Kluge

\nA kludge (or kluge) is a 'solution' for accomplishing a task, originally a mechanical one and usually an engineering one, which consists of various otherwise unrelated parts and mechanisms, cobbled together in a untidy or downright messy manner. A kludge is never elegant or admirable, except ironically.

Earliest recorded use

\nThere are reports that the term was in use as early as the 1940s in Britain, although the first usage listed by the Oxford English Dictionary is by J.W. Granholm in the American Datamation magazine in 1962:\n:Feb. 30/1 The word ‘kludge’ is..derived from the same root as the German Kluge.., originally meaning ‘smart’ or ‘witty’... ‘Kludge’ eventually came to mean ‘not so smart’ or ‘pretty ridiculous’. Ibid. 30/2 The building of a Kludge..is not work for amateurs. There is a certain, indefinable, masochistic finesse that must go into true Kludge building.

Naval use

\nIn naval parlance, a kluge was usually a machine or process which worked perfectly ashore, but never aboard ship. The resulting inoperative machinery was regarded as so much clutter; a minor naval use of the word came to apply to clutter in general, especially as it might impede shipboard operations. Compare with Rube Goldberg machine or Heath Robinson.

Computer science use

\nIn modern computing terminology, a kludge is a method of solving a problem, doing a task, or fixing a system (whether hardware or software) that is inefficient, inelegant, or unfathomable, but it works. To kluge around is to avoid a bug or a difficult condition by building in a kludge, somewhat similar in spirit to a workaround. The was often originally a crock, which is why it must now be hacked to make it work. Note that a hack might be a kludge if it were clumsy, but that 'hack' could be, in computing, a term of praise. Usually in some construction such as "Thanks for your hack last night on the editor. It's much better now."

Spelling

\nMost dictionaries have the spelling kludge as the headword, and kluge is listed as an alternate spelling. The usual spelling, when pronounced rhyming with 'huge', is itself a kludge and thus reflexively self-illustrative.

Pronunciation

\nKludge traditionally rhymes with huge, but the pronunciation rhyming with fudge is also common. Most dictionaries list only the former pronunciation, but Merriam-Webster lists both. Neither bear a resemblance to the pronunciation of the German word Kluge, which sounds something like kloo-gah.

See also

\n*Quick-and-dirty\n*Jargon File