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Feb. 12th, 2006
The Remote
Feb. 12th, 2006 09:55 pmHow many remotes do you own? [In my house there are six.]
Do any of them make a clicking sound when you press the buttons? [None of ours do; they all operate silently.]
Did you ever own a remote that clicked? [I never did.]
Remotes in comics and cartoons always click. And I know in some places, people actually refer to remotes as "clickers". So where the eff did this come from?
You see someone in a comic pointing a small non-descript object in their hand that goes "click" and you know it's a remote -- even though that object, in the very act of clicking, is acting unlike a remote.
Granted, there are lots of weird carryovers in our attitudes toward sounds. We still say that phones "ring" even though it's been years since they actually rang -- cuz they used to. Dogs never actually said "bow wow", but they do make some kinda sound, that's probably closer to "bow wow" than it is to, say, "ring ring".
But this whole idea of remotes clicking -- or even making any kind of sound at all -- we all seem to accept the idea, but why? Where did the idea come from? Is it only Canadian remotes that don't click, or what?
Yes, sutff like this actually matters to me. :P
Do any of them make a clicking sound when you press the buttons? [None of ours do; they all operate silently.]
Did you ever own a remote that clicked? [I never did.]
Remotes in comics and cartoons always click. And I know in some places, people actually refer to remotes as "clickers". So where the eff did this come from?
You see someone in a comic pointing a small non-descript object in their hand that goes "click" and you know it's a remote -- even though that object, in the very act of clicking, is acting unlike a remote.
Granted, there are lots of weird carryovers in our attitudes toward sounds. We still say that phones "ring" even though it's been years since they actually rang -- cuz they used to. Dogs never actually said "bow wow", but they do make some kinda sound, that's probably closer to "bow wow" than it is to, say, "ring ring".
But this whole idea of remotes clicking -- or even making any kind of sound at all -- we all seem to accept the idea, but why? Where did the idea come from? Is it only Canadian remotes that don't click, or what?
Yes, sutff like this actually matters to me. :P
