this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
354 points (98.4% liked)

Asklemmy

44144 readers
1077 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Overmorrow refers to the day after tomorrow and I feel like it comes in quite handy for example.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Grok

It means to know or understand, like "yeah man I can grok that."

[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Specifically, it refers to a deep understanding.

[A critic] notes that [the coiner's] first intensional definition is simply "to drink", but that this is only a metaphor "much as English 'I see' often means the same as 'I understand'". (from Wikipedia)

When you claim to "grok" some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity. For example, to say that you "know" Lisp is simply to assert that you can code in it if necessary โ€“ but to say you "grok" Lisp is to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of the language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of programming. Contrast zen, which is a similar supernatural understanding experienced as a single brief flash. (The Jargon File; also quoted on Wikipedia)

[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Being pedantic, but it's beyond that.

To grok is to know or understand so completely, it becomes a part of yourself. To know something fully. You can understand the concepts of astrophysics, but you might not grok the concept.

[โ€“] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

I guess I didn't grok the true meaning of the word. Thank you!

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

The literal meaning was defined "to drink". If you drink something, it becomes a part of you.

[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For those who aren't familiar with the word, it comes from the 1961 scifi novel "Stranger in a Strange Land".

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah that's right, seems my link didn't populate right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok