Adam Shostack at Emergent Chaos had a brief "bit of chaos" about descriptivist vs. prescriptivist arguments, one apparently regarding the word "Jihad". I had never heard of descriptive/prescriptive before, but certainly am aware of the difference between those who don’t want words to change their meaning and those that just want to be clear about the meaning within the context that it is used.

We have a lot of debates of this type within information security. The term "intrusion prevention" comes to mind, as does the word "hacker". Here is an old email I had written in the past about the Hacker vs. Cracker non-debate. (Btw, I am a descriptivist, from what I can tell, and I have a hard time getting past how one can be prescriptivist without having a superiority complex.)

In response to an email (I think this may be in the archives of InfoSecurity News):

"Actually, I suspect that "crackers" are most at fault for misusing the term "hackers" so successfully that it now has a new meaning. This type of thing is not a new phenomenon. The fact is, words have changed their meaning since the beginning of time, and contrary to your assertions, word definition IS a "majority rules" exercise. Here are a few examples:

Word=Original Meaning

awful=deserving of awe

brave=cowardice (as in bravado)

counterfeit=legitimate copy

girl=young person of either sex

guess=take aim

knight=boy

luxury=sinful self indulgence

neck=parcel of land (as in neck of the woods)

notorious=famous

nuisance=injury, harm

quick=alive (as in quicksilver)

sophisticated=corrupted

tell=to count (as in bank teller)

truant=beggar

I don’t know why the "good guys" like the term "hacker" so much, but perhaps the problem is that it is a much better word than "cracker". So, to get your label back, you need to come up with something better than a word that may be taken as a racial slur or a "flat, dry piece of unleavened bread." Alternatively, you could do the same for "hackers" (though with all of the definitions of the word "hacker" that you mentioned, why on earth do you want to be one?). Or, you could just not care."