stales, how lovely to see you! Here you go:
glitch - 1962, Amer.Eng., possibly from Yiddish glitsh "a slip," from glitshn "to slip," from Ger. glitschen, and related gleiten "to glide." Perhaps directly from Ger.; it began as technical jargon in the argot of electronic hardware engineers, popularized and given a broader meaning by U.S. space program.
http://www.etymonline.com/g2etym.htm

That was a cute letter; I wonder if it's true, about the iron filings and sulphur...