Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by jwoah12 on Saturday May 29, 2021 @03:47PM
(#27327768)
I happen to have just finished reading “Stranger in a Strange Land” for the first time a few weeks ago. In addition to having a super thought provoking premise, it coined the term “grok” which is so prevalent in tech circles. I never really questioned its origin, and I guess I assumed it was a borrowed word from Yiddish or something.
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Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by ghaff on Saturday May 29, 2021 @05:01PM
(#27328198)
It's a really great word. We don't really have an equivalent in English that doesn't require some long awkward phraseology. "Deeply understand something at a fundamental level."
Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by lazyant on Saturday May 29, 2021 @09:50PM
(#27329927)
"get" is pretty close imho
Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by TchoBeer on Saturday May 29, 2021 @05:37PM
(#27328411)
I can think of several words like that, "comprehend" is the first one that springs to mind.
Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by wumpus on Saturday May 29, 2021 @05:40PM
(#27328438)
Have you actually read the book to observe how it was used there, or are you just responding to the previous comment?
Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by miles on Saturday May 29, 2021 @05:56PM
(#27328550)
"Comprehend" is a weak, distant cousin of "grok":
grok: "understand (something) intuitively or by empathy; [no object] empathize or communicate sympathetically, establish a rapport"
comprehend: "grasp mentally; understand"
Re:Vonnegut Reviews Heinlein's “Stranger in a Strange Land”
by handrous on Saturday May 29, 2021 @07:11PM
(#27329044)
To be fair, in real life, I usually see it used as a straight synonym for "understand" or "comprehend", just with extra geekiness. Very rarely is its special meaning actually intended.