gronked adj.
1. Broken. "The teletype scanner was gronked, so we took the
system down." 2. Of people, the condition of feeling very tired
or (less commonly) sick. "I've been chasing that bug for 17 hours
now and I am thoroughly gronked!" Compare broken, which means about the same as gronk used of hardware, but connotes
depression or mental/emotional problems in people.
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grovel vi.
1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often
used transitively with `over' or `through'. "The file scavenger
has been groveling through the /usr directories for 10 minutes
now." Compare grind and crunch. Emphatic form: `grovel obscenely'. 2.
To examine minutely or in complete detail. "The compiler grovels
over the entire source program before beginning to translate it."
"I grovelled through all the documentation, but I still couldn't
find the command I wanted."
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grue n.
[from archaic English verb for `shudder', as with fear] The
grue was originated in the game Zork
(Dave Lebling took the name from Jack Vance's "Dying Earth"
fantasies) and used in several other Infocom games as a hint that you should
perhaps look for a lamp, torch or some type of light source.
Wandering into a dark area would cause the game to prompt you,
"It is very dark. If you continue you are likely to be eaten by a
grue." If you failed to locate a light source within the next
couple of moves this would indeed be the case.
The grue, according to scholars of the Great Underground
Empire, is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the
earth. Its favorite diet is either adventurers or enchanters, but
its insatiable appetite is tempered by its extreme fear of light.
No grues have ever been seen by the light of day, and only a few
have been observed in their underground lairs. Of those who have
seen grues, few have survived their fearsome jaws to tell the
tale. Grues have sharp claws and fangs, and an uncontrollable
tendency to slaver and gurgle. They are certainly the most
evil-tempered of all creatures; to say they are touchy is a
dangerous understatement. "Sour as a grue" is a common
expression, even among themselves.
All this folklore is widely known among hackers.