No, I will not pardon your racism.

[Andara Bledin]

I now know way more than I really wanted to about the terms kludge and kluge, which are not actually synonymous, although they likely stem from the same source, but through vastly diverging evolutions that still manged to arrive at neighboring results.

Boiled down, kludges are generally shoddy and tend to refer primarily to physical objects, while kluges are fast and clever, but likely much more complex than would be necessary given more time and other resources and tends to apply primarily to software.

But there's a lot of cross-usage and confusion based on the innate similarities between the terms. A kludge is likely dangerous and destined for failure in the long-term, but may work for now. A kluge is often an intricate work-around to get a desired result that will last over the long-term, but that will sometimes require notable upkeep and/or adjustment and doesn't actually solve the original problem.

The preceding information brought to you by Andara's curiosity and love of language.

^-.-^

[ReverendBSB]

And today on e racism front I had a black guy ask me about the price of a key. I told him, he asked if that was the cheapest price, I told him yes, and he said "It's not against the law for me to try and Jew you down."

I lied and told him I was Jewish and he could go somewhere else for his key.

[Treasure]

to the OP - i too grew up in the south, and have heard the term your customer started to use, (think you handled the situation beautifully) but the term i use is "southern engineer"

[Merriweather]

Yep, big difference there. That was why, when my Mazda's exhaust fell off, I used a coat hanger to temporarily reattach the damn thing. Crude, but effective. That worked until a new section came in, and it was repaired properly.

Rather different, was one of my paper-route wagons. There was very little money coming in (my parents used it as their own little S&L) so that vehicle was held together with all sorts of repairs. Bought used, it had been repainted. But, the nice appearance didn't last long--I used whatever paint I could find to keep rust at bay. Same with the running gear. When a strut went through the floor, it was simply easier to lift the body off the chassis, apply a square of pegboard to the damaged floor, and then use longer bolts to hold it all together. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. At least there was another benefit--the vehicle's appearance earned me quite a bit in tips

I don't think my dad ever owned a car that didn't have bits of coat hangers and other make-shift objects under the hood. He had the "if it works, that's all that matters" mentality. Which drove my mom crazy when he'd wear his eyeglasses with a band aid holding the frame together if they snapped, until she'd force him to get another pair.

[Cia]

Never heard 'n-word rigged' nor 'jew me down' before - learn something new every day. I prefer jerry-rigged (how that can be a slam against Germans I don't know) and MacGyvered.

[dalesys]

...I prefer jerry-rigged ...

Named after the famous Jerry Murphy, of course.

[Seshat]

Never heard 'n-word rigged' nor 'jew me down' before - learn something new every day. I prefer jerry-rigged (how that can be a slam against Germans I don't know) and MacGyvered.

In WWII, Gernans were called 'Jerry' or 'Jerries'.

Here's another one you may not know. Gypped, gyped or jipped = 'Gypsied'.

[Andara Bledin]

Here's another one you may not know. Gypped, gyped or jipped = 'Gypsied'.

And they only got that name because back in the day, anyone with dark skin was from "Egypt" of course.

^-.-^