Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
comic strip characters Augustus Mutt and Jim Jeffries, in U.S. cartoonist Henry Conway ("Bud") Fisher's strip, which debuted in 1907. Used allusively from 1917 in reference to "a pair of stupid men, affable losers," or to one tall (Mutt) and one short (Jeff).
Wikipedia
Mutt and Jeff were two Norwegian spies who worked for the United Kingdom and MI5 and were members of the Double Cross System.
In April 1941 two Norwegians, John "Helge" Moe (Mutt) and Tor Glad (Jeff) fetched up on a remote Aberdeenshire beach in Scotland, having travelled by seaplane and rubber dinghy. They immediately turned themselves in to the local police as German spies. MI5 soon 'turned' them, assigning them their codenames, which were the names of a pair of cartoon strip characters (see Mutt and Jeff). 'Mutt and Jeff' is also rhyming slang for 'deaf'.
Mutt and Jeff's mission was supposed to be one of sabotage, as well as having a secondary intelligence role, reporting (via wireless) military locations, deployments and civilian morale. MI5 used Mutt and Jeff's radio sets to relay false information, leading the Germans to believe that the United Kingdom intended to invade Norway (this activity was a component of Operation Fortitude). To ensure the German handlers did not suspect Mutt and Jeff of having sold out, MI5 arranged for fake sabotage operations - supposedly the work of the pair - to take place, in one case going so far as to set off a controlled explosion at a power plant which was widely reported in the local media as a genuine attack.
Doubts about Glad's reliability led MI5 to eventually intern him in 1943, and his radio transmissions were carried on by Moe until February 1944. By then MI5 believed that the Germans may have learned of Glad's detention, and so the operation was brought to a close.
Mutt and Jeff is a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns." Historians regard Mutt and Jeff, originally entitled A. Mutt, as the first American newspaper cartoon published as a strip of panels, as opposed to a single panel, making it the first "comic strip" to successfully pioneer that since-common format.
The "Mutt and Jeff" comic strip remained in syndication until 1983, employing the talents of several cartoonists, chiefly Al Smith who drew the strip for nearly fifty years. The series eventually became a comic book, initially published by All-American Publications and later published by DC Comics, Dell Comics and Harvey Comics. Later it was also published as cartoons, films, pop culture merchandise and reprints.
Mutt and Jeff may refer to:
- Mutt and Jeff, a comic strip created by Bud Fisher in 1907
- Mutt and Jeff (spies), two spies for the Allies in World War II
- "Mutt and Jeff", a method of interrogation, also called Good cop/bad cop
- "Mutt and Jeff", a type of "pair" of World War 1 British campaign medals
- "Mutt and Jeff" is cockney rhyming slang for "deaf"
Usage examples of "mutt and jeff".
He turned listlessly to the sporting sheet, read Doctor Crane's crop of seasoned bromides, took in an editorial on ambition with his mouth slightly ajar, and then skipped to Mutt and Jeff.
He turned and saw Mutt and Jeff standing in the doorway, wearing rumpled police uniforms.
Kinsman smiled at the Mutt and Jeff look of the Meyers- Smith team.
We became an effective Mutt and Jeff duo fast, and I could tell that I was a restraining influence on Fritzie, a check and balance on his admitted fondness for hurting criminals.