origins of "kludge"

[Jules Richardson]

On Wed, 2005-03-30 at 18:56 +0100, Pete Turnbull wrote:
> On Mar 30 2005, 14:36, Jules Richardson wrote:
> 
> > Back on topic, does the correct pronunciation of kludge contain the
> 'd',
> > or is it silent? 98% of people here in the UK seem to pronounce the
> d,
> > but I've heard a few who don't. Mind you, 'bodge' is an equivalent
> and
> > more commonly heard over here than kludge.
> 
> "Bodge" doesn't mean the same thing at all.  You're probably thinking
> of "botch", which means (v) to screw something up, or (n) something
> which is screwed up.  "Kludge" means to make something work, but in an
> inelegant or clumsy fashion.  "Bodge", however, means to adjust or
> adapt something carefully to fit, perhaps in a way not originally
> intended; "bodgers" were originally people who did the final fitting of
> parts to machines and the like.

Interesting - I've never heard that before. All the people I've known
(until now! :) use bodge and kludge interchangeably, whilst as you say
botch is something of a completely inferior class :-)  

I suppose it's more that I've always known people use kludge for any
type of addition / fix / enhancement which wasn't forseen by the
original designer - whether an elegant one or not!

cheers

J.