Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Grok this?

I've been receiving the Merriam-Webster word-a-day emails for quite some time and never have I found anything as awesome as this:

grok \GROCK\ verb

: to understand profoundly and intuitively

Example sentence:
No matter how many times I try to explain it, my grandmother just can't grok what a blog is and why anyone would want to read one.

Did you know?
"Grok" may be the only English word that derives from Martian. Yes, we do mean the language of the planet Mars. No, we're not getting spacey; we've just ventured into the realm of science fiction. "Grok" was introduced in Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The book's main character, Valentine Michael Smith, is a Martian-raised human who comes to earth as an adult, bringing with him words from his native tongue and a unique perspective on the strange, strange ways of earthlings. "Grok" was quickly adopted by the youth culture of America and has since peppered the vernacular of those who grok it, from the hippies of the '60s to the computerniks of the '90s.

EYES: The Wizard
EARS: Bottle Rocket Soundtrack

1 Comments:

Blogger Virgin Comics said...

Wow! I get the same emails and thought the exact same thing when i saw this word. grok that!

3:26 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home