gremlins

Gremlins are fictional creatures rooted in Western folklore, noted for causing unexplained mechanical problems and mischief, particularly in aviation and other complex technologies. The concept is associated most strongly with British Royal Air Force personnel during World War II, who told stories of small, elusive beings that sabotaged aircraft, radios, and instruments. Over time, gremlins became a broader symbol for inexplicable malfunctions in machines.

Although folklore variants exist, the modern gremlin idea often describes clever, troublesome creatures that tamper with machinery. They are sometimes depicted as invisible imps or imps-like beings, blamed for delays, failures, and strange noises in engines or electrical systems. The tales served as a lighthearted way to cope with technical difficulties and the uncertainties of early aviation and engineering.

Gremlins entered popular culture in the mid-20th century. Roald Dahl wrote a serialized story, The Gremlins, published in 1943, which helped shape the modern image of mischievous techno-beings. The concept was later adapted by Disney in an animated short, and most famously by the 1984 film Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante. In the film, a small, furry creature called a Mogwai named Gizmo becomes a Gremlin after certain rules are broken, leading to a hostile, chaotic behavior. The film presents three guidelines related to caring for Mogwai: avoid bright light, do not wet them, and do not feed them after midnight; breaking these rules transforms them into troublemaking gremlins.

In contemporary usage, the term gremlin often denotes a sneaky, unpredictable fault in a system or device, sometimes used humorously by engineers and technicians to describe small but persistent glitches.