2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  kluge  /klooj/  [from  the  German  `klug',  clever;  poss.  related 
  to  Polish  `klucz'  (a  key,  a  hint,  a  main  point)]  1.  n.  A  Rube  Goldberg 
  (or  Heath  Robinson)  device,  whether  in  hardware  or  software.  2.  n.  A 
  clever  programming  trick  intended  to  solve  a  particular  nasty  case 
  in  an  expedient,  if  not  clear,  manner.  Often  used  to  repair  bugs. 
  Often  involves  {ad-hockery}  and  verges  on  being  a  {crock}.  3.  n. 
  Something  that  works  for  the  wrong  reason.  4.  vt  To  insert  a  kluge 
  into  a  program.  "I've  kluged  this  routine  to  get  around  that  weird 
  bug,  but  there's  probably  a  better  way."  5.  [WPI]  n.  A  feature  that  is 
  implemented  in  a  {rude}  manner. 
 
  Nowadays  this  term  is  often  encountered  in  the  variant  spelling 
  `kludge'.  Reports  from  {old  fart}s  are  consistent  that  `kluge'  was  the 
  original  spelling,  reported  around  computers  as  far  back  as  the  mid-1950s 
  and  at  that  time,  used  exclusively  of  _hardware_  kluges.  In  1947, 
  the  "New  York  Folklore  Quarterly"  reported  a  classic  shaggy-dog  story 
  `Murgatroyd  the  Kluge  Maker'  then  current  in  the  Armed  Forces,  in  which 
  a  `kluge'  was  a  complex  and  puzzling  artifact  with  a  trivial  function. 
  Other  sources  report  that  `kluge'  was  common  Navy  slang  in  the  WWII  era 
  for  any  piece  of  electronics  that  worked  well  on  shore  but  consistently 
  failed  at  sea. 
 
  However,  there  is  reason  to  believe  this  slang  use  may  be  a  decade 
  older.  Several  respondents  have  connected  it  to  the  brand  name  of 
  a  device  called  a  "Kluge  paper  feeder",  an  adjunct  to  mechanical 
  printing  presses.  Legend  has  it  that  the  Kluge  feeder  was  designed 
  before  small  cheap  electric  motors  and  control  electronics;  it  relied 
  on  a  fiendishly  complex  assortment  of  cams,  belts,  and  linkages  to  both 
  power  and  synchronize  all  its  operations  from  one  motive  driveshaft. 
  It  was  accordingly  temperamental,  subject  to  frequent  breakdowns,  and 
  devilishly  difficult  to  repair  --  but  oh  so  clever!  People  who  tell 
  this  story  also  aver  that  `Kluge'  was  the  name  of  a  design  engineer. 
 
  There  is  in  fact  a  Brandtjen  &  Kluge  Inc.,  an  old  family  business 
  that  manufactures  printing  equipment  -  interestingly,  their  name  is 
  pronounced  /kloo'gee/!  Henry  Brandtjen  president  of  the  firm,  told  me 
  (ESR,  1994)  that  his  company  was  co-founded  by  his  father  and  an  engineer 
  named  Kluge  /kloo'gee/,  who  built  and  co-designed  the  original  Kluge 
  automatic  feeder  in  1919.  Mr  Brandtjen  claims,  however,  that  this  was 
  a  _simple_  device  (with  only  four  cams);  he  says  he  has  no  idea  how  the 
  myth  of  its  complexity  took  hold 
 
  {TMRC}  and  the  MIT  hacker  culture  of  the  early  '60s  seems  to  have 
  developed  in  a  milieu  that  remembered  and  still  used  some  WWII  military 
  slang  (see  also  {foobar}).  It  seems  likely  that  `kluge'  came  to  MIT  via 
  alumni  of  the  many  military  electronics  projects  that  had  been  located 
  in  Cambridge  (many  in  MIT's  venerable  Building  20,  in  which  {TMRC} 
  is  also  located)  during  the  war. 
 
  The  variant  `kludge'  was  apparently  popularized  by  the 
  {Datamation}  article  mentioned  above;  it  was  titled  "How  to  Design  a 
  Kludge"  (February  1962,  pp  30,  31).  This  spelling  was  probably  imported 
  from  Great  Britain,  where  {kludge}  has  an  independent  history  (though 
  this  fact  was  largely  unknown  to  hackers  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic 
  before  a  mid-1993  debate  in  the  Usenet  group  alt.folklore.computers  over 
  the  First  and  Second  Edition  versions  of  this  entry;  everybody  used  to 
  think  {kludge}  was  just  a  mutation  of  {kluge}).  It  now  appears  that  the 
  British,  having  forgotten  the  etymology  of  their  own  `kludge'  when  `kluge' 
  crossed  the  Atlantic,  repaid  the  U.S.  by  lobbing  the  `kludge'  orthography 
  in  the  other  direction  and  confusing  their  American  cousins'  spelling! 
 
  The  result  of  this  history  is  a  tangle.  Many  younger  U.S.  hackers 
  pronounce  the  word  as  /klooj/  but  spell  it  incorrectly  for  its  meaning 
  and  pronunciation,  as  `kludge'.  (Phonetically,  consider  huge,  refuge, 
  centrifuge,  and  deluge  as  opposed  to  sludge,  judge,  budge,  and  fudge. 
  Whatever  its  failings  in  other  areas,  English  spelling  is  perfectly 
  consistent  about  this  distinction.)  British  hackers  mostly  learned 
  /kluhj/  orally,  use  it  in  a  restricted  negative  sense  and  are  at  least 
  consistent.  European  hackers  have  mostly  learned  the  word  from  written 
  American  sources  and  tend  to  pronounce  it  /kluhj/  but  use  the  wider 
  American  meaning! 
 
  Some  observers  consider  this  mess  appropriate  in  view  of  the  word's 
  meaning. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  kluge 
 
    /klooj/,  /kluhj/  (From  German  klug"  /kloog/  -  clever 
  and  Scottish  "{kludge}")  1.  A  Rube  Goldberg  (or  Heath 
  Robinson)  device,  whether  in  {hardware}  or  {software}. 
 
  The  spelling  kluge"  (as  opposed  to  "kludge")  was  used  in 
  connection  with  computers  as  far  back  as  the  mid-1950s  and  at 
  that  time,  was  used  exclusively  of  *hardware*  kluges. 
 
  2.    A  clever  programming  trick  intended  to  solve 
  a  particular  nasty  case  in  an  expedient,  if  not  clear,  manner. 
  Often  used  to  repair  bugs.  Often  involves  {ad-hockery}  and 
  verges  on  being  a  {crock}.  In  fact  the  TMRC  Dictionary 
  defined  kludge"  as  "a  crock  that  works". 
 
  3.  Something  that  works  for  the  wrong  reason. 
 
  4.  ({WPI})  A  {feature}  that  is  implemented  in  a  {rude}  manner. 
 
  In  1947,  the  "New  York  Folklore  Quarterly"  reported  a  classic 
  shaggy-dog  story  "Murgatroyd  the  Kluge  Maker"  then  current  in 
  the  Armed  Forces,  in  which  a  kluge"  was  a  complex  and 
  puzzling  artifact  with  a  trivial  function.  Other  sources 
  report  that  kluge"  was  common  Navy  slang  in  the  WWII  era  for 
  any  piece  of  electronics  that  worked  well  on  shore  but 
  consistently  failed  at  sea. 
 
  However,  there  is  reason  to  believe  this  slang  use  may  be  a 
  decade  older.  Several  respondents  have  connected  it  to  the 
  brand  name  of  a  device  called  a  "Kluge  paper  feeder"  dating 
  back  at  least  to  1935,  an  adjunct  to  mechanical  printing 
  presses.  The  Kluge  feeder  was  designed  before  small  cheap 
  electric  motors  and  control  electronics;  it  relied  on  a 
  fiendishly  complex  assortment  of  cams,  belts,  and  linkages  to 
  both  power  and  synchronise  all  its  operations  from  one  motive 
  driveshaft.  It  was  accordingly  tempermental,  subject  to 
  frequent  breakdowns,  and  devilishly  difficult  to  repair  -  but 
  oh  so  clever!  One  traditional  folk  etymology  of  klugen" 
  makes  it  the  name  of  a  design  engineer;  in  fact  Kluge"  is  a 
  surname  in  German,  and  the  designer  of  the  Kluge  feeder  may 
  well  have  been  the  man  behind  this  myth. 
 
  {TMRC}  and  the  MIT  hacker  culture  of  the  early  1960s  seems  to 
  have  developed  in  a  milieu  that  remembered  and  still  used  some 
  WWII  military  slang  (see  also  {foobar}).  It  seems  likely  that 
  kluge"  came  to  MIT  via  alumni  of  the  many  military 
  electronics  projects  that  had  been  located  in  Cambridge  (many 
  in  MIT's  venerable  Building  20,  in  which  {TMRC}  is  also 
  located)  during  the  war. 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (2000-01-31) 
 
 

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