imported post
Stolen from "YaHoo Answers"....
Here's the "Motorcycle Version">>
Starting at beginning of the timeline and working forward..
(***Realize I'm No Historian,,,my details are sketchy & imprecise,,,but I'm fairly certain This is Basic storyline)
There's a Town,or County,in England named Hackney(?)
Goes back to 1700's if I'm not mistaken.
They raised Horses there which were just plain,common,,utility workhorses.
As compared to more noble steeds used for Sporting,Hunting,Military,,Upper Class Carriage Useage,,,etc
The Horses were called Hackneys,,,and eventually called HACKS.
They were a "commodity type" of livestock,,,and sold around for general purpose uses.
So in the bigger cities,,,London for Example,,
the Hackneys>Hacks,,,became popular for use as Commercial Cart Horses.
Vegetable Carts,,Light Industrial use,etc,,,,and as Carriage-for-Hire use.
Basically the type of use we would call a Taxi Cab today.
Places like London,,,obviously Not many folks had their own personal transportation.
Which was a Horse or Ox,,and a carriage.
But there was a LOT of people who needed to get around,,,so the Hackney Horse & Carriage rig used as "professional Taxi Cab" became a very routine sight around the Cities & was probably the most Common use of the Horses.
In line with the way Slang and Nicknames always seem to develop,,,
The Town/Region of Hackney had it's name tagged to the Horses>>>
Hackney Horses got shortened to "Hacks">>>
"Hack Horse" Drawn Taxis came to be known as Hacks.
The term HACK for the Rig carried foward thru to modern times,,,and Taxis in lots of places around the world are nicknamed Hacks.
Meanwhile,,,though HACK was generally consided to be a Taxi,,,
the term persisted in useage to reffer to a variety of service carts/delivery vehicles.
But Basically the term developed into meaning "Passenger Carrier"
Motorcycles came along at the turn of the 20th century,,,early 1900's.
Sidecars followed so soon after,,it was all but simultaneous.
Less than a decade.
Bikes and Sidecars being such New Inventions at the time,,,
In a sense they really did not yet have a name as a Device Type-----ehhhh,,,I'm not saying that right.
It was like----too New to have yet developed a "generic" name agreed upon by all & in general use.
They term HACK was just very easy and obvious to carry-over from Taxi Cabs as Passenger Carriers.
Just an instinctive application of same term which appeared to be "same CLASS of vehicle"
So Horse drawn carriages pulled by Hackney Horses and Used as TAXIS,,,,the whole rig became HACKS.
Hacks evolved into Motorcars,,
And when Motorcycle Sidecars began to appear,,
The Same Term was applied to Sidecar Rigs.
Among non-biker types,,the general public,,,
they were MOTORCYCLE HACKS.
NOT because of any Purpose as TAXIS,,like the "Real" Hacks,,,
but according to their Form &FUNCTION as Passenger Carriers.
And among Motorcyclists,,,,they became known by a Shortened/Abreviated version of "Motorcycle Hacks",,,
and were simply HACKS.
It was understood which Hack was Which,,via context of usage.
Regular folks reffer to Taxi Hacks,,,
and Bike folks are understood to be referring to Motorcycle Sidecars as "Hacks"
...............................
I heard a version which roughly went something like>
Beardmore Cars are some of the early Taxi Cabs in London (or UK,,I 'spose).
So,,Beardmores are HACKS.
It's a big industrial Company and they actually made all sorts of stuff
Approximately the time Sidecars were introduced,,,
Beardmore began making Motorcycles.
So,,,an association of all the things involved---Cars,Taxis,Hacks,Bikes,Sideca… all jumbled together resulting in Sidecars="Hacks".
I'm Sure thats ERRONEOUS thinking.
The Beardmore Bike actually did not appear until quite a while AFTER sidecars were in standard production by several companies.
The connection back to the Hackney Horse drawn passenger carriages called Hacks is a Lots more Plausible to my thinking,,,,it's a seamless progression.
Beardmore Hacks lending it's "Slang Name" to sidecars as being also "Hacks" has only a
only a slight bit of logic,,,but overall it's very improbable as the origin of the term.
True?False?
Right? Wrong?
It's the History of a SlangWord,,,and appears to Begin at least a couple 100 Years before Sidecars or even motorcycles were invented.
So,,who really Knows?
It's POSSIBLE,,, some guy rigged up a very crude,cobby side mounted Cart,,,,and some of his Pub Buddies were razzing him & his "Silly Idea" & crude model???
It Could have been called a HACK JOB by a mate,,,,as in "Hatchet Job/Butchery? etc"
And the name was born in a moment of Jest,,,and happened to stick.
"Yeah!! This Hack Job IS a Hack!,,,,it carries a passenger,,,Brilliant,,,,That's what we'll call it"
As logical as things may Sound,,,and thorough/detailed/complete support of a theory....
Often enough it's just plain and simple random happenstance.
I doubt the genuine Truth and Facts are Documented anywhere.
Soo,,,,All just,,,for what its worth.
