Editing Kludge (section)

=== 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.