Kludge

Soldato
Joined
2 Nov 2004
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kludge \KLOOJ\ noun

: a system and especially a computer system made up of poorly matched components

Example sentence:
"The original satellite contrivance was the asynchronous satellite downlink with a phone connection uplink. This was doomed to fail because it was a kludge." (John C. Dvorak, Boardwatch Magazine, February 2002)

Did you know?
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 keep it silent, making the vowel pronunciation of "kludge" reflect the pronunciation of German "klug" (\KLOOK\). We can also tell you that not everyone agrees with Granholm on the "d" matter: the spelling "kluge" is also popularly used.
 
Loki said:
CBS What were you searching for when you unearthed this ermmm Gem ???

Sorry, I meant to finish that off but hit reply... lol

I just wondered if anyone had heard of it before - intersting word that I am sure tech heads would have heard if anything... got it from www.m-w.com Word Of The Day...
 
I have a feeling it's derived from the Scottish word, "kludgie", meaning toilet.
 
It's quite often used when describing bad code or coding methods.

// This function is a bit of a kludge, but it works for the time being

etc.
 
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