Veeblefetzer (new thread, OT but possibly of interest <G>)
Gary G. Taylor
number of years ago. They did a devastating parody of a corporate
house organ called "Veeble People," the corporate magazine of North
American Veeblefetzer.
What makes this bit all the more spot-on is the Veeblefetzer itself.
It is a ... machine ... of some sort, with an oblate-spheroidal body
about two feet tall and three feet wide. It stands on several spindly
legs and has a number of spindly arms sticking out of it with
strange-looking Devices at their ends. It attaches to the electricity,
telephone, water, gas and sewer services, it sits in a corner of your
living room, and EVERYONE has one.
Of course, nobody anywhere knows what the hell its actual purpose or
function is, and North American Veeblefetzer ain't talking. In short,
it's the ultimate status symbol.
VERY funny piece.
--
Gary G. Taylor 29 Palms, CA
Reply to gary > donavan * org
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Joseph Yuska
"Gary G. Taylor" wrote:
>
> I believe the word "veeblefetzer" originated from Mad Magazine a
> number of years ago. They did a devastating parody of a corporate
> house organ called "Veeble People," the corporate magazine of North
> American Veeblefetzer.
Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer, axolotl, and potrzebie, goes
back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to rationalize
buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who has can do a
search to find the earliest use of these words.
Joe "once interviewed Bill Gaines" Yuska
R H Draney
> Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer, axolotl, and potrzebie, goes
> back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
> used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to rationalize
> buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who has can do a
> search to find the earliest use of these words.
I'll check it out and report back next time I'm here...they called the "main
menu" of the software that drives the CD package the veeblefetzer, whence
you reach such features as the trash pile (collection of magazine covers),
search engine, multimedia clips, etc....r
--
"You are not expected to believe that I really have vibrating
rhubarb in my house."--Peter Deutsch
Riviera Ratt
Joseph Yuska <jyu...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>
>
> "Gary G. Taylor" wrote:
> >
> > I believe the word "veeblefetzer" originated from Mad Magazine a
> > number of years ago. They did a devastating parody of a corporate
> > house organ called "Veeble People," the corporate magazine of North
> > American Veeblefetzer.
>
> back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
> used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to
> rationalize buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who
> has can do a search to find the earliest use of these words.
>
>
The word seems to have appeared first in hyphenated form in Issue 7
(October-November 1953), in a piece entitled "Smilin' Melvin." Smilin'
Melvin was an airplane hero, apparently a parody of a comic book
character named "Smilin' Jack." On Page 4, the portly guy in front of
Melvin's plane warns, "I just want to warn you of one thing!..If I am
standing in front of the air intake, like THIS, I will be sucked into
the turbine if you push down on the veeble-fetzer switch that starts the
motor!"
Would you care to hazard a guess as to what Smilin' Jack does in the
next panel?
Riviera Ratt, # 77, Charter member of PFA 4/14/99
No longer Rattless in '00!!!
Click of the week updated 12/29/99
for a good time, call http://members.aol.com/RivieraRatt/ratthole.html
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Andrew C. E. Reid
>Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer, axolotl, and potrzebie, goes
>back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
>used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to rationalize
>buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who has can do a
>search to find the earliest use of these words.
Are you *sure* about "axolotl"? I wouldn't dare venture
an opinion on whether or not it's made up, but I've seen it
in other contexts, I think.
Unless I mis-remember, Frank Herbert's "Destination: Void"
features "axolotl tanks" as devices in which artificial,
genetically-customized organisms are grown, and occurs
in the "Dune" series, too, I think.
Further, a quick web-search turns up some hits,
one of which says that an "Axolotl" is some kind of Mexican
salamander-esque critter.
<http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl/axolotls/description.html>.
I found the "Dune" connection verified at
<http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Cove/4150/tongue.html>,
among other places -- a search on "+axolotl +dune" will
teach you more than you care to know.
Of course a Dune/Mad-Magazine connection can't be ruled
out, but it seems more likely to me that they both lifted an
existing, alien/goofy (respectively) sounding word from
obscurity.
Andrew "...into *relative* obscurity." Reid
Andrew C. E. Reid
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
re...@nwu.edu
John Francis
Andrew C. E. Reid <re...@nwu.edu> wrote:
>In article <387173EA...@mediaone.net>, Joseph Yuska <jyu...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>
>>Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer, axolotl, and potrzebie, goes
>>back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
>>used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to rationalize
>>buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who has can do a
>>search to find the earliest use of these words.
>
> Are you *sure* about "axolotl"? I wouldn't dare venture
>an opinion on whether or not it's made up, but I've seen it
>in other contexts, I think.
A kind of salamander which, amongst other oddities, breeds while still
in the juvenile form. I presume WFG just liked the sound of the word.
Maggie Newman
>In article <84u4r1$e3$1...@news.acns.nwu.edu>,
>Andrew C. E. Reid <re...@nwu.edu> wrote:
>>In article <387173EA...@mediaone.net>, Joseph Yuska
><jyu...@mediaone.net> wrote:
>>
>>>Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer, axolotl, and potrzebie, goes
>>>back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
>>>used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to rationalize
>>>buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who has can do a
>>>search to find the earliest use of these words.
>>
>> Are you *sure* about "axolotl"? I wouldn't dare venture
>
regard to Veeblefetzer. However, I believe that fershlugginer and many
of the other words that I first saw in Mad Mag in the '50s were actually
nothing more than my first exposure to Yiddish. Thanks, Bill!
As for the Axolotl, I can offer the following by David McCord (1897-1997):
"The Axolotl
Looks a littl
like the ozelotl,
Itl
"Drink a greatl
more than whatl
Fill the fatl
Whiskey bottl.
"The food it eatsl
Be no morsl:
Only meatsl
Drive its dorsl.
"Such an awfl
Fish to kettl!"
"You said a mawfl,
Pop'epetl!"
Maggie "with apologies to Joe Thompson, the official Axolotl of Scorn" Newman
--
"What they do in New Jersey I don't know."
Mark Brader
Brian Yeoh
<snip>
> As for the Axolotl, I can offer the following by David McCord (1897-1997):
>
> "The Axolotl
> Looks a littl
> like the ozelotl,
> Itl
<snip rest>
I shudder to think how people 70 years on will look at what we consider
screamingly funny.
Brian "itl never catchl onl" Yeoh
It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank
spot in their heads where someone had written: "Kings. What a good
idea." Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It
was its tendency to bend at the knees.
Terry Pratchett, _Feet of Clay_
Nick Spalding
> Further, a quick web-search turns up some hits,
> one of which says that an "Axolotl" is some kind of Mexican
> salamander-esque critter.
> <http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl/axolotls/description.html>.
Described in Encarta:
"Axolotl, common name for a salamander previously found in several
lakes in the Valley of Mexico, but currently found only in Lake
Xochimilco near Mexico City. It is unusual in that it attains sexual
maturity and reproduces in the larval stage. Axolotls retain their
gills, thin skin, and finned tails and grow to about 25 to 30 cm
(about 10 to 12 in). The retention of larval characteristics appears
to be caused by environmental pressure; as the surrounding country
became too dry and barren to sustain amphibious animals, the lakes
in which the axolotls are born provided cool, well-aerated water,
good shelter, and an abundance of insect and small animal life for
food."
and Grolier:
"Axolotls are salamanders that live in ponds and lakes on the
Mexican plateau. They retain most of the characteristics of larvae,
such as gills, throughout their lives (the name comes from an Aztec
word meaning "water doll"). Their reproductive systems mature,
however. The axolotl is known scientifically as Ambystoma mexicanum
and is classified in the family Ambystomatidae, which inhabit much
of North America. Axolotls occur at the lower end of the geographic
range of the family, and it is suggested that the relatively harsh
conditions of the Mexican plateau resulted in the evolution of these
permanently larval forms. In less harsh environments some closely
related species are known to occasionally metamorphose into an adult
stage. Axolotls are easy to raise in the laboratory and have many
genetic variations (including ALBINISM); they are therefore used to
test a variety of genetic principles"
--
Nick Spalding
Plato
Maybe it's lite
Won't sink the ferry?
--
Plato aka Mr Happy
Please send all complaints to: vicepr...@whitehouse.gov
Nathan Tenny
Mark Summerfield <m.summ...@ieee.org> wrote:
[axolotls---hey, it's a herp thread!]
>They're commonly sold as pets in aquarium stores here in Austria.
>However, TWIAVBP -- is this less common (or, perhaps, illegal?) in
>other parts of the world?
They're pretty commonly kept in the States as well. They may be illegal
in California, since everything else is (fear of introduced species, for
excellent reasons).
They can apparently be forced to metamorphose into conventional adult
salamanders by environmental manipulations. I've been told that the
resulting adults aren't very interesting---pretty much interchangeable
with tiger salamanders. (In fact, it was long thought that axolotls
were just a race of tiger salamanders that were kept from metamorphosing
by unusual environmental conditions.)
NT
--
Nathan Tenny | Words I carry in my pocket, where they
Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA | breed like white mice.
<nten...@qualcomm.com> | - Lawrence Durrell
Kevin D. Quitt
>furshlugginer I have never seen outside of "Mad",
It's yiddish.
--
#include <standard.disclaimer>
_
Kevin D Quitt USA 91351-4454 96.37% of all statistics are made up
Per the FCA, this email address may not be added to any commercial list
Alan Follett
<snip>
> Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer,
> axolotl, and potrzebie, goes back to the
> original comic book format MAD of the fifties.
> They were used as adjectives and epithets.
> I haven't yet been able to rationalize buying
> the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out
> there who has can do a search to find the
> earliest use of these words.
Perhaps the classic _Mad_ axolotl reference, circa 1960, was a
Wordsworth parody beginning something like (from memory):
"I wandered lonely as a clod
Picking up old rags and bottles,
When all at once I screamed, 'My God'!
I'd spied a herd of axolotls."
Doubtless someone with the CD can emend and extend the quote.
By the way, another of these running gags, portzebie, is, I understand,
some form of the Polish verb meaning "to need." The story, from a
biography of Gaines which I no longer have at hand, is that one day in
the early years of _Mad_ someone brought in a bottle of aspirin with an
instruction sheet printed in Polish. The Usual Gang of Idiots were so
taken with this one word from the sheet, whose meaning of course they
did not then know, that it took permanant root at the magazine.
Alan "A billion years the human brain has been evolving, and I use it to
remember _this_!" Follett
Mark Summerfield
<Encyclopaedia definitions snipped>
It's interesting that these descriptions fail to mention a couple of
things, which I was under the impression were quite commonly-known.
First, that the axolotl is also often known as the "Mexican walking
fish" (a misnomer, but quite descriptive), and that they make good
and unusual pets -- albino axolotls with their pink gill "feathers"
are really quite striking (in an ugly sort of way).
They're commonly sold as pets in aquarium stores here in Austria.
However, TWIAVBP -- is this less common (or, perhaps, illegal?) in
other parts of the world?
Mark "but we only keep goldfish" Summerfield
bs
with what they wrote - I could be wrong, though, so apologies in advance if
such is the case...]
Joseph Yuska <jyu...@mediaone.net> wrote:
> >Veeblefetzer, along with furshlugginer, axolotl, and potrzebie, goes
> >back to the original comic book format MAD of the fifties. They were
> >used as adjectives and epithets. I haven't yet been able to rationalize
> >buying the MAD CD set, but perhaps someone out there who has can do a
> >search to find the earliest use of these words.
> Andrew C. E. Reid <re...@nwu.edu> wrote in message
news:84u4r1$e3$1...@news.acns.nwu.edu...
> In article <387173EA...@mediaone.net>,
Are you *sure* about "axolotl"? I wouldn't dare venture
> an opinion on whether or not it's made up, but I've seen it
> in other contexts, I think.
> Unless I mis-remember, Frank Herbert's "Destination: Void"
> features "axolotl tanks" as devices in which artificial,
> genetically-customized organisms are grown, and occurs
> in the "Dune" series, too, I think.
Veeblefetzer and furshlugginer I have never seen outside of "Mad", but an
axolotl is a Mexican salamander. You can find out probably more than you
ever wanted to know at http://members.tripod.com/ceng/calixto.htm.
Pictures and everything. Even a FAQ.
Fred Simons
Gary G. Taylor
wrote:
>On Thu, 06 Jan 2000 04:17:39 GMT, "bs" <fsi...@junonospam.com> wrote:
>>furshlugginer I have never seen outside of "Mad",
>
>It's yiddish.
"Beat up" is how it is translated by most Yiddish speakers I've asked.
However, I've also heard a presumably non-Jewish German use the same
term, so it may have insinuated its way into that language.
"Potrzebie," incidentally, is said by MAD people to have been
encountered on a jar of pickles. A friend whose family was Polish (but
who was not a Polish speaker) told me the pronunciation was roughly
"por-CHEB-ya," with the r sound almost inaudible and the y sound
pronounced as a diphthong starting high and sliding down.
Lisa Cech
>
> On Wed, 05 Jan 2000 20:48:14 -0800, Kevin D. Quitt <Ke...@Quitt.net>
> wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 06 Jan 2000 04:17:39 GMT, "bs" <fsi...@junonospam.com> wrote:
> >>furshlugginer I have never seen outside of "Mad",
> >
> >It's yiddish.
>
> "Beat up" is how it is translated by most Yiddish speakers I've asked.
> However, I've also heard a presumably non-Jewish German use the same
> term, so it may have insinuated its way into that language.
>
> "Potrzebie," incidentally, is said by MAD people to have been
> encountered on a jar of pickles. A friend whose family was Polish (but
> who was not a Polish speaker) told me the pronunciation was roughly
> "por-CHEB-ya," with the r sound almost inaudible and the y sound
> pronounced as a diphthong starting high and sliding down.
According to John Borkowski, President of the Alliance of Poles in Cleveland,
it translates to roughly "in the need of something."[1]
Lisa "Should I be insulted that he refers to me as "Polish by injection"?" Cech
[1]Being the strong, silent type, he looked at the word, said "in the need of
something", nodded at me and walked away. The man's an enigma.
Mike Sphar
write the following? Read the book:
>It's interesting that these descriptions fail to mention a couple of
>things, which I was under the impression were quite commonly-known.
>First, that the axolotl is also often known as the "Mexican walking
>fish" (a misnomer, but quite descriptive), and that they make good
>and unusual pets -- albino axolotls with their pink gill "feathers"
>are really quite striking (in an ugly sort of way).
>
>They're commonly sold as pets in aquarium stores here in Austria.
>However, TWIAVBP -- is this less common (or, perhaps, illegal?) in
>other parts of the world?
They're often sold as "mudpuppys" here in .us. However, there are a
variety of other salamanders that are not axolotls but are also sold as
mudpuppys, so you can't always trust the pet stores labels.
Their different from other pet salamanders in that they remain
water-breathers, rather than transforming into air breathers, so they can
be kept in tanks without land area.
Unfortunately, their little gill feathers look a bit too similar to little
wiggling worms, so when they share a tank with other fish, they sometimes
get their gills attacked.
--
Mike Sphar http://mikey.sanjoseweb.com mi...@matches.com
"Ah," said Twoflower, "I understand. Over the wall and out to brightly-lit
tavernas to drink and sing and recite poetry, yes?"
"Nearly right except for the singing and the poetry, yes," said Rincewind.
-- Terry Pratchett, "The Light Fantastic"
Marco McClean
> I shudder to think how people 70 years on will look at what we consider
> screamingly funny.
/I/ shudder to think what people 70 years on will be shuddering about. Brrr.
There's a winery called Fetzer Vineyards near where I live. Whenever I drive
past it, I think /Fester/, not Fetzer, because I half-remember veeblefetzer as
veeble/fester/. It's an interesting thing the memory does when you just let it
do what it wants and don't worry too much.
I think the "thing in the living room" from Mad (?) might have inspired the
original /Little Shop of Horrors/, or the other way around.
Oh, my gosh! Veeblefetzer comes stock in the spellchecker in Wordstar
Professional 4.0 for DOS (1988)! Wonderful!
SmilinByll
also used in the "Born Loser" comic strip.
The main character, Brutus P. Thornapple's boss is named Rancid W.
Veeblefetzer. Perhaps the artist was either a MAD alum or (like a lot of us) a
devoted follower.