Definition: noun a system and especially a computer system made up of poorly matched components

Quotation: “‘Cable is a kludge,’ remarked Mr. Harris of Jupiter Communications, using a computer term for an inelegant solution to a technical problem. ‘The market is aching to have everything in full motion, and cable is sort of a middle-of-the-road solution.’”
- from “Big Cable Company to Offer A High-Speed Internet Link” in the New York Times

By special request from Don Chichi I give you this particularly tech-friendly term. Despite my supposed tech know-how, I’d never even heard of the term. Upon reading the definition, another computer geek work sprang to mind: hack. A hack is also an “inelegant solution to a technical problem” (in the article’s words) yet it is not cited as a synonym in the definition on Merriam-Webster’s site.