At about 12:26 in this video, David Brooks uses the word "kludge" on the Public Broadcasting System. He pronounces it CORRECTLY! (But then he and the host question whether it is a real word.)
Saturday, December 17, 2022
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While browsing through copies of Radio & Television News magazine in the University of Arizona library in the late 1970's I came across ads for Kludge Electronics. They made some Ham Radio equipment. I think this was in the 1950's sometime. Ads were only in 3-4 issues. I wonder if their equipment was any good? Now I'm going to have to go look through the archived issues and find the ads again!
ReplyDeleteAugust Johnson KG7BZ
I also found ads for Digi-Key in Thief River Falls, MN. Their one product was a "Digital Keyer" for Hams. They've grown a bit today!
ReplyDeleteAugust KG7BZ
Brooks is a good commentator and columnist, but he's not familiar with engineering terms. I am. My father was an engineer, my brother was an engineer, and I spent a little time myself in the field to pay for graduate school. Everyone says "kloog," and I've even seen it spelled that way.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, here's how the Oxford Dictionary spells it phonetically: /klo͞oj/. And Merriam-Webster has this to say: "The first recorded use of the word kludge is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm, who defined the word in a 1962 issue of the magazine Datamation as "an ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole." He further explained that it was derived from the German word klug, meaning "smart" or "witty." Why Granholm included a d in his spelling is not known. What we do know is that speakers of American English have agreed to disregard it in pronunciation, making the vowel pronunciation of kludge reflective of the pronunciation of German klug (\KLOOK\ )."
Anyway, "kloog" is more onomatopoetic than kludge-as-in-fudge. It appropriately echos the "oooo" commonly uttered in response to something distasteful, as well as the unpleasant associations with the name "Scrooge" and the social mischief of the "stooge." "Poo," "goo," and dog "doo" also come to mind. Whether it's formed by a long "u" or by double "o"s, it's an appropriate phoneme to use to describe a "distressing whole" of oddball parts.
The "uh" sound of "fudge," "budge," and "nudge" has either good or neutral associations, or it's just a filler utterance, as in "ummm . . . ." It is, therefore, a weak sound and inadequate as an expression of disdain.
So there!
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DeleteOTOH, Fudge, budge and nudge are verbs describing actions taken to kludge something. :)
DeletePreviously deleted (I haven't found a means of editing my comments): another ambigu-yankism is pronunciation of 'segue'. Those who all it segway drive me into a fugway. :(
DeleteAlso, those who ride/drive Segways seem to be largely incapable of seguing into traffic, either motor or foot.
DeleteI first encountered kluge in Byte magazine: https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Consumer/Archive-Byte-IDX/IDX/70s/Best-of-Byte-1977-IDX-231.pdf
ReplyDeleteBTW, as the mom says in Christmas Story, it's fragile not frah-gee-lay :)
I call 'Fragile' stickers "Friggle" :)
ReplyDeleteI say, frah-GILL-ee. BTW, I'm I yank, but I'm adding "ambigu-yankism" to my personal lexicon.
DeleteI heard the term in the late sixties from an aquaintance. We were building a radio transmitter from junk box parts and he exclaimed “thats a kludged up mess”. I used the word ever since when building expedient constructs to meet needs built with junk on hand.
ReplyDeleteRe: The first recorded use of the word kludge is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm, who defined the word in a 1962 issue of the magazine Datamation as "an ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole."
ReplyDeleteThat is a great definition! A group of radio nerds that I hung out with in the late 50's used it the same way. Most recently a group of us commenting on a poorly designed highway project are using it in comments to State and Federal authorities.
Surprised to see a significant bridge from my childhood pop up here. That's the Million Dollar Bridge outside of Cordova, Alaska. I remember driving down that pair of slippery wooden planks with my dad to access the different hunting regs on the other side. Great place for glacier calving watching too. Kludge indeed. WL7FC
ReplyDelete