🚀 go-pugleaf

OK.  It's Friday.  Let's have a little fun (at Jeff's expense).  First,
allow me to provide some context.

In a previous "Consolidated Answers" message, Dick Schoeller gave the
following response:

     Sender: Dick Schoeller <schoeller@gooey.enet.dec.com>

     If people care about Hebrew dates, they can probably grok them in
     Hebrew.  Why not just get them into a Hebrew format and use that
     for all locales?

Then, I unwittingly asked:

[Note from Jeff: Would someone please tell me what "grok" means?  Sounds
                 UNIX to me, but no man page for it.  Go ahead, Jeff,
                 show your ignorance to the world.]

Well . . . here are selected answers to my query about the meaning of
the word _grok_.  Unfortunately, I can only provide selected answers
because I replied to several people:

     "Thank you for your explanation.  Apparently, I've been away
      from the U.S. too long."

then immediately pressed the "D" key (for "Disgusted with myself").


Sender: Stanislav Fritz <stanf@microsoft.com>
        International Product Manager

Jeff,

Grok is a term from a fairly old science fiction book called Stranger
In A Strange Land, by the late (died a few years ago) Robert Heinlein.
This book is considered a classic, partially for the "liberal" content
it contained as it was released during what is called the "McCarthy
Era" in the U.S. (very anti-communist, very hard on writers and actors).

[Note from Jeff: Sorry, Stan, we can't use the "Jeff ain't an American
                 excuse" to cover for me.]
		
It basically means "understand" to its full extent, ie to the bottom of
your being you understand.  Probably mis-used in the context, but
some people use it without having read the book.


Sender: Dick Schoeller <schoeller@gooey.enet.dec.com>

Jeff,

Grok comes from Robert Heinlein's _A_Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land_ and implies
developing a full, visceral (and not necessarily verbalizable) understanding
of something.

Since I used the term, I guess I ought to explain it   8^{).

[Note from Jeff: Yes, you should, Dick.  (Get me in trouble again, will
                 you, huh, Dick?)  :-) ]


Sender: Jan Pfefferkorn <70274.1355@CompuServe.COM>

Hi Jeff,

"Grok" does sound like a UNIX term, doesn't it?
It comes from a sci fi book called "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert
Heinlein. The book was published in the '60s. The Martian word "grok" meant to
understand something so throughly it was almost part of you. Or something like
that...
I understand from a book on i18n thatthe word "grok" has been used in
documentation for software products developed by Americans and released in
other countries. The word caused much consternation among end users who could
not figure out what it meant.

[Note from Jeff: Yeh, and _grok_ ain't in Webster's either.]

Hope this helps.


Sender: Patrick O'Callaghan <poc@usb.ve>
        Departmento de Computacion
	Universidad Simon Bolivar
	Caracas, Venezuela

With pleasure :-) I quote from The Jargon File (essential equipment
for any hacker):

[Note from Jeff: Yeh, rub it in, Pat.]

:grok: /grok/, var. /grohk/ [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'] vt. 1. To understand, usually in a global sense.  Connotes
   intimate and exhaustive knowledge.  Contrast {zen}, similar
   supernal understanding 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."


Sender: Roy Badami <roy@harlequin.co.uk>

"Grok" can loosely be translated as "understand".  The word is
actually Martian, and it seems to be impossible for any of us brought
up on Earth to fully grok the subtle meaning of this word.  As a
result, it is seldom used by Earthlings in it's true Martian sense,
and is often used colloquially simply to mean "understand".

[Note from Jeff: Now there's an excuse I can handle--"Jeff ain't
                 Martian".]
		
The word seems to have formed part of the hacker culture, and it's
common to see comments in code like

	/* this parser can grok most common date formats */

See "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert A Heinlein, for further
details...


Sender: Jeff Bowyer (jbowyer@cis.vutbr.cz)

Would you believe . . . two days after I asked this question, the word
_grok_ appeared in the installation manual for INN (InterNetNews)?
Without the sage guidance of several INSOFT-L subscribers, I would never
hve been able to install INN.

Alright, I'm thoroughly embarrassed.  Can I put my clothes back on now?


Jeff
INSOFT-L List Manager (and sometime English speaker)

*========================================================================*
 Jeff Bowyer                         EMail:
 Computing Center		     jbowyer@cis.vutbr.cz
 Technical University of Brno
 Udolni 19, 602 00 BRNO
 Czech Republic
*========================================================================*