On Topic: Bridge notching problem.

[harvey]

For David Porrit: Thanks for the vote of confidence!

When I grow up I may be literary. In the meantime, I work quite hard at
just being literate! 8-}

I've collected other responses on the "kludge" thread below. I admit that
my discovery, pronunciation, usage and spelling of "kludge" is quite
convoluted.

I used to hang out with engineers and computer nerds, working on hobbyist
activities that had nothing to do with pianos -- although we sometimes used
piano parts in unorthodox ways! No doubt this is where I picked up the
word, the intent of use (when and how it was used), and the way it sounded
as it fell out of someone's mouth. As for the spelling, I saw the word in
print a long time after that, and simply put the two together -- assuming
they were the same.

So, my usage and meaning more closely reflect Bryant's version from
computer/engineering circles, as well as Rob's and Newton's #1 definitions.
Although I don't know the proper dictionary methods, I pronounce it "klooj"
-- no aural 'd', no hard 'g'. 

Gee, wouldn't it be funny if they meant a Swedish drink all that time? I
may have missed something.

----------------------
[David]
>The word Kludge came up the other day and the user pronounced it "kloodge" -
>a twist I had not heard on it.  I looked it up in all the dictionaries I have
>without success.
>
>You are a literary person, do you have a prefered pronunciation for this word
>I have not been able to find in the dictionary??

[Bryant]
from AmHerDict:
"WORD HISTORY: The word kludge is not “etymologist-friendly,” having many
possible origins, none of which can be definitively established. This term,
found frequently in the jargon of the engineering and computer professions,
denotes a usually workable but makeshift system, modification, solution, or
repair. Kludge has had a relatively short life (first recorded in 1962
although it is said to have been used as early as 1944 or 1945) for a word
with so many possible origins."

[Stuart-Vail]
Kludge, which I have always heard pronounced as you wrote: kloodge, (and not
not like sludge), seems to mean a useful but unorthodox, and perhaps
temporary  approach to solving a problem or fixing something, the kind of
thing piano people are always doing.
I'll suggest that the origin of the word is German:  klug (clever).

[Newton]
1. Kluge, pronounced Kluj, most like a colloquialism is a poorly engineered
    thrown together devise, that may or may not work, to solve a problem.

2. Kluge, pronounced Klugee with a hard 'g', is the manufacturer of
   automatic printing machinery, finicky as hell and trice as hard to keep
   going without problems.

[Deets]
>I thought Kluge was a "Swedish" drink?


Jim Harvey, RPT
harvey@greenwood.net