Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 10:41:09 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: Kris Heidenstrom <kheidens AT actrix DOT gen DOT nz>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Some comments and questions
In-Reply-To: <199711030544.SAA04894@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.971103103744.14641P-100000@is>
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On Mon, 3 Nov 1997, Kris Heidenstrom wrote:

> What does 'grok' mean?  Is it a neologism like 'kludge'?

grok == understand, can handle.  Here's a quote from the jargon.info file:

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