From cowan@ccil.org Sun Aug 19 12:50:22 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: cowan@mercury.ccil.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_1); 19 Aug 2001 19:50:22 -0000 Received: (qmail 84403 invoked from network); 19 Aug 2001 19:50:21 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by l10.egroups.com with QMQP; 19 Aug 2001 19:50:21 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mercury.ccil.org) (192.190.237.100) by mta3 with SMTP; 19 Aug 2001 19:50:21 -0000 Received: from cowan by mercury.ccil.org with local (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 15YYaZ-0008T8-00; Sun, 19 Aug 2001 15:50:27 -0400 Subject: Re: [lojban] glork In-Reply-To: <117.372360e.28b1346c@aol.com> from "pycyn@aol.com" at "Aug 19, 2001 11:25:32 am" To: pycyn@aol.com Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 15:50:27 -0400 (EDT) Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL66 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: X-eGroups-From: John Cowan From: John Cowan pycyn@aol.com scripsit: > Does anyone know the history of "glork"? > It seems to be related both semantically and phonetically to the ancient > (well, mid-Heinlein timeline) "grok"; is it also related historically or do > we have a case of semophonetic symbolism to gladden the hearts of > Cratylus-lovers everywhere? As far as the public record takes us, the word sprang from the brain of one David Moser[*] about 1980, as part of the sentence "This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked from context." The sentence was published in Douglas Hofstadter's column in the January 1981 _Scientific American_, and later in his book _Metamagical Themas_. Some people use "glark" instead, to avoid confusion with the other jargon verb sense of "glork": to have a sudden interruption in electrical power, continuity, or sanity. [*] He of the self-referential story "This is the title of this story ..." (http://hamp.hampshire.edu/~bpdF93/self-reference.html), which BTW has been translated into Polish! http://www.powersystem.com.pl/~mkka/recursiv.html -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org Please leave your values | Check your assumptions. In fact, at the front desk. | check your assumptions at the door. --sign in Paris hotel | --Miles Vorkosigan