prepositional phrase today is " on the fritz. " Okay. Let's take a look at the note

here. If an electrical or mechanical appliance is on the fritz, it is out of

order, malfunctioning, or not working correctly.

So we often say that some machine might be on the fritz. That's just not working

for some reason. All right. Let's continue. Some people believe this phrase comes

from a comic-strip. It's a very old comic strip called "The Katzenjammer Kids. " Okay.

The comic strip centered around two brothers and one of them was "Hans and

Fritz. " Well it's where the fritz comes from and was syndicated in hundreds of

newspapers around the world. Meaning you know, it was ... It appeared in hundreds of

newspapers around the world in the early 1900s.

Okay. The two brothers were always messing things up and getting into

trouble. Okay. Fritz was the more serious troublemaker.

Yes troublemaker. This was popular in the early 1900s and many gadgets often had

trouble. So this is maybe why this was part of the topic of this comic strip as

well. In a number of the strips Fritz created some new inventions and they

usually stopped working as soon as they were touched. So that's the idea of why

some ... it might be on the fritz. Like Fritz made it. So well now you touch it well

it's on the fritz. Once Fritz touches it. It stops working. So I guess that's the

idea that they're trying to say. Let's continue. The Hearst corporation owned a

number of newspapers and it claims that William Randolph Hearst .. okay loved the

comic strip and used this term often. So maybe he helped to popularize this term.

Now if you do look in the dictionary some dictionaries say that they don't

really know the origin of it. And there is another idea out there that some

people think that because Fritz is a German name

this, this phrase seemed to come into you know, into being or into use in the early

1900s. Even though, I think it was World War

One was probably you know, in the teens, they think that maybe because the

Germans were unpopular , maybe people did as a way to mock the Germans. It's on the

fritz. But to be honest I like this story better . It sounds more logical too. All right.

Anyway let's look we have a couple of examples here. Example number one. The

dishwasher is on the fritz again. It's a typical way you might hear it. Or

number two. The air conditioner is on the fritz. I think we need a new one. Okay. It

sounds good. I hope you got it. I hope it was clear.

Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.