on the fritz--on the friz

[Laurence Horn]

On Aug 16, 2014, at 8:48 AM, Stephen Goranson wrote:

> More on "on the friz."
> Of course "friz" is pronounced in different ways, as attested in the following two different rhymes.
> 
> (1) A Sovereign Remedy
> Deep breathing is the thing to try if you are feeling slack;
> It brightens the lack-luster eye and straightens the back;....
> Deep breathing is the thing for you if you are on the fritz;
> It drives away the devils blue and sharpens up the wits;....
> --Washington Herald
> (Feb. 5 1908 Trenton [NJ] Evening Times p.6 col. 3 America's Historic Newspapers)
> 
> (2) Rudyard Kipling still adheres to his opinion of Canada as "Our Lady of the Snows." He has sent the following skit to Lady Marjorie Gordon, the editor of "Err Willie Winkie," a juvenile magazine:

Interesting use of "skit" with which I wasn't familiar (referring to Kipling's limerick below).  This sense apparently evolves somehow from from the earlier

1. a. A female of a vain, frivolous, or wanton disposition.

Sense 2a is 'A quizzing or satirical reflection upon, or hit at, a person or thing; a remark of this nature', as in
1820–2   W. H. Pyne Wine & Walnuts (1824) II. xi. 174   No more of your skits at my right noble country.
 
This antedated but overlapped with the cites for the now current sense, 2b:* 
'A literary or artistic production intended as a piece of light satire, parody, or caricature'

This is all under SKIT n., 2, not to be confused with SKIT n., 1: 'diarrhoea in animals, esp. sheep'.  I had always wondered what the word is for that.

LH

*Actually, that definition seems a bit narrow for current skits, e.g. segments in a variety show, falling under the AHD definition:
'A short, usually comic dramatic performance or work; a theatrical sketch'. But the entry hasn't been updated.



> "There was once a small boy of Quebec,
> Who was buried in snow to the neck.
>  When asked: "Are you friz?"
>  He replied: "Yes, I is.
> But we don't call this cold in Quebec."
> --Albany Journal
> (July 23, 1897, Salt Lake [UT] Semi-Weekly Tribune, p. 4 col. F, 19th Century US Newspapers)
> 
> I suggest that the personal name Fritz is not the origin of "on the friz/fritz."
> 
> Stephen
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society ...on behalf of Stephen Goranson ...
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 7:07 AM...
> Subject: [ADS-L] on the fritz--on the friz
> 
> Previous suggested explanations of "on the fritz," including one by me, are unpersuasive.
> 
> Here is a new suggestion--at least I have not encountered it; please correct me if it has been offered before. If there's interest, I may write a longer version with more quotations or references.
> 
> "On the fritz" (and "on de fritz") has also been written "on the friz." Consider friz as related to freeze and frozen. The association obtains, whether analyzed as irregular irregular verb forms and/or via J. O. Hallowell's listing "Friz--frozen" as attested in various dialects (1887 v.1 p.382 "All friz out, can't get no groundsel").
> 
> Fritz, friz, frozen up, stopped, and the like.
> 
> 
> Possibly related uses [some may be of debatable relevance], in addition to those in OED June 2014 and HDAS:
> 
> 
> 1880 "married or 'fritz to' the dark eyed senoritas"
> 
> 1886 "a friz nose"
> 
> 1891 "Fort'nate they [hands] friz to the oars"
> 
> [1892 "Jimmy the Bunco" schemes to get a Thanksgiving dinner; the lemonade comes with "friz." "'I dunno as I cares on the friz,' murmured 'the Bunco' thoughtfully. The word bore too close a resemblance to his general state of being."]
> 
> 1897 "friz up all de creeks"
> 
> 1901 "getting t' be on de Fritz"
> 
> 1901 "For everything 't was frizable, that year was friz."
> 
> 1902 (source?) "Would Santa Claus be on the fritz/ if we never had snow?" [Ironic effect of lack of ice?]
> 
> 1904 Life in Sing Sing. "Fritzer. Not good."
> 
> 1905 "He's on the friz." [Baseball player slump.]
> 
> 1905 "business goes on the fritz."
> 
> 1905 "good manners done friz up"
> 
> 1905 four wagons "all to de fritz"
> 
> 1906 "is he straight, or is he on de fritz?"
> 
> 1908 "Deep breathing is the thing for you if you are on the friz."
> 
> 1908 poem, "friz" rhyming with "wits."
> 
> 1908 Munsey's "our fat leading lady was on the friz"
> 
> 1909 "show is on de fritz"
> 
> 1912 "A poor man is friz out these days. Friz out, I say."
> 
> 1912 "All the religion 'll be friz out of this c'mmunity."
> 
> 1912 "I may talk on de fritz" [but won spelling bees]
> 
> 
> Stephen Goranson
> 
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> 
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