Grok (was Re: The language organ and the ety of <grok>)

Quoth Paul Bennett:
> Fabian also used the term <grok>, while we were in London, and I think
> I understand it.  What's the etymology of it?
Heinlein invented it and used it in "Stranger in a Strange Land"; it has
a slightly more specific meaning there, but it was adopted more or less
as-is into the English language.

Interesting... I just checked, and while webster doesn't have it, the
OED does (jolly good work, there):

   grok
          grok gro(hook)k (IPA grok), v. U.S. slang. Also grock.
          [Arbitrary formation by Heinlein (see quot. 1961).] 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.

        1961 R. Heinlein Stranger in Strange Land iii. 18 Smith had been
               aware of the doctors but had grokked that their intentions
               were benign.
               1961 R. Heinlein Stranger in Strange Land xxiv. 250 Now
               that he knew himself to be self he was free to grok ever
               closer to his brothers.
               1968 T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test vi. 86 Instead
               they are all rapping and grokking over the sound it
               made..as if they had synched into a never-before-heard
               thing, a unique thing.
               1968 Playboy June 80 He met her at an acid-rock ball and
               she grokked him, this ultracool miss loaded with
               experience and bereft of emotion.
               1969 New Yorker 15 Mar. 35, I was thinking we ought to get
               together somewhere, Mr. Zzyzbyzynsky, and grok about our
               problems.
               1975 D. Lodge Changing Places iv. 137 Nestling earth
               couple would like to find water brothers to grock with in
               peace.
               1984 InfoWorld 21 May 32 There isn't any software! Only
               different internal states of hardware. It's all hardware!
               It's a shame programmers don't grok that better.

Definitely was a word waiting to happen. :)

--
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Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.
                                                      -- Henry Spencer