# Do you grok "grok"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958 "2005-01-10T00:38:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/1 "2005-01-10T00:38:28Z")
I was just chatting with **QueenTonya** on IM and used the term grok, which sent her off into gales of cyberlaughter. Okay, I use it. I use it not entirely ironically – well, sometimes. I’m 50. Anyone else want to admit this? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/2 "2005-01-10T00:40:42Z")
You’re not getting ME to admit I’m 50, that’s fer damn sure. ('Cuz I’m 40.) But I grok “grok.” ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/3 "2005-01-10T00:42:20Z")
Yes. I grok grok, and I grok you, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/4 "2005-01-10T00:43:12Z")
To wit: she used grok and groovy in a single sentence. I thought one had to apply for archeological permits to do that! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/5 "2005-01-10T00:43:39Z")
Incidentally, you can get a shirt that says “I grok Spock”. For the ultra-geeks. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/6 "2005-01-10T00:50:18Z")
> [@Queen Tonya](#): > > To wit: she used grok and groovy in a single sentence. Hey! I told you that in confidence! ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/7 "2005-01-10T00:56:02Z")
Thou art God. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/8 "2005-01-10T01:36:33Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Incidentally, you can get a shirt that says “I grok Spock”. For the ultra-geeks. That would be the only instance in which I would use the term although I don’t actually grok him. ---
**Author:** ![Revedge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@Revedge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revedge)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/9 "2005-01-10T01:43:05Z")
> [@Fritz](#): > > Thou art God. “Certainly ‘Thou art God’–but who isn’t?” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/10 "2005-01-10T01:46:57Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/11 "2005-01-10T02:19:12Z")
"Grok means ‘to drink’ " ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/12 "2005-01-10T02:24:39Z")
Can anyone say it with a Martian accent? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/13 "2005-01-10T02:53:35Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > "Grok means ‘to drink’ " I was under the impression from reading SIASL (and particularly the last scene with the “family”, after Michael’s confrontation with the outraged public)that “grok” means “to eat”, specifically to eat an individual’s flesh in order to fully assimilate him/her into your being. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/14 "2005-01-10T03:02:36Z")
😕 Um, what does that mean and where did it come from? - **Wolfian** , 21 ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/15 "2005-01-10T03:06:58Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > 😕 > > Um, what does that mean and where did it come from? > > - **Wolfian** , 21 What it means is a matter of interpretation, which is why you’re seeing so many different answers (all of which are correct, BTW.) Where it’s from is Robert Heinlein’s book A Stranger In A Strange Land, about a human raised by Martians who returns to Earth as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/16 "2005-01-10T03:17:01Z")
Grok means “Drink”. It includes ‘drinking’ (eating) another’s body, but due to the lack of water on Mars, drinking is more important. Hence the water-sharing ceremony and all that. Thou Art Geek… but who isn’t? q;} ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/17 "2005-01-10T03:20:31Z")
> [@Fritz](#): > > Can anyone say it with a Martian accent? Yes, but it hurts my throat, and sometimes things disappear, or fly about the room. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/18 "2005-01-10T03:32:16Z")
What, there’s an age minimum for reading Heinlein now? I’m 26 and I’ve read _Stranger in a Strange Land_. That’s four hours I’ll never get back. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/19 "2005-01-10T03:32:59Z")
For a long time, I wanted to be Jubal Harshaw… I think his character still influences me. But that may just be the result of being steeped in RAH’s stories from a very early age. Jubal was RAH, really. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958/20 "2005-01-10T03:48:51Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > What, there’s an age minimum for reading Heinlein now? > > I’m 26 and I’ve read _Stranger in a Strange Land_. That’s four hours I’ll never get back. Did you want those four hours back? No age minimum but admittedly, all of RAH’s stuff is dated and hasn’t aged well. When SIASL was new, however, it was eye-opening. Think of what was going on back then. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-grok-grok/283958.md?page=2)