Gillespie Clan Treehouse

When this post is a’grokkin’… eh, nevermind.

Grok-code.com has revealed to us the origins of one of my favorite words, grok. Robert Heinlein is responsible, in his book Stranger in a Strange Land! According to grok-code,

The main character, Valentine Michael Smith, was born during the first manned trip to Mars. He was the sole survivor of the mission, and was raised by Martians. When he is brought back to Earth years later by a rescue team, he brings with him the culture and vocabulary of the Martian culture, including the word grok, which means literally ‘to drink,’ but could be loosely translated as ‘to understand’ or ‘to thoroughly absorb knowledge.’

I think we’ve all been enriched with this knowledge.