Fonzie

Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli (played by Henry Winkler) was a character in the American sitcom Happy Days (1974-1984). He is a leather-jacketed biker and mechanic. Although he is a high school dropout, he seems to be almost superhuman in his skills, wisdom, sexual attractiveness, and abilities that make him a much admired character in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the course of the show, the Fonz finished his high school diploma via night school and became an auto mechanic instructor. Though he never married, he also adopted a son in the final season, completing the transformation from rebel to family man.

In the first season of Happy Days, the Fonz was an extremely minor character, but he soon became a regular due to his instant popularity. His fame and admiration quickly grew among the American public and Fonzie eventually became one of the definitive pop culture icons of the late 1970s. Viewers were (and through reruns, still are) enchanted by his effortlessly stylish personality; the way he speaks, his trademark "Ayyy!" catch phrase, and the way he can seemingly get anything he wants with a snap of his fingers. These qualities made the Fonz nearly synonymous with the American concept of "cool". His leather jacket is now in the Smithsonian Institution.

Originally, according to ABC, Fonzie was supposed to wear sweaters, except when he was around his motorcycle. So, the producers of Happy Days put Fonzie around his motorcycle all the time so that he could wear the leather jacket all the time.

Fonzie received his ultimate recognition in Quentin Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction in merit of his cool attitude.

On one episode of the sci-fi cartoon Futurama a "fonzie" was a unit of measurement used to determine how "cool" something is. E.g.: "The cool-o-meter is reading over 40 megafonzies."