The zapper. The oojimeflip. The thingymajiggy. The clicker. The wand. The doflicky. Or just… the remote. We’ve all got our own names for them – what do you call your TV remote control?
The Fred. Two words that together make absolutely no sense to 99.99% of the world’s population. But to my pre-pubescent mind, those two words formed a very logical concept. And that concept was ‘the TV remote control’.
In fact, the phrase ‘the remote control’ was itself nonsensical to me. If I wanted to switch channels I’d ask my parent’s ‘could you pass the Fred?’. And without a bat of their eyelids, the black rectangular TV thingy would soon be in my hands.
Why ‘the Fred’, I hear you ask? The story goes that my parents handed my toddler brother the remote control and he replied ‘Fred’. Amused, or perhaps bemused, the name stuck with my parents, so that when I came into the world it was the only phrase used for the TV channel switcher. ‘The Fred’ mean remote control. ‘Twas ever thus. And note, it wasn’t called ‘Fred’ like it was some silly name for a pet; it was ‘the Fred’.
It was only when I was nearing my teens (yes, it lasted that long) that I was met with my friend’s confused expression when I asked for ‘the Fred’ at his house. I was then introduced to the phrase ‘remote control’.
Top 10 names for the TV remote control
That was just a look into my little world, but I’m sure most have their own family name for the TV remote control. In fact, according to a survey by the shopping site NetVouchercodes, there are at least 50 words for the remote control, with the top 10 being:
1. The remote
2. The flipper
3. The do-dar
4. The clicker
5. The switcher
6. The doubery
7. The dangle
8. The thingy
9. The thing
10. The whatjamacallit
So, what do you call yours? Does your TV remote control’s name feature in this top 10? Or do you have your own unique name like ‘the Fred’ or ‘Trevor’ – yes, Trevor was number 50 in NetVouchercode’s survey…
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