. Croessman: "The first time I heard 'hijacker' was from the lips of an Oklahoman. He explained it as coming from the command customary in hold-ups: 'Stick 'em up high, Jack,' or, more simply, 'Up high, Jack.'"
Etymologist Charles Earle Funk jacks up this theory. "It's probable," he writes, "that it came from the friendly hail, 'Hi, Jack!' intended to disarm the suspicions of a truck driver."
("Jack," being one of the most common male nicknames in English, has long been used as a generic term for any male. It also denotes male animals, as in "jackrabbit" and "jackass," as well as devices that replace or save human labor, as in "jackhammer.")
Yet another explanation for "hijack" is mined in "Speaking Freely -- A Guided Tour of American English from Plymouth Rock to Silicon Valley" by Stuart Berg Flexner and Ann Soukhanov.
They report that etymologist Gerald Cohen traced the term to the zinc mines of southwest Missouri during the 1890s. Miners there who stole a top grade of zinc ore called "high jack" were dubbed "high jackers." According to Cohen, "hijack" was then hijacked by hoboes who used it to denote any thief.
So which explanation of "hijack" is correct? We're clearly faced with an either/ore situation.
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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM
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