The Handle

coathanger_adapter
How to charge your cellphone in Chile without an adapter. Coat hanger and electrical tape. Good example of a kludge.

klooj

some history

Arguably from the German : klug or kluge —

 
smart, clever, sharp, judicious, wise, witty, intelligent; understanding, sensible, balanced; cleverly, wisely, intelligently, judiciously, smartly
 
In English, the word has come to be defined roughly as:
A kludge (or kluge) (/klʌdʒ/, /kluːʒ/, /kluːdʒ/) is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain.
 

From Wikipedia:
Today “kludge” forms one of the most beloved words in design terminology, and it stands ready for handy application to the work of anyone who gins up 110-volt circuitry to plug into the 220 VAC source. The building of a Kludge, however, is not work for amateurs. There is a certain, indefinable, masochistic finesse that must go into true Kludge building. The professional can spot it instantly. The amateur may readily presume that “that’s the way computers are”.[3]
 
I have always used the name with some sense of irony. I can certainly hack together a quick fix but, prefer a more elegant end result for my lasting work. Call it the difference between aerospace engineering and good ole fashioned farmers’ engineering.
 
A short story about how to know the difference.
 

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