Dear Chris,
As you rightly recalled, grok is from a SF novel. Indeed, it originates in
the 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein. Grok appears
in the Oxford English Dictionary where it is described as follows;
grok, verb. US slang. Also grock. a. trans. (also with obj. clause) To
understand intuitively or by empathy; to establish rapport with. b. intr. To
empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also to experience
enjoyment.
Grok is also quoted as appearing in Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by T Wolfe
(1968), Playboy (1968) and New Yorker (1969).
I hope that this helps.
pHIL
Finally, something to contribute.
On Saturday 28 April 2001 23:08, dom wrote:
> I didn't grok the vehemence.
hi dom and list
i am just a bit curious about this word grok you use. i know it was used in
a
sci-fi novel (title eludes my memory) and means something like to really
get
inside something in terms of understanding it. it's a word I know fairly
well
from unix hacking sources also (eg _grokking the gimp_ )
so i am a little curious about its growing use outside of these sources.
just
asking if anyone can add any other comments on grok, like how wide is the
usage, maybe, where it is used, perhaps, whatever else comes to mind. love
the sound of the word, too.
something else i'd like to grok some more is cracking unix networks,
especially banks, monetary systems and police and spy networks. if anyone
knows some juicy sources, i'd be interested to hear, off or on list. it's
for
a writing project, not to actually crack systems since i don't have such
skills, btw. (i know _underground_ and _unix hackers guide_ and cern)
chris jones.
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