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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,
by jwoah12 5y ago
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.
- ghaff 5y agoIt'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."
- TchoBeer 5y agoI can think of several words like that, "comprehend" is the first one that springs to mind.
- wumpus 5y agoHave you actually read the book to observe how it was used there, or are you just responding to the previous comment?
- miles 5y ago"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"
- handrous 5y agoTo 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.
- prepend 5y agoI’ve never seen it used in that way, almost always it means to completely know something on a very deep level. To know it inside and out, etc.
- xref 5y agoMuch more common is “expert” or “mastery” for that level of understanding, when I hear “grok” it means they read the Wikipedia page or did the tutorial or something.
- lazyant 5y ago"get" is pretty close imho