Re: [xougen] Dumb question of the month

[Theodore Reed]

On Tue, 2003-09-09 at 20:02, David Ross wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> What does "grok" mean?
> 
> Thanks,
> David

That's a thorny question, but in main geek parlance, it means "to
understand the essence of". 

It comes from the book "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A.
Heinlein. It's a martian word, that has literally hundreds of meanings,
the most basic of which is "to drink". It also means to merge, to be
equal (in a somewhat unterran manner), to understand, to feel. As I
said, there are shitloads of meanings, but the "to understand, clear
down to the essence of" is the one most geeks mean when they use it.

-- 
Theodore Reed <address@hidden>