"slang" and "informal" as dict labels [WAS: shirty?]

[vida morkunas]

courtesy of Google:

grok /grok/, var. /grohk/ vt.

[common; from the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert A. Heinlein,
where it is a Martian word meaning literally `to drink' and metaphorically
`to be one with'] The emphatic form is `grok in fullness'. 1. To understand.
Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. When you claim to `grok' some
knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned
it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part
of your identity. For example, to say that you "know" LISP is simply to
assert that you can code in it if necessary - but to say you "grok" LISP is
to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of the
language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of
programming. Contrast zen, which is similar supernal understanding
experienced as a single brief flash. See also glark. 2. Used of programs,
may connote merely sufficient understanding. "Almost all C compilers grok
the void type these days."

glark /glark/ vt.

To figure something out from context. "The System III manuals are pretty
poor, but you can generally glark the meaning from context." Interestingly,
the word was originally `glork'; the context was "This gubblick contains
many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be
glorked [sic] from context" (David Moser, quoted by Douglas Hofstadter in
his "Metamagical Themas" column in the January 1981 "Scientific American").
It is conjectured that hacker usage mutated the verb to `glark' because
glork was already an established jargon term (some hackers do report using
the original term). Compare grok, zen.

cheers -

Vida.
vidamorkunas at telus.net



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Frank Abate
Sent: February 17, 2003 2:21 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: FW: "slang" and "informal" as dict labels [WAS: shirty?]


RE what Dave W and Mar M say below, it is interesting to note both that
slang DOES exist in sign language (this is not surprising, but I did not
know, since I am not familiar with any sign language), and that there is the
potential, at least, for slang to come out of literature.  Of course, as to
slang in texting and internet/email use, it is used there of course, but the
slang words first occur in speech, perhaps -- or almost -- without
exception.

However, does anyone have proof positive that _grok_ "originated" in sci-fi
lit?  I am asking purely out of ignorance; excuse, please, if this is widely
known to all but me.

In any case, instances of slang terms not originating in speech acts (let us
call it) must be very few.  Slang is, by its nature, a speech thing --
parole, not langue.

One might say that slang is on parole, but it never langu(e)ishes.

Frank Abate

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Dave Wilton wrote:

#And does slang have to originate in speech? Is there slang in sign
language?

Absolutely, sign languages have slang.

#What about texting and internet slang? I guess you could equate all of
these
#with speech in that they are ephemeral modes of communication, but "grok"
is
#a slang term and that originated in sci-fi literature.

BTW, most of us who read science fiction prefer the abbreviation
"sf"/"SF". Many of us, though by no means all, dislike or even detest
the expression "sci-fi".

-- Mark A. Mandel
   just home, within the hour, from Boskone 40
   http://www.nesfa.org/boskone