Date:  Thu, 19 May 1994 09:54:48 CDT

From:  Randy Roberts <robertsr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EXT.MISSOURI.EDU>

Subject: Re: Uncl: Question



   Most of the materials Peter Tamony collected for fritz, etc., suggest

   a relationship to the Germans during WWI. Note the WWI song "Keep

   Your Head Down Allemand" which is subtitled "Fritzi Boy." The

   earliest cite I found, however, comes from the cartoonist TAD (Thomas

   Aloysius Dorgan) on 15 September 1916, San Francisco Call and Post:

   "What was the mistake?" "Oh, I just told the judge that his joint

   would go on the fritz if I ever left." Another cartoon by TAD of 25

   November 1920, same newspaper, read: "As Shakespeare said, 'Prices

   like the Ritz, service on the Fritz.'"

    Other examples are Fritz defined as one of the many names applied by

   British troops to the Germans who oppose them. "Recruit's Primer of

   Trench Idiom" in Literary Digest, 27 October 1917, pp. 64-65. On the

   fritz, meaning in bad condition, from George Milburn's The Hobo's

   Hornbook, New York, 1930, p. 284. To put the fritz on, meaning to

   jinx, is used in Collier's for 29 August 1931, p. 26. David Maurer in

   American Speech of February 1935 noted the term fritzer, meaning

   something which is not genuine or will not pay.

    Nothing definitive, but hopefully helpful.



   Randy Roberts

   University of Missouri-Columbia

   robertsr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ext.missouri.edu



______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________

Subject: Uncl: Question

Author: RREYNOL%TULSAJC.BITNET[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga.cc.uga.edu at INTERNET-EXT

Date:  5/18/94 12:44 PM





Date: 18 May 94 11:36:59 UTC

From: <RREYNOL AT TULSAJC>

To:  <ADS-L  AT UGA>

Subject: Uncl: Question



From:





Does anyone out there know where "on the fritz" originated?

Curious to find out. Thanks.