[Ads-l] "kludgy, adj." - Word of the Day from the OED

Peter Reitan pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM
Sat May 18 04:48:46 UTC 2019


An entry in wikipedia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kludge> includes a reference to discussions on kluge and kludge on a site called catb.org apparently maintained by Eric S. Raymond.


http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/K/kluge.html

http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/K/kludge.html

The entry for kluge includes the reference to "Murgatroyd the Klugemaker" in the New York Folklore magazine that Garson found.

Searching for the title "Murgatroyd the Klugemaker," I found an essay in a collection of later published folklore essays which discusses "Murgatroyd the Klugemaker" and a long list of similar stories that use different words that make splashing sounds, including most commonly, "kush," versions of which are attributed to Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln.

The Meaning of Folklore: the analytical essays of Alan Dundes, Logan, Utah, Utah State University Press, 2007, pages 375-381.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=usu.39060016914185;view=1up;seq=392

I was in the Navy and later the Navy reserves for more than a decade and never heard the story, so it may have disappeared over time.

The various splashing sounds suggests that this story is less likely related to the later "Kludge" than it may seem at first blush.

I haven't found a copy of the earliest "How to Design a Kludge" article from February 1962 referenced earlier, but archive.org has two related articles from a series of at least four "Kludge" articles from the same year that give a sense of how it was used at the time.

"How to Maintain a Kludge," Datamation, June 1962, pages 40-42.
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_datamationeJun62_285769

"Master Plan for Kludge Software," Dr. Morris L. Morris & Dr. Austin O Arthur, Kludge Komputer Korp., Datamation, July 1962.
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_datamationdgeSoftwareJul62_283779

A glossary of terms in a computer text published in 1963 defines a "kludge" as:
H. N. Laden and T. R. Gildersleeve, System Design for Computer Applications, New York, 1963, page 304<https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89046877692;view=1up;seq=312>.
[Begin excerpt]
Kludge. In computer humor, the archetypical, farcical, or apocryphal black box and computer system.  The Kludge Komputer Corporation and the Kludge device are the butts of much computer humor.  also, term of endearment for computer as household pet, as in "our Kludge."
[End Excerpt]

The catb.org entry for Kluge also includes a discussion of a theory that the word is derived from an automated printing device manufactured by Brandtjen & Kluge Inc.  Before running across that discussion I had already found a few references from the 1960s referring to such "Kluge" or "Kludge" printers, one of them a reprint of something printed in the 1940s.  Apparently the company's name is spelled K-L-U-G-E, but in all three of the references to it I found it is spelled K-L-U-D-G-E, and one reference uses both spellings in the same item.

Is it possible that an "automatic" printing press from the 1940s had to interface with some sort of electronic or computer control - and that it would be so cumbersome that a later generation of computer scientists adopted the word as their own?  I guess that's the speculation.

The Potter Enterprise (Coudersport, Pennsylvania), October 3, 1962, page 17:
"Do You Remember? Compiled from the files of the Leader Dispatch, August 27, 1942 . . .
Leader-Dispatch installs Kludge automatic printing press."

Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1966, page 1B-14  (both spellings in same ad):
"For sale: LETTERPRESS - AUTOMATIC . . . 12x18 C & P - Kludge Unit . . .
10x15 C & P - Kluge Unit"

Orlando Evening Star, January 25, 1962, page 7D.

"Help wanted: PRESSMAN - Full or part time, experience Multilith and Kludge."

------ Original Message ------
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 5/17/2019 8:59:38 PM
Subject: Re: "kludgy, adj." - Word of the Day from the OED

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: "kludgy, adj." - Word of the Day from the OED
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nancy mentioned "Technobabble" which briefly referred to a World War
II joke about a kluge maker. Below is a 1947 citation with more
information. This tale may have nothing to do with the genesis of
"kludge" in the sense under examination. I don't know.

An article in 1947 reported that Mrs. Agnes N. Underwood of Russell
Sage College collected military folklore stories from veterans. One
shaggy-dog story concerned a "kluge maker".

Murgatroyd enlisted in the Navy and achieved nearly perfect scores in
the intelligence tests. When interviewed he claimed that he was a
"kluge maker" in civilian life. So, the Navy decided he should
continue this inscrutable activity, and he was assigned the job of
making kluges.

Date: February 17, 1947
Newspaper: The Troy Record
Newspaper Location: Troy, New York
Article: Sage Teacher Collects Service "Folklore" from GI Veterans In
College English Classes (Continuation title "GI Folklore")
Author: John A. Goldsmith
Start Page 7, Quote Page 11, Column 4
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
A few days later Murgatroyd was called in to see the Captain again. He
was told that the Admiral was about to pay an official visit and that
he would expect to see a finished kluge. Murgatroyd was instructed to
have a faultless kluge ready for the admiral--and he was promoted to
kluge maker first class.

The night before the Admiral's visit, Murgatroyd was busy with his
equipment, and when the day dawned he was ready. When called by the
Admiral, he exhibited a small but impressive array of screws and
wires, nuts and bolts.

"It looks fine," the Admiral said, coughing nervously, "Let's see how
it works." The Admiral was a practical man.

Murgatroyd, flustered but undaunted, stepped to the rail and as the
Admiral watched, the kluge slipped from Murgatroyd's shaking hands.

As it hit the water, the Admiral heard it plainly, it went, "K-k-l-l-uu-ge.=
"
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, May 16, 2019 at 9:49 AM Nancy Friedman <wordworking at gmail.com> wrot=
e:

There's a long discussion of "kluge" (the original spelling) in John A.
Barry's "Technobabble" (1991). Several of his sources from the electronic=
s
and aerospace industries give anecdotal support to the word's origins in
the mid- to late 1950s. One source says *kluge* was coined in 1956 by
Bernie Kravitz, who worked at General Electric's Heavy Military Equipment
Division in Syracuse, NY. According to this source, *kluge* was an acrony=
m
for Kravitz's Large Unwieldy Giant Enigma.

Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
www.wordworking.com
http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
tel 510 652-4159
cel 510 304-3953
twitter Fritinancy


On Thu, May 16, 2019 at 5:56 AM Martin Kaminer <martin.kaminer at gmail.com>
wrote:

> This has *got* to be older than 1970, no?
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: <oedwotd at oup.com>
> Date: Thu, May 16, 2019 at 3:33 AM
> Subject: "kludgy, adj." - Word of the Day from the OED
> To: <OEDWOTD-AMER-L at webber.uk.hub.oup.com>
>
> Your word for Thursday 16th May is: kludgy, adj.
>
> kludgy, adj.
> [=E2=80=98Made or designed in an awkward, makeshift, or haphazard manne=
r;
> inelegant; not user-friendly.=E2=80=99]
> Pronunciation: Brit. /=CB=88kl=CA=8Cd=CA=92i/, /=CB=88klu=CB=90d=CA=92i=
/, U.S. /=CB=88klud=CA=92i/
> Forms: 19=E2=80=93 cludgey, 19=E2=80=93 cludgy, 19=E2=80=93 kludge=
y, 19=E2=80=93 kludgy, 19=E2=80=93
> klugy.
> Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: kludge n., -y
> suffix1.
> Etymology: < kludge n. + -y suffix1.
> slang (chiefly Computing).
> Made or designed in an awkward, makeshift, or haphazard manner;
> inelegant; not user-friendly.
> 1970 L. Uhr Flexible Ling. Pattern Recognition(Univ. Wisconsin
> Computer Sci. Dept. Techn. Rep. 103) 40 They seem to be rather kludgey
> systems, hard to code and refine.
> 1971 Electronic Equipm. Engin. Jan. 42/2 This arrangement looks good
> but it's a bit klugy so the set-up procedure is slow.
> 1984 PC 13 Nov. 131/2 This design is a kludgy way to handle RAM.
> 1992 Personal Computer World Feb. 269/3 After using a number of
> Windows-based programs DOS feels kludgy.
> 2010 Atlantic Monthly July 80/1 People will be more likely to pay for
> consumer-friendly apps..than they are to subscribe to the same old
> kludgy Web site they have been using freely for years.
> ________________________________
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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