It's one of the eternal questions in life: what do you call your remote?
Tim Dowling over at The Guardian has a story about all of the different names that TV viewers have for that little device that saves us from having to walk across the room and has probably contributed to the onslaught of ADD we have. All of the names we've all heard are on the list, such as "clicker" (my mom used to call it that), "flipper" (which was popular with Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond), "wand," and "changer." Of course, The Guardian is a British paper so you're going to get some words that Americans really aren't familiar with, such as "tellychanger," "podger," and "hoofer-doofer." Most people I know just call it "the remote." We should come up with a different name for it. "Binky" is good, but that's already taken for pacifiers. How about "the glooptron?"
I call mine "Jessica."
[via TV Tattle]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
6-17-2008 @ 3:09PM
MrC said...
My family always called it the "Zapper" when I was a kid and that name sticks today.
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6-17-2008 @ 3:11PM
Erica said...
We call ours "mote." I guess saying RE-mote, was too time consuming, so we shorten it. :)
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6-17-2008 @ 6:30PM
Marek Hryc said...
Same here! I thought I was the only one!
6-17-2008 @ 10:32PM
David Weinberger said...
I'd like to join the "mote" club. My 4yo has got that down already too!
6-17-2008 @ 3:18PM
Joe said...
I know of a family that calls all remote controller 'telecommanders'. It's pretty annoying.
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6-17-2008 @ 9:39PM
Isabelle Carreau said...
We say "télécommande" in French, so maybe they got that expression from French?
6-17-2008 @ 3:20PM
that one girl said...
My dad always called it the gun. I guess it makes sense, since you point and shoot. Sort of.
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6-17-2008 @ 3:21PM
Andrew said...
I call it "that fuckin thing."
As in "Where is that fuckin thing?!"
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6-17-2008 @ 5:52PM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
I call mine 'some bitch' for the same reason. I found mine in the freezer one time. They need to put a pager on them damn things.
6-18-2008 @ 8:10AM
Mark G said...
lol, awesome....I call mine the converter. Got it from my parents I guess
6-17-2008 @ 3:22PM
Jay Black said...
we always called ours -- for reasons lost to time -- "the box." i've come to really like that name; the definite article mixed with the mundane three letter word seems to really connote a feeling that "the box" has a kind of power to it. and when you've got nothing else in your life bringing you joy _except_ your tv, the box certainly does have power.
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6-17-2008 @ 3:24PM
Jake said...
I call it the remote.... maybe I still have my sanity.
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6-17-2008 @ 3:26PM
I miss my stars! said...
We call ours the "controller" and my dad used to call his the "tuner."
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6-17-2008 @ 3:27PM
obadiah spittle said...
I call it "the mouse," considering that I almost never watch television in front of a television anymore.
But, clicker is what it's called if I'm at home with my parents.
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6-17-2008 @ 5:08PM
joel said...
damn you for beating me to that one...we don't even have a tv hooked to cable in our house. Even my 4yr old daughter calls it the mouse.
6-17-2008 @ 3:53PM
Ryan said...
95% of the time I call it "remote" or "remote control" or just "controls."
Sometimes I'd like to throw in a "flippy" and a "clicky" just to be funny.
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6-17-2008 @ 4:19PM
jason said...
the buttons
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6-17-2008 @ 4:25PM
Akbar Fazil said...
peanut
but then, it is a tivo remote and that seems to be adopted by the majority of tivo users I know.
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6-17-2008 @ 4:26PM
CableMonkey said...
We cal it "The Power" because the person who holds it, has "The Power".
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6-17-2008 @ 4:31PM
Jenny said...
Growing up, we used to refer to it as "the button." But now I suffer ridicule when I call it that, as my husband feels the remote control does not meet his stringent definition of "button." (even though it most certainly has buttons ON it)
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