POSTED BY

Joel Johnson

AT 10:02 AM
Thursday December 6, 2007

Meta

That Which Was Borked is Unborked

Sorry about that. We had some tech bloops this morning that delayed the posting of some stories and added a login prompt once they did go live. Should be groovy gravy now, but I apologize for the hassle.

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6 Comments

jonathon

#1 – 10:14 AM December 6, 2007

Is borked a term derived from the denied nomination of Robert Borkby Reagan to the US Supreme Court? Brilliant. If it's simply more onomatopoeia, then huzzah, yahoo and boing boing to you good sirs.

dolface

#2 – 10:18 AM December 6, 2007

@JONATHAN, it is derived from the name SCOTUS nominee.

Brandon West

#3 – 10:21 AM December 6, 2007

Jonathon - you are exactly right, it's named after Robert Bork. I saw it on the History channel or something like that. More here: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bork

Joel Johnson

#4 – 10:23 AM December 6, 2007

This is a pack of lies. It means to cock something up in the manner of the Swedish Chef.

Anonymous Anonymous

#5 – 9:18 PM December 6, 2007

From OED:

obstruct (someone, esp. a candidate for public office) through systematic defamation or vilification : [as n. ] (borking) is fear of borking scaring people from public office?

ORIGIN 1980s: from the name of Robert Bork (born 1927), an American judge whose nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court (1987) was rejected following unfavorable publicity for his allegedly extreme views.

Anonymous Anonymous

#6 – 1:52 AM August 18, 2009

bork has two meanings. You are both right.
Whilst borked, in reference to Robert Bork is to be denied something for unfare reasons. But borked, in homage to the Swedish Chef, is a popular term in online communities and with 'techies' to mean something is broken (usually throuh the negligent actions of the owners) although not always :p

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