Editing Kludge (section)

== Etymology ==
The word has alternate spellings (''[[Wikt:kludge|kludge]]'' and ''[[Wikt:kluge|kluge]]''), pronunciations ({{IPAc-en|k|l|ʌ|dʒ}} and {{IPAc-en|k|l|uː|dʒ}}, rhyming with ''judge'' and ''stooge'', respectively), and several proposed [[etymologies]].

=== Jackson W. Granholm ===
The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (2nd ed., 1989), cites Jackson W. Granholm's 1962 "How to Design a Kludge" article<ref name="Granholm 1962">{{cite magazine |last=Granholm |first=Jackson W. |title=How to Design a Kludge |magazine=Datamation |date=February 1962 |volume=8 |number=2 |pages=30–31 |url=http://bitsavers.org/magazines/Datamation/196202.pdf#page=32 |publisher=Frank D. Thompson |access-date=November 20, 2023}}</ref> in the American [[computer magazine]] ''[[Datamation]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mapstone |first=Robina |title=Computer Oral History Collection, Jackson Granholm |date=7 June 1973 |work=Smithsonian National Museum of American History |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |url=http://www.invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/fa_cohc_tr_gran730607.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061130173342/http://invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/fa_cohc_tr_gran730607.pdf |archive-date=30 November 2006}}</ref>

{{blockquote|1='''kludge''' {{IPA|/kluːdʒ/}} Also '''kluge'''. (J. W. Granholm's jocular invention: see first quot.; cf. also ''bodge'' v., ''fudge'' v.)<br />'An ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole' (Granholm); esp. in ''Computing'', a machine, system, or program that has been improvised or 'bodged' together; a hastily improvised and poorly thought-out solution to a fault or 'bug'. ...}}

''OED'' defines these two ''kludge'' [[Cognate (etymology)|cognates]] as: ''bodge'' 'to patch or mend clumsily' and ''fudge'' 'to fit together or adjust in a clumsy, makeshift, or dishonest manner'. The ''OED'' entry also includes the verb ''kludge'' ('to improvise with a kludge or kludges') and ''kludgemanship'' ('skill in designing or applying kludges').

Granholm humorously imagined a fictitious source for the term:<ref name="Granholm 1962" />

{{blockquote|1=
Phineas Burling is the chief calligrapher with the Fink and Wiggles Publishing Company, Inc.&nbsp;... According to Burling, the word "kludge" first appeared in the English language in the early fifteen-hundreds. ...

The word "kludge" is, according to Burling, derived from the same root as the German {{lang|de|klug}} (Dutch {{lang|nl|kloog}}, Swedish {{Lang|sv|klag}}, Danish {{lang|da|klog}}, Gothic {{lang|got|klaugen}}, Lettish [Latvian] {{lang|lv|kladnis}} and Sanskrit {{lang|sa|veklaunn}}), originally meaning 'smart' or 'witty'. In the typical machinations of language in evolutionary growth, the word "kludge" eventually came to mean 'not so smart' or 'pretty ridiculous'&nbsp;.... Today "kludge" forms one of the most beloved words in design terminology, and it stands ready for handy application to the work of anyone who gins up 110-volt circuitry to plug into the 220 VAC source. The building of a kludge, however, is not work for amateurs.
}}

Although ''OED'' accepts Granholm's coinage of the term (not the fanciful pseudo-etymology quoted above), there are examples of its use before the 1960s.

=== Germanic sources ===
American [[Yiddish]] speakers use {{transliteration|yi|klug}} ({{lang|yi|{{linktext|קלוג}}}}) to mean 'too smart by half', the reflected meaning of German {{lang|de|klug}} ('clever').  This may explain the idea of 'clever but clumsy and temporary', as well as the pronunciation variation from German.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/ |title=Yiddish Dictionary Online ייִדיש װערטערבוך אַפֿן װעב |access-date=1 August 2014 |archive-date=2 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202015659/http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> A reasonable translation of ''kludge'' into German yields {{lang|de|{{linktext|Krücke}}}} i.e. 'crutch' (cf. ''bridge'' vs. {{lang|de|{{linktext|Brücke}}}}).

Cf. German {{lang|de|{{linktext|Kloß}}}} ('dumpling', 'clod', diminutive {{lang|de|Klößchen}}), [[Low Saxon]] {{lang|nds|klut}}, {{lang|nds|klute}}, Dutch {{lang|nl|kluit}},<ref>{{cite web |title=Wörterbuchnetz – Grammatisch-Kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart |url=http://woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=Adelung&mode=Vernetzung&hitlist=&patternlist=&lemid=DK01431}}</ref> perhaps related to Low German diminutive {{lang|nds|klütje}} ('dumpling', 'clod'), standard [[Danish language|Danish]] {{lang|da|kludder}} ('mess, disorder, clutter') and Danish [[Jutlandic dialect|Jutland dialect]] {{lang|jut|klyt}} ('piece of bad workmanship'),.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hansen |first=Aage |date=1926 |editor1-last=Knudsen |editor1-first=Gunnar |editor2-last=Kristensen |editor2-first=Marius |title=Et par etymologier |url=http://danskestudier.dk/materiale/1926.pdf |journal=Danske Studier |language=da |publisher=Nordisk Forlag |pages=90 |access-date=22 December 2011 |archive-date=26 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426065956/http://danskestudier.dk/materiale/1926.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Arguments against the derivation from German {{lang|de|klug}}:

* There is no equivalent usage in German
* Both English pronunciations contain the [[soft G|soft ''g'']] ({{ipa|[[dʒ]]}}) not present in German
* The word emerges in English only in the 20th century
* The alleged Swedish translation, {{lang|sv|klag}}, is incorrect and would properly be spelled {{lang|sv|klok}}.

An alternative etymology<ref name="jargon">{{cite web |title=The Jargon File: kludge |author=Eric S. Raymond |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/K/kludge.html |access-date=2 November 2010}}</ref> suggests that the ''kludge'' spelling in particular derives ultimately from a word in [[Scots language|Scots]] (a language closely related to English): {{lang|sco|cludge}} or {{lang|sco|cludgie/cludgey}} meaning 'toilet' (in either the room or device sense),<ref>{{cite web |title=Cludgie |work=Dictionaries of the Scots Language / Dictionars o the Scots Leid |volume=X |date=2005 |orig-date=1976 |publisher=[[University of Glasgow]] |url= https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snds2007}}</ref> with the ''kluge'' spelling possibly deriving from German, until the two terms were confused in the mid-20th century, as British and American (respectively) military slang.<ref name="jargon" /> {{crossreference|printworthy=y|(See [[#Kludge vs. kluge|below]].)}}