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I have a suspicion it's an Anglification of a loanphrase with no exact English equivalent, probably from an Oriental langauge. And it doesn't precisely mean "speak about", as it carries an overtone of "be involved with". It does fill a phrase niche that was previously vacant, or was filled by something like "I can't talk about that because I'm not involved with it and don't know anything about it, but.." -- now this unwieldy circumlocution is shorthanded as "I can't speak to..."
That sounds logical. It will continue to annoy me, however!
That sounds logical. It will continue to annoy me, however!
A lot of such words and phrases annoyed me when I was younger; now I use them regularly, think they're normal, and consider that I was a prissy prude to avoid them for so long!
But viewed objectively, it's because they fulfill some function that I didn't grok or had no use for in my earlier years.
And now someone will pipe up with, "Grok! I hate that word!!"
A lot of such words and phrases annoyed me when I was younger; now I use them regularly, think they're normal, and consider that I was a prissy prude to avoid them for so long!
But viewed objectively, it's because they fulfill some function that I didn't grok or had no use for in my earlier years.
And now someone will pipe up with, "Grok! I hate that word!!"
Not sure if I hate it yet, because I have no idea what it means!
I am the opposite, though. Now that I'm older, I feel I have the right to be cranky about crap that really doesn't matter, and if I'm sitting in some boring meeting listening to some fetus in a "suit" with a miniskirt up to her ass and her boobs hanging out pontificating about how she can "speak to" this or that, I'm just gonna be cranky about it and enjoy it, too!
We have few words in English that can be definitively traced to a single person, but 'grok' is one of them. 'Grok' was coined by science fiction grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein in his 1961 novel "Stranger in a Strange Land". Its meaning is similar to "understand" but much stronger and deeper - "To fully and completely understand something in all its details and intricacies" is how wiktionary puts it. You might read a sentence, for example, and understand every word yet not grok the meaning of the sentence.
I don't hate the word, and I don't know anyone who does. But I'm sure people will speak up if they do!
Big Heinlein fan, I remember seeing a book or article stating, I Grok Spock.
Yeah, I'm old.
"I Grok Spock" was originally a Trekkie slogan that first went around back in 1968, occasionally seen to this day on the usual faanish venues like buttons and T-shirts.
"I Grok Spock" was originally a Trekkie slogan that first went around back in 1968, occasionally seen to this day on the usual faanish venues like buttons and T-shirts.
Yeah, I'm old too. Now get off my lawn!
OK, don't laugh too hard. Back, back, way back, in 1975 they had one of the first ever Trek Conventions in Pittsburgh. Sad to say, I went. Guys in the elevator flipping out their wallets and saying Beam me up; People watching the blooper tape and speaking all the parts; luckily, I hooked up with a great looking Klingon.
I hate the word 'pop' -- when used to mean 'soda'.
Where I grew up (NW Indiana/near Chicago), we always called carbonated beverages "pop." I had no idea until I was a young adult that in most parts of the country it is called "soda." My Webster's dictionary defines "pop" as "a carbonated soft drink." Nothing improper about the word!
I don't hate this one, but my British husband cringes whenever I say it... fixin'. As in "I'm fixin' to go to the store" or "It's fixin' to rain". It's so much easier than "I'm getting ready to go to the store" or "It's going to start raining soon."
Of course, from the same area that "fixin" comes from, you don't get "pop" or "soda" you get "Coke" -- regardless of what flavor (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, etc.). And "tea" is always iced tea with sugar, not hot tea or unsweetened tea.
I think a lot of regional colloquialisms irritate the pants off other people I can usually tolerate a funky word now and then, but what really chaps me is weird regional pronunciations! The one that got me the worst (in Washington state) was "measure"... they pronounce it may-zur instead of meh-zur. Used to make my eye twitch every time!
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