Rachel Maddow used the term "grok" tonight in her discussion of trump and the recent filings

[Gothmog]

I am geek and I loved the fact that she used this term from Stranger in a Strange Land and evidently I was the only one who noticed

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[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I noticed it too, was surprised because I'd have thought she was too young

to have known it. It's a very '60s word.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. Stranger In A Strange Land was a fad amongst millenials

Geeky millenials, at least. I discovered that when my daughter grabbed my copy to take back to college with her. That was around a decade ago, I think.

Never could get her to read other books by Heinlein. She did enjoy some by other authors in my collection.




Also, see groklaw.net

[Kittycow]

7. Mayim Bialik uses it a lot on her blog and YouTube channel.

That's where I've seen it lately.

I ran across her personal channel when checking out a Big Bang Theory clip and she's a pretty interesting person.

[Dave Starsky]

12. I tried to read it a few years ago.

It doesn't seem to have aged well. The dialogue is unbelievably corny, and the characters are just obnoxious.

[anarch]

14. I enjoyed the book when I was younger; still appreciate it for many things...

but yeah, the dialogue is ridiculous throughout.

What really bothered me though on a re-read a few years (err...decades, maybe?) back was the blatant sexism and homophobia...

[Dave Starsky]

18. Exactly.

Forty years ago, I might have read right past that stuff without batting an eye. But today? Ugh.

[Sgent]

16. Its always had a large following

in the geek / tech culture. Its been in common usage since at least the early 80's in tech publications, etc.

[sfwriter]

2. I once wrote a shell script called "Grok."

Syntax: Grok "username"

This was the early wild west days of the Internet, and the "Grok" command I created helped people at my struggling Internet Service Provider find everything we knew about a user. It included info from about half-a-dozen logs and servers including, had they paid us, when where they last on and from where, what hardware were they using, status of various message queues, contact info, etc. To Grok a user was to know everything about them!

Years later, I was back in those parts and someone told me about this command called "grok" that they used on helpdesk.
"Oh yeah," I said, "I wrote that."
"I don't think so man," they said, "It seems a little too powerful for you to have written it."

I've always wondered who they thought wrote it, Martians?

[wcmagumba]

3. Love it...

One of my favorite words, which I still use occasionally and get some odd looks...Meaningful and fun. Other terms from SIASL I enjoy, "water brother" and "discorporation" and "thou art god". Particularly interesting as the new Martian probe is waking up...

[nolabear]

9. Remember this?

I always thought this was the cheesiest seduction song ever, but it did take advantage of some Heinlein. 😍

[wcmagumba]

10. Remember the song...

but had forgotten the reference in it...Thanks

[djg21]

15. I like "Klong"

Coined by William Safire. I won’t give it away, but my guess is that Individual 1 had one last evening.

[Achilleaze]

17. Historical Examples of klong - from dictionary.com

The " klong " of a woman points to the west, that of a man to the east.

[djg21]

19. I think we are using different definitions.

“A sudden rush of shit to the heart.”

https://books.google.com/books?id=q6ARDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA375&lpg=PA375&dq=klong+sudden+rush+shit&source=bl&ots=PuDhGfK1sx&sig=jroP6VDMORFT7UbcpStc4HNeNm8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBlfa415DfAhWK7YMKHY_XAvcQ6AEwDHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=klong%20sudden%20rush%20shit&f=false

[Achilleaze]

20. Perhaps klong happens in different directions for different genders?

But in any event, we can agree that klong happens.

[Liberal In Texas]

4. I heard it.

And thought, OK, that's nice. I know grok. Kind of like running across it in the NYT crossword.

[blogslut]

6. She's done it before, maybe a few times.

Another reason I dig her so much!

[nolabear]

8. As if I could love her more.

I grew up on that old bastard Heinlein. He had it all-misogyny, weird fetishes, baby talk, and some of the best sci-fi of the era. I grokked it. 😍

[Control-Z]

11. I noticed it too. n/t

.

[Achilleaze]

13. Better to grok (D) than to grope (R)

No one ever said.