"Fonzie touch" meaning in English

See Fonzie touch in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli in the 1974-1984 TV series Happy Days. Head templates: {{en-noun|?}} Fonzie touch
  1. (informal) Hitting an electrical appliance to make it work. Any similar rough treatment that proves successful. Tags: informal Categories (topical): Fictional abilities

Download JSON data for Fonzie touch meaning in English (3.2kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From Arthur \"Fonzie\" Fonzarelli in the 1974-1984 TV series Happy Days.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "Fonzie touch",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Fictional abilities",
          "orig": "en:Fictional abilities",
          "parents": [
            "Fiction",
            "Speculative fiction",
            "Artistic works",
            "Genres",
            "Art",
            "Entertainment",
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, adobe.premiere.windows http://groups.google.com/g/5387fef4/t/.../d/9e5aa65ce7fdcf57?hl=en&ie...8",
          "text": "Often when something doesn't work for me, I just restart the computer and try again. Often this jars something loose, akin to the ole Fonzie touch."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Jesse M. Torres, Peter Sideris, Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders, page 53",
          "text": "We wish we had the Fonzie touch — give it a little kick and voila, it's working. Unfortunately, printers don't like to be kicked.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2005, Rocket Jones (archive). http://rocketjones.mu.nu/archives/2005_06.php\nI have to do that to get the door of my pickup truck open sometimes. - Rookie astronaut Donald Pettit after he used his Fonzie touch to open a hatch on the International Space Station"
        },
        {
          "text": "2006, http://www.motoringfile.com/2005/08/24/the_mini_window_motor_issue/\nI had the driver’s side window motor replaced about three weeks ago on my ‘03 MC. Last weekend, the passenger side started acting up, but I guess I don’t have the “Fonzie” touch — beating on the door panel didn’t do anything but hurt my hand."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Sporting News Magazine https://web.archive.org/web/20071112161716/http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=220608",
          "text": "Usually, when things in the dashboard don't work, I just bang on it, and they start working again. This happened often with the speedometer. The Fonzie touch would not work for the radio."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hitting an electrical appliance to make it work. Any similar rough treatment that proves successful."
      ],
      "id": "en-Fonzie_touch-en-noun-fdGo5AwU",
      "links": [
        [
          "electrical",
          "electrical"
        ],
        [
          "appliance",
          "appliance"
        ],
        [
          "successful",
          "successful"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Hitting an electrical appliance to make it work. Any similar rough treatment that proves successful."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Fonzie touch"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From Arthur \"Fonzie\" Fonzarelli in the 1974-1984 TV series Happy Days.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "Fonzie touch",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English eponyms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals",
        "English terms derived from fiction",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Fictional abilities"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, adobe.premiere.windows http://groups.google.com/g/5387fef4/t/.../d/9e5aa65ce7fdcf57?hl=en&ie...8",
          "text": "Often when something doesn't work for me, I just restart the computer and try again. Often this jars something loose, akin to the ole Fonzie touch."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Jesse M. Torres, Peter Sideris, Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders, page 53",
          "text": "We wish we had the Fonzie touch — give it a little kick and voila, it's working. Unfortunately, printers don't like to be kicked.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2005, Rocket Jones (archive). http://rocketjones.mu.nu/archives/2005_06.php\nI have to do that to get the door of my pickup truck open sometimes. - Rookie astronaut Donald Pettit after he used his Fonzie touch to open a hatch on the International Space Station"
        },
        {
          "text": "2006, http://www.motoringfile.com/2005/08/24/the_mini_window_motor_issue/\nI had the driver’s side window motor replaced about three weeks ago on my ‘03 MC. Last weekend, the passenger side started acting up, but I guess I don’t have the “Fonzie” touch — beating on the door panel didn’t do anything but hurt my hand."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Sporting News Magazine https://web.archive.org/web/20071112161716/http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=220608",
          "text": "Usually, when things in the dashboard don't work, I just bang on it, and they start working again. This happened often with the speedometer. The Fonzie touch would not work for the radio."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hitting an electrical appliance to make it work. Any similar rough treatment that proves successful."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "electrical",
          "electrical"
        ],
        [
          "appliance",
          "appliance"
        ],
        [
          "successful",
          "successful"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) Hitting an electrical appliance to make it work. Any similar rough treatment that proves successful."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Fonzie touch"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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