I know this could be the start of YET ANOTHER thread "Oh I think
it's older than that..." but to avoid that, let's raise the
standard from opinion/hearsay to printed word.
Man I wish I had a collection of pre-1980 DATAMATIONs!
From _ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTER SCIENCE_(Van Nostrand), 1976:
KLUDGE
The word "kludge" is a term coined by Jackson Granholm in an
article "How to design a kludge" in _DATAMATION_ (February 1962).
The definition is given as "an ill-sorted collection of poorly
matched parts, forming a distressing whole". The design of every
computer contains some anomalies that prove to be annoying to the
users and wghich the designer wishes he had done differently. If
there are enough of these, the machine is called a "kludge".
By extention, the term has come to be applied to programs,
documentation, and even computer centers, so that the definition
is not "an ill-conceiverd and hence unreliable system that has
accumulated through patchwork, expediancy, and poor planning".
The first kludge article triggered five others ("How to maintain a
kludge", etc) in subsequent issues of _DATAMATION_. Four of the
articles may be found in the book _FAITH, HOPE AND PARITY_ edited
by Josh Moshman, Thompson Book Company, 1966.
-- F. Gruenberger
[Said book found at abebooks...]