It's the Word of the Day for August 17th.

Today's word is Glitch, spelled G-L-I-T-C-H.

Glitch is a noun. It's an informal word referring to an unexpected and usually minor problem.

It's used especially for a minor problem with a machine or device, such as a computer.

Here's the word used. In a sentence from the Atlantic by Colin Murphy,

Britain's postal system, once overseen directly by a government minister, became a government-owned statutory

corporation in 1970. In time, parts of it were spun off. Since the days of Margaret Thatcher,

the nation has pursued privatization more aggressively than most other countries, and the legal

and oversight structure was subjected to continual tinkering. In a deal originating

as a public-private partnership arrangement, the post office in the late 1990s computerized

its accounting and other operations. Glitches in the software soon resulted in hundreds of

rural postmasters being falsely accused of theft

and summarily fired. There's a glitch in the etymology of the word glitch. It may come from

the Yiddish word, meaning slippery place, but that's not certain. Print uses of glitch,

referring to a brief unexpected surge of electrical current, dates to the mid-20th century.

Astronaut John Glenn, in his 1962 book, Into Orbit, felt the need to explain the term to his readers with these words.

Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical circuit,

which takes place when the circuit suddenly has a new load put on it.

Today, the word can be used of any minor malfunction or snag.

If you're a gamer, you might even take advantage of a glitch that causes something unexpected and sometimes beneficial to happen in the game.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.

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