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A kludge or kluge () is a workaround or makeshift solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend, and hard to maintain. This term is used in diverse fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, Internet slang, evolutionary neuroscience, animation and government. It is similar in meaning to the naval term jury rig. Etymology The word has alternate spellings (kludge and kluge), pronunciations ( and , rhyming with judge and stooge, respectively), and several proposed etymologies. Jackson W. Granholm The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed., 1989), cites Jackson W. Granholm's 1962 "How to Design a Kludge" article in the American computer magazine Datamation. kludge /kluːdʒ/ Also kluge. (J. W. Granholm's jocular invention: see first quot.; cf. also bodge v., fudge v.)'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 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: Phineas Burling is the chief calligrapher with the Fink and Wiggles Publishing Company, Inc. ... 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 klug (Dutch kloog, Swedish klag, Danish klog, Gothic klaugen, Lettish [Latvian] kladnis and Sanskrit 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' .... 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. Germanic sources American Yiddish speakers use klug (קלוג) to mean 'too smart by half', the reflected meaning of German klug ('clever'). This may explain the idea of 'clever but clumsy and temporary', as well as the pronunciation variation from German. A reasonable translation of kludge into German yields Krücke i.e. 'crutch'. Cf. German Kloß ('clod', diminutive Klößchen), Low Saxon klut, klute, Dutch kluit, perhaps related to Low German diminutive klütje ('dumpling', 'clod'), standard Danish kludder ('mess, disorder') and Danish Jutland dialect klyt ('piece of bad workmanship'),. Arguments against the derivation from German klug: There is no equivalent usage in German Both English pronunciations contain the soft g (dʒ) not present in German The word emerges in English only in the 20th century The alleged Swedish translation, klag, is incorrect and would properly be spelled klok. An alternative etymology suggests that the kludge spelling in particular derives ultimately from a word in Scots (a language closely related to English): cludge or cludgie/cludgey meaning 'toilet' (in either the room or device sense), with the kluge spelling possibly deriving from German, until the two terms were confused in the mid-20th century, as British and American (respectively) military slang. (See below.) Kludge vs. kluge The Jargon File (a.k.a. The New Hacker's Dictionary), a glossary of computer programmer slang maintained by Eric S. Raymond, differentiates kludge from kluge and cites usage examples pre-dating 1962. Kluge seems to have the sense of 'overcomplicated', while kludge has only the sense of 'poorly done'. kludge /kluhj/ n. Incorrect (though regrettably common) spelling of kluge (US). These two words have been confused in American usage since the early 1960s, and widely confounded in Great Britain since the end of World War II. [TMRC] A crock that works. (A long-ago Datamation article by Jackson Granholme [sic] similarly said: "An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole.") v. To use a kludge to get around a problem. "I've kludged around it for now, but I'll fix it up properly later." This Jargon File entry notes that kludge apparently derives via British military slang from Scots cludge/cludgie ('toilet'), and became confused with American kluge during or after World War II. kluge: /klooj/ [from the German klug, 'clever'; poss. related to Polish & Russian klucz ('a key, a hint, a main point')] n. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) device, whether in hardware or software. 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. n. Something that works for the wrong reason. 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." [WPI] n. A feature that is implemented in a rude manner. This entry notes kluge, which is now often spelled kludge, "was the original spelling, reported around computers as far back as the mid-1950s and, at that time, used exclusively of hardware kluges". Kluge "was common Navy slang in the World War II era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but consistently failed at sea". A summary of a 1947 article in the New York Folklore Quarterly states: On being drafted into the navy, Murgatroyd gave his profession as "kluge maker" .... Whenever Murgatroyd was asked what he was doing, he said he was making a kluge, and actually he was one of the world's best kluge makers. Not wanting to seem ignorant, his superiors kept giving him commendations and promotions. ... One day ... the admiral asked him what a kluge was – the first person ever to do so. Murgatroyd said it was hard to explain, but he would make one so the admiral could see what it was. After a couple of days, he returned with a complex object. "Interesting," said the admiral, "but what does it do?" In reply, Murgatroyd dropped it over the side of the ship. As the thing sank, it went "kluge". The Jargon File further includes kluge around, 'to avoid a bug or difficult condition by inserting a kluge', and kluge up, 'to lash together a quick hack to perform a task'. After Granholm's 1962 article popularized the kludge variant, both were interchangeably used and confused. The Jargon File concludes: The result of this history is a tangle. Many younger U.S. hackers pronounce the word as /klooj/ but spell it, incorrect.... Discover the Judge Kludge popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Judge Kludge books.