Word of the Day: April 23, 2009 ~ glitch

glitch (glich) - noun

A glitch is "a defect or malfunction in a machine or plan." Possibly from the Yiddish word glitsh, meaning "a slip." The German word glitschen, and related gleiten, meaning "to glide."

Originally used in the written form in 1962 in the writing of astronaut, John Glenn: "Another term we adopted to describe some of our problems was 'glitch.'"  Glenn then gives the technical sense of the word the astronauts had adopted: "Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical current."

Since then glitch has passed beyond technical use and now covers a wide variety of malfunctions and mishaps.

Photo by R▲▲S'