{"id":10868,"date":"2013-03-15T12:03:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T01:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2013\/03\/15\/kludge-rube-goldberg-heath-robinson-ad-hockery\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T05:18:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:18:15","slug":"kludge-rube-goldberg-heath-robinson-ad-hockery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2013\/03\/15\/kludge-rube-goldberg-heath-robinson-ad-hockery\/","title":{"rendered":"Kludge: Rube-Goldberg Heath-Robinson Ad-Hockery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Wow! “Ad-hockery… verging on being a crock.” That sounds like my building technique! I thank Kevin for sending this, but I admit to now being more confused than ever.<\/p>\n

Bill: <\/p>\n

A snippet from my kluge research. This was a word I learned from my dad who told me he had heard it first used in the 1930s. Here is where I find a divergent meaning with the new word kludge which I have often heard pronounced as rhyming with sludge. I was asked why I pronounced it with the d as silent. I asked why I should pronounce a letter which was not even in the word. Thus my introduction to the new word kludge which means something very different than what I had learned from my father. While a kluge is something clever a kludge is an ad hoc and usually buggy hack. <\/span>
I found a little supporting evidence for the etymological timeline. To whit:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)<\/i> <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

kluge<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span> \/klooj\/, \/kluhj\/ (From German “klug” \/kloog\/ – clever<\/jargon><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>and Scottish “<\/span>kludge<\/span><\/a>“) 1. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>Robinson) device, whether in <\/span>hardware<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>software<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>The spelling “kluge” (as opposed to “kludge”) was used in<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>connection with computers as far back as the mid-1950s and, at<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>that time, was used exclusively of *hardware* kluges.<\/span>
<\/span> <\/div>\n
<\/span>2. <\/span>A clever programming trick intended to solve<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>Often used to repair bugs. <\/span>Often involves <\/span>ad-hockery<\/span><\/a> and<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>verges on being a <\/span>crock<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>In fact, the TMRC Dictionary<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>defined “kludge” as “a crock that works”.<\/span>
<\/span> <\/div>\n
<\/span>3. Something that works for the wrong reason.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>4. (<\/span>WPI<\/span><\/a>) A <\/span>feature<\/span><\/a> that is implemented in a <\/span>rude<\/span><\/a> manner.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>In 1947, the “New York Folklore Quarterly” reported a classic<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>shaggy-dog story “Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker” then current in<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>the Armed Forces, in which a “kluge” was a complex and<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>puzzling artifact with a trivial function. <\/span>Other sources<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>report that “kluge” was common Navy slang in the WWII era for<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>consistently failed at sea.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>decade older. <\/span>Several respondents have connected it to the<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>brand name of a device called a “Kluge paper feeder” dating<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>back at least to 1935, an adjunct to mechanical printing<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>presses. <\/span>The Kluge feeder was designed before small, cheap<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>fiendishly complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>both power and synchronise all its operations from one motive<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>driveshaft. <\/span>It was accordingly tempermental, subject to<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>frequent breakdowns, and devilishly difficult to repair – but<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>oh, so clever! <\/span>One traditional folk etymology of “klugen”<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>makes it the name of a design engineer; in fact, “Kluge” is a<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>surname in German, and the designer of the Kluge feeder may<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>well have been the man behind this myth.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>TMRC<\/span><\/a> and the MIT hacker culture of the early 1960s seems to<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>have developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>WWII military slang (see also <\/span>foobar<\/span><\/a>). <\/span>It seems likely that<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>“kluge” came to MIT via alumni of the many military<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>electronics projects run in Cambridge during the war (many in<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>MIT’s venerable Building 20, which housed <\/span>TMRC<\/span><\/a> until the<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>building was demolished in 1999).<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

kluge \/klooj\/ [from the German `klug’, clever; poss. related to Polish<\/span><\/div>\n
‘klucz’ (a key, a hint, a main point)] 1. n. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>Robinson) device, whether in hardware or software. 2. n. A clever<\/span> <\/span><\/span>
<\/span>programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an<\/span> <\/span><\/span>
e<\/span>xpedient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>involves ad-hockery and verges on being a crock. 3. n. Something<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>that works for the wrong reason. 4. vt. To insert a kluge into a<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>program. “I’ve kluged this routine to get around that weird bug, but<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>there’s probably a better way.” 5. [WPI] n. A feature that is<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>implemented in a rude manner.<\/span> <\/span><\/o:p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>Nowadays this term is often encountered in the variant spelling<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>`kludge’. Reports from old farts are consistent that `kluge’ was the<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>original spelling, reported around computers as far back as the<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>mid-1950s and, at that time, used exclusively of _hardware_ kluges. In<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>1947, the “New York Folklore Quarterly” reported a classic shaggy-dog<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>story `Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker’ then current in the Armed Forces, in<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>which a `kluge’ was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>function. Other sources report that `kluge’ was common Navy slang in the<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>WWII era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>consistently failed at sea.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a decade<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>older. Several respondents have connected it to the brand name of a<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>device called a “Kluge paper feeder”, an adjunct to mechanical printing<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>presses. Legend has it that the Kluge feeder was designed before small,<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>cheap electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a fiendishly<\/span>
<\/span>complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to both power and<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>synchronize all its operations from one motive driveshaft. It was<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>accordingly temperamental, subject to frequent breakdowns, and<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>devilishly difficult to repair — but oh, so clever! People who tell<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>this story also aver that `Kluge’ was the name of a design engineer.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>There is in fact a Brandtjen & Kluge Inc., an old family business that<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>manufactures printing equipment – interestingly, their name is<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>pronounced \/kloo’gee\/! Henry Brandtjen, president of the firm, told me<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>(ESR, 1994) that his company was co-founded by his father and an<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>engineer named Kluge \/kloo’gee\/, who built and co-designed the original<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>Kluge automatic feeder in 1919. Mr. Brandtjen claims, however, that this<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>was a _simple_ device (with only four cams); he says he has no idea how<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>the myth of its complexity took hold. Other correspondents differ with<\/span>
<\/span>Mr. Brandtjen’s history of the device and his allegation that it was a<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>simple rather than complex one, but agree that the Kluge automatic<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>feeder was the most likely source of the folklore.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>TMRC and the MIT hacker culture of the early ’60s seems to have<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some WWII military<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>slang (see also foobar). It seems likely that `kluge’ came to MIT via<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>alumni of the many military electronics projects that had been located<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>in Cambridge (many in MIT’s venerable Building 20, in which TMRC is<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>also located) during the war.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/o:p>The variant `kludge’ was apparently popularized by the Datamation<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/span>article mentioned above; it was titled “How to Design a Kludge”<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>(February 1962, pp. 30, 31). This spelling was probably imported from<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>Great Britain, where kludge has an independent history (though this<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>fact was largely unknown to hackers on either side of the Atlantic<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>before a mid-1993 debate in the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers over<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>the First and Second Edition versions of this entry; everybody used to<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>think kludge was just a mutation of kluge). It now appears that the<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>British, having forgotten the etymology of their own `kludge’ when<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>`kluge’ crossed the Atlantic, repaid the U.S. by lobbing the `kludge’<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>orthography in the other direction and confusing their American cousins’<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>spelling!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>The result of this history is a tangle. Many younger U.S. hackers<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>pronounce the word as \/klooj\/ but spell it, incorrectly for its meaning<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>and pronunciation, as `kludge’. (Phonetically, consider huge, refuge,<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>centrifuge, and deluge as opposed to sludge, judge, budge, and fudge.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>Whatever its failings in other areas, English spelling is perfectly<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>consistent about this distinction.) British hackers mostly learned<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>\/kluhj\/ orally, use it in a restricted negative sense and are at least<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>consistent. European hackers have mostly learned the word from written<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>American sources and tend to pronounce it \/kluhj\/ but use the wider<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>American meaning!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>Some observers consider this mess appropriate in view of the word’s<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span>meaning.<\/span> <\/span><\/o:p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I hope this further muddies the definitional waters for you \ud83d\ude42<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span>73,<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>Kevin. <\/span>KD5ONS<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/span>

<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/pre>\n
 Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http:\/\/soldersmoke.com\/book.htm<\/a> Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http:\/\/www.cafepress.com\/SolderSmoke<\/a> Our Book Store: http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/contracross-20<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wow! “Ad-hockery… verging on being a crock.” That sounds like my building technique! I thank Kevin for sending this, but I admit to now being more confused than ever. Bill: A snippet from my kluge research. This was a word I learned from my dad who told me he had heard it first used in … Continue reading “Kludge:  Rube-Goldberg Heath-Robinson Ad-Hockery”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10870,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868\/revisions\/10870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}