jeff@heurikon.UUCP (Jeffrey Mattox) (01/17/85)
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase:
"It's on the fritz"? A piece on NPR about
language asked if anybody knew this. So far,
nobody has been able to document the basis of
this phrase.
(No, it has nothing to do with Mondale.)
--
/"""\ Jeffrey Mattox, Heurikon Corp, Madison, WI
|O.O| {harpo, hao, philabs}!seismo!uwvax!heurikon!jeff (news & mail)
\_=_/ ihnp4!heurikon!jeff (mail - fast)gam@amdahl.UUCP (gam) (01/18/85)
> Does anyone know the origin of the phrase: > "It's on the fritz"? I couldn't find where it came from, but the first usage I found was 1928: "That glycerine was on the fritz..." (American Mercury, Aug, 487/2.). The first use of "fritz" as a verb was in 1948. "Fritz" was a common name for a German soldier (mostly used by British soldiers) during WWI; don't know how this ties in, if it does. -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam
wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) (01/20/85)
>> Does anyone know the origin of the phrase: >> "It's on the fritz"? > >I couldn't find where it came from, but the first usage I >found was 1928: "That glycerine was on the fritz..." (American >Mercury, Aug, 487/2.). >Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam The way I've heard the phrase explained, the Katzenjammer Kids may be involved. \\The Katzxenjammer Kids// was a newspaper comic strip which achieved its greatest popularity in the early part of the century. The Kids were general all-around hell-raisers who greatly enjoyed practical jokes. I believe that one of them was named Fritz. This could easily lead to the notion of something malfunctioning because Fritz had gotten at it, thus, "on the Fritz". Bill Laubenheimer ----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science ...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbill
jss@brunix.UUCP (Judith Schrier) (01/22/85)
The O.E.D. has an earlier reference (than 1928). I don't have it here, but it definitely pre-dates W.W.I (around 1903-1908). They don't have any idea of the origin. judith brunix!jss