I see that online. But I’d say that 99% of the time I saw kludge in print back in the day - and that was a lot - it had the “d” in it.
And yet, how was it commonly pronounced? I always heard it rhyming with “stooge”. The “kludge” spelling can’t be pronounced that way. Compare: budge, fudge, judge, nudge, sludge, trudge.
And yet, when I remarked on that in a thread some time ago, the majority consensus was that “kludge” was the correct spelling. There was less consensus, IIRC, on the pronunciation – some said it rhymes with fudge, others said it rhymes with stooge – even while they agreed with the kludge spelling.
And yet, video telephony (as it was called when the concept was first imagined) finally seems to have made a breakthrough with the pandemic.
Well that’s just wrong. I first heard it in 1981, and it has rhymed with stooge ever since. It never occurred to me that anyone thought it rhymed with fudge.
Have to agree.
English is worse than a bad cough, sure enough. If you can tough it out, you can get through it, though.
Welcome to cyberspace, I’m lost in the fog
Everything’s digital I’m still analog
When something goes wrong
I don’t have a clue
Some ten year old smart ass has to show me what to do
Joe Walsh - Analog Man
Sherlock Holmes said that his brain had limited capacity so he refused to learn anything that had no obvious application:
Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
I used to think this was nonsense dreamed up by a Victorian guy who believed in fairies, but as I get older I incline more toward the philosophy of only learning that which is useful in the short term.
I was an early user of banking technology but resisted smartphones until I needed one to prove that I was vaccinated against COVID. It took me two years (and the help of an FB group) to work out all the controls in my car. I use Word but have neither the desire nor the inclination to use more than the basic WP functions.
Homer:
But every time I learn something new, it pushes out something old. Remember that time I took a home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?
Marge:
That’s because you were drunk.
Homer:
And how!