A 19th-century Yiddishslang word with limited usage is generally accepted as the origin. In German, the verb weben means to "weave", while fetzen means to "rip" or "shred". Textile mills of that period were crammed with loud, complicated and wildly active machinery.
Usage
During the 1940s, the inventor Alfred J. Gross, a pioneer of mobile communications, made an association of the word with modern technology. Gross invented the walkie-talkie and developed cordless remote telephone signaling. He was the father ofCitizens' Band radio, and for his "handle" he used the pseudonym "Phineas Thadeus Veeblefetzer". A few years later, Harvey Kurtzman brought the word into popular usage in his comic bookMad. Over time, the word became a recurringrunning gag or catchphrase in the magazine, appearing in many articles by different authors. In Wallace Wood's parody, "Smilin' Melvin", in Mad 7, the airplane mechanic Thatstuff advises Smilin' Melvin not to "push down on the veeble-fetzer switch that starts the motor." Will Elder's parody, "Frank N. Stein", was "set in the little European town of Veeblefetzer" in Mad 8. In the Kurtzman and Elder satire of the comic stripGasoline Alley, titled "Gasoline Valley!", in Mad 15, the character Skizziks opens a shop to repair cracked veeblefetzers. In subsequent issues, Kurtzman used the word for spoofs of big business, with the fictitious corporation "North American Veeblefetzer" featured in satires of in-house company newsletters, corporate annual reports and more. In 1980, Alan Moore used the word in the British magazine 2000AD in the story "Ro-Jaws' Robo Tales: Final Solution" while the character Abelard Snazz is designing police robots. In 1997, Don Rosa used the word in the Donald Duck story "An Eye for Detail", in which Donald goes to work in Scrooge McDuck's veeblefetzer factory. Brutus Thornapple's boss in The Born Loser comic strip is Mr. Veeblefester, an obvious derivative. The word has been mentioned in films such as Mad Monster Party?, The Magnificent Major and Reel Horror ; and on television's Boardwalk Empire and Space GhostCoast to Coast.
