Crock
Encyclopedia
A crock is a botched attempt or design to achieve something, particularly in engineering
. An automobile with intentionally designed square wheels would be a crock. Crock itself is a slang word, meaning something which is broken down, worn out or nonsense.
Most of Rube Goldberg
's or Heath Robinson's unlikely machines were crocks, and therefore regarded as funny. In absolute contrast, however, there is little which is more condemnatory in an engineering context than to declare something a crock.
A kludge
, by contrast, is typically something that works, albeit clumsily. A kludged design which did not work will probably also be a crock.
An early use of the term occurred at the MIT Model Railroad Club
, and from there moved to computing and into computing terminology.
According to the Jargon File
, the use of the word "crock" as engineering jargon
is connected to its use for dishware by the American scatologism crock of shit, for more extreme examples of what would otherwise be known as bullshit
.
In sport, especially football, the word crocked can also be used as a synonym for injured when describing a sportsperson who is hurt to the extent that he or she is rendered unable to compete.
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
. An automobile with intentionally designed square wheels would be a crock. Crock itself is a slang word, meaning something which is broken down, worn out or nonsense.
Most of Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
's or Heath Robinson's unlikely machines were crocks, and therefore regarded as funny. In absolute contrast, however, there is little which is more condemnatory in an engineering context than to declare something a crock.
A kludge
Kludge
A kludge is a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy or inelegant, yet effective, solution to a problem, typically using parts that are cobbled together...
, by contrast, is typically something that works, albeit clumsily. A kludged design which did not work will probably also be a crock.
An early use of the term occurred at the MIT Model Railroad Club
Tech Model Railroad Club
The Tech Model Railroad Club is a student organization at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and one of the most celebrated model railroad clubs in the world, because of its historic role as a wellspring of hacker culture...
, and from there moved to computing and into computing terminology.
According to the Jargon File
Jargon File
The Jargon File is a glossary of computer programmer slang. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, including Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Carnegie Mellon...
, the use of the word "crock" as engineering jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...
is connected to its use for dishware by the American scatologism crock of shit, for more extreme examples of what would otherwise be known as bullshit
Bullshit
Bullshit is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive, although bullshit is commonly used in British English...
.
In sport, especially football, the word crocked can also be used as a synonym for injured when describing a sportsperson who is hurt to the extent that he or she is rendered unable to compete.