to be fair, programmers overuse the word too. nobody writes code or programs, everyone says "I'm an XYZ hacker" or "I hack on XYZ". the word means nothing, it's just trendy in an odd sort of way.
not sure what you're referring to, but if you're suggesting my programmer friends all say "I hack this/that" I should clarify that I'm mostly referring to bloggers and other web presences, which admittedly isn't really a representative sample. but, putting that aside, I could use some new friends anyway.