Gremlin

Gremlin (eng. The Gremlin) is a mythical creature from English folklore, which he hates, and breaks equipment. It is believed that the word "gremlin" comes from the Irish gruaimin - "evil little Joker," or beer Fremlin's, which allegedly liked to drink pilots.

It is believed that the gremlins have been told the fighter pilots a Spitfire participating in the battle of Britain in 1940; some sources claim that the stories about these pests technology began to spread during the first world war. However documentary evidence of this available. The earliest printed mention of these creatures can be found in the article of the Royal air magazine "Royal AirForce Journal" of April 18, 1942, written by Hubert Griffith.

A year later, in 1943, the former RAF pilot Roald Dahl, after retirement, published a piece called "Gremlins". The book tells that one day during the battle over the English channel by a British pilot named Gus saw on the wing of his plane a little man with horns on his head, hard Swarovski wing. That is Roald Dahl is the author of the term "gremlin".

With this began the popularization of the myth of gremlins, which soon went beyond the internal tales of the pilots. The book fell into the hands of Walt disney, and he immediately decided to remove the cartoon. The PR Department of his company began to actively promote the rumors about airplane gremlins throughout the country. The film never saw light, but invented by disney characters were often found in the promotional materials of the forties.

The appearance of the gremlin in the contemporary view is quite peculiar. Usually it is described as a small creature growth of only about 20 inches (50 cm) with hairy legs that it walks very quietly, almost inaudibly.

It is believed that gremlins like to stay in the engines of cars, planes and other equipment. For their appeasement, it is customary to pour a mixture of beer and motor oil in cans of canned food, which is put close to the technological unit. Bikers sometimes tied bells to your vehicle, because it is believed that gremlins don't like the sound of bells and lose their strength (in some versions of the bells are dragging them into themselves). It is believed that gremlins not only to break motorcycles and other vehicles, but also deform the asphalt.

Currently, the gremlins often serve as characters of movies, cartoons, books and computer games, but in real cases, encounters with the unexplained, described by eyewitnesses, almost not mentioned.

Gremlins are reflected in psychology. "Gremlin effect" is a situation in which theoretically an efficient technique mysteriously crashes. Currently this term applies not only in technology but also in programming, and even occasionally in the description of the collective psychology.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»