[1] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

kluge /klooj/ from the german `klug', clever; poss. related to polish
   `klucz' a key, a hint, a main point 1. n. a rube goldberg or heath
   robinson device, whether in hardware or software. 2. n. a clever
   programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an
   expedient, if not clear, manner. often used to repair bugs. often
   involves ad-hockery and verges on being a crock. 3. n. something
   that works for the wrong reason. 4. vt. to insert a kluge into a
   program. "i've kluged this routine to get around that weird bug, but
   there's probably a better way." 5. wpi n. a feature that is
   implemented in a rude manner.

   nowadays this term is often encountered in the variant spelling
   `kludge'. reports from old farts are consistent that `kluge' was the
   original spelling, reported around computers as far back as the
   mid-1950s and, at that time, used exclusively of _hardware_ kluges. in
   1947, the "new york folklore quarterly" reported a classic shaggy-dog
   story `murgatroyd the kluge maker' then current in the armed forces, in
   which a `kluge' was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial
   function. other sources report that `kluge' was common navy slang in the
   wwii era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but
   consistently failed at sea.

   however, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a decade
   older. several respondents have connected it to the brand name of a
   device called a "kluge paper feeder", an adjunct to mechanical printing
   presses. legend has it that the kluge feeder was designed before small,
   cheap electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a fiendishly
   complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to both power and
   synchronize all its operations from one motive driveshaft. it was
   accordingly temperamental, subject to frequent breakdowns, and
   devilishly difficult to repair -- but oh, so clever people who tell
   this story also aver that `kluge' was the name of a design engineer.

   there is in fact a brandtjen  kluge inc., an old family business that
   manufactures printing equipment - interestingly, their name is
   pronounced /kloo'gee/ henry brandtjen, president of the firm, told me
   esr, 1994 that his company was co-founded by his father and an
   engineer named kluge /kloo'gee/, who built and co-designed the original
   kluge automatic feeder in 1919. mr. brandtjen claims, however, that this
   was a _simple_ device with only four cams; he says he has no idea how
   the myth of its complexity took hold. other correspondents differ with
   mr. brandtjen's history of the device and his allegation that it was a
   simple rather than complex one, but agree that the kluge automatic
   feeder was the most likely source of the folklore.

   tmrc and the mit hacker culture of the early '60s seems to have
   developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some wwii military
   slang see also foobar. it seems likely that `kluge' came to mit via
   alumni of the many military electronics projects that had been located
   in cambridge many in mit's venerable building 20, in which tmrc is
   also located during the war.

   the variant `kludge' was apparently popularized by the datamation
   article mentioned above; it was titled "how to design a kludge"
   february 1962, pp. 30, 31. this spelling was probably imported from
   great britain, where kludge has an independent history though this
   fact was largely unknown to hackers on either side of the atlantic
   before a mid-1993 debate in the usenet group alt.folklore.computers over
   the first and second edition versions of this entry; everybody used to
   think kludge was just a mutation of kluge. it now appears that the
   british, having forgotten the etymology of their own `kludge' when
   `kluge' crossed the atlantic, repaid the u.s. by lobbing the `kludge'
   orthography in the other direction and confusing their american cousins'
   spelling

   the result of this history is a tangle. many younger u.s. hackers
   pronounce the word as /klooj/ but spell it, incorrectly for its meaning
   and pronunciation, as `kludge'. phonetically, consider huge, refuge,
   centrifuge, and deluge as opposed to sludge, judge, budge, and fudge.
   whatever its failings in other areas, english spelling is perfectly
   consistent about this distinction. british hackers mostly learned
   /kluhj/ orally, use it in a restricted negative sense and are at least
   consistent. european hackers have mostly learned the word from written
   american sources and tend to pronounce it /kluhj/ but use the wider
   american meaning

   some observers consider this mess appropriate in view of the word's
   meaning.


see also:
ad-hockery crock rude old fart tmrc foobar 
datamation kludge kluge 

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

kluge
     
         /klooj/, /kluhj/ from german "klug" /kloog/ - clever
        and scottish "kludge" 1. a rube goldberg or heath
        robinson device, whether in hardware or software.
     
        the spelling "kluge" as opposed to "kludge" was used in
        connection with computers as far back as the mid-1950s and, at
        that time, was used exclusively of hardware kluges.
     
        2.  a clever programming trick intended to solve
        a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner.
        often used to repair bugs.  often involves ad-hockery and
        verges on being a crock.  in fact, the tmrc dictionary
        defined "kludge" as "a crock that works".
     
        3. something that works for the wrong reason.
     
        4. wpi a feature that is implemented in a rude manner.
     
        in 1947, the "new york folklore quarterly" reported a classic
        shaggy-dog story "murgatroyd the kluge maker" then current in
        the armed forces, in which a "kluge" was a complex and
        puzzling artifact with a trivial function.  other sources
        report that "kluge" was common navy slang in the wwii era for
        any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but
        consistently failed at sea.
     
        however, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a
        decade older.  several respondents have connected it to the
        brand name of a device called a "kluge paper feeder" dating
        back at least to 1935, an adjunct to mechanical printing
        presses.  the kluge feeder was designed before small, cheap
        electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a
        fiendishly complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to
        both power and synchronise all its operations from one motive
        driveshaft.  it was accordingly tempermental, subject to
        frequent breakdowns, and devilishly difficult to repair - but
        oh, so clever  one traditional folk etymology of "klugen"
        makes it the name of a design engineer; in fact, "kluge" is a
        surname in german, and the designer of the kluge feeder may
        well have been the man behind this myth.
     
        tmrc and the mit hacker culture of the early 1960s seems to
        have developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some
        wwii military slang see also foobar.  it seems likely that
        "kluge" came to mit via alumni of the many military
        electronics projects run in cambridge during the war many in
        mit's venerable building 20, which housed tmrc until the
        building was demolished in 1999.
     
        jargon file
     
        2002-10-02
     
     
see also:
kludge hardware software ad-hockery crock wpi 
feature rude tmrc foobar jargon file 

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