# remote control / remote / clicker



## Random1

What do you call the device that changes the channel/station of your television? I am just interested to see what most people call it -- personaly I call it a "remote."


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## Anne345

french : télécommande, zapette (popular)


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## Jacob

I call it a remote or remote control. I call it a remote more often.


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## panjabigator

Two of my roommates called it a channel changer.  I was shocked!  I say remote control!


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## Bienvenidos

English: remote
Farsi: We use the English word as well.

*Bien*


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## barkley04

In tunisia, we call it commande, télécommande or blaka (borrowed from french: plaque).


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## Tresley

It does get called the 'remote' or 'remote control' in our house now and again, but my children call it 'the telly buttons', my wife calls it 'the telly zapper' and I call it 'the gadget'!


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## linguist786

Jacob said:
			
		

> I call it a remote or remote control. I call it a remote more often.


Exactly the same here.
Even when speaking Gujarati, we still call it a "remote".


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## Etcetera

In Russian it's пульт дистанционного управления (pult distantsionnogo upravlenioya) - it's the same as remote control. In informal speech it's called дистанционник (distantsionnik) or just пульт. 

In Italian it's telecomando.


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## diegodbs

In Spanish (Spain): "mando a distancia" or more often "mando".


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## brian

I voted for "remote control" since I say that pretty often, but I also frequently say "remote" and "controller."  All three of these are always preceded by "the."

_Do you know where the remote is?
Do you know where the remote control is?
Do you know where the controller is?_

Oddly enough, I never say (nor have ever heard said):

_Do you know where the control is?
Do you know where the remote controller is?_

OK, so may I may have possibly heard the latter, but definitely not the former.


Brian


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## panjabigator

How about channel changer?  Has anyone heard that one?  What was weird to me was that my roommates (two seperate roommates, from two different school years) actually looked at me like I was the outlier...saying remote control...!


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## brian

panjabigator said:
			
		

> How about channel changer?  Has anyone heard that one?  What was weird to me was that my roommates (two seperate roommates, from two different school years) actually looked at me like I was the outlier...saying remote control...!



Yes, I have heard that before.  I'm from the southern US (New Orleans, LA) and go to college in the north (Chicago, IL) so there are lots of differences in word useage geographically that I notice.  I think this may be one of them.  Another difference in useage is by age--I more often hear older people say "clicker," which to me seems like an off-the-cuff word for something that someone has not seen before.

_Hand me the uh...um...that clicker!
Give me that um...that...channel changer thing! Darned contraption..._




Brian


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## robbie_SWE

Funny thread! 

In Swedish we say "*fjärrkontroll*" ("remote control"). I've never heard of an easier way to say it or slang.  

In Romanian we say "*telecomanda*", just like in French and Spanish. Don't know if there is a slang. 


 robbie


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## Henryk

German: 

Fernbedienung


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## berty bee

hungarian :
távirányító 
It's similar to the german word 'Fernbedienung'


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## Flaminius

Japanese:
チャンネル (channeru) < channel
リモコン (rimokon) < *remo*te *con*trol

Taking the first two syllables from the two components is a favourite method for Japanese to shorten derived words.  It works not only for Sino-Japanese but also Japanese English words.


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## karuna

*In Latvian:

*_tālvadības pults_ = remote control's console
or simply _pults _(= console) in colloquial speach.


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## ukuca

In Turkish:
remote control = "uzaktan kumanda" or "kumanda" (abb. form)
but some families say "cak cak" for remote control which I find funny )


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## badgrammar

ukuca said:
			
		

> In Turkish:
> remote control = "uzaktan kumanda" or "kumanda" (abb. form)
> but some families say "cak cak" for remote control which I find funny )



Yes, I always just heard "kumanda" in peoples' homes.


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## optimistique

In Dutch we say *'afstandsbediening'*, which means more or less the same as remote control.


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## maree

I would say remote if i were to speak/write in English.
In Norwegian it's called _fjernkontroll_. This is about a direct translation of the English word.


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## amikama

In Hebrew it's *שלט רחק* (_shalat rakhak_) or *שלט רחוק* (_shalat rakhok_), or just *שלט* (_shalat_) for brevity.
שלט means "controller", רחק/רחוק means "remote".


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## avalon2004

In Greek it's *τηλεχειριστήριο* [tilechirestírio}, although there is probably a shorter term in existence!


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## nartak

brian8733 said:


> Yes, I have heard that before.  I'm from the southern US (New Orleans, LA) and go to college in the north (Chicago, IL) so there are lots of differences in word useage geographically that I notice.  I think this may be one of them.  Another difference in useage is by age--I more often hear older people say "clicker," which to me seems like an off-the-cuff word for something that someone has not seen before.
> 
> _Hand me the uh...um...that clicker!
> Give me that um...that...channel changer thing! Darned contraption..._
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Brian


I use Channel Changer. Clicker is generally used by people who actually had an old television which had a remote that would actually click a sound towards the television.


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: controle remoto (it seems as though telecomando is also used in Portugal).


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## 2PieRad

I call it a remote (controller) in English or 遥控(器) in Chinese (yao2 kong4 qi4)


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## Kangy

In Spanish: control remoto
For short: control


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## Outsider

jazyk said:


> In Portuguese: controle/controlo remoto (it seems as though telecomando is also used in Portugal).


Both are used, and the former is often shortened to "controle/controlo".


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic:

In Jerusalem, it's _rimot_, a borrowing from the English _remote_. Some people also say _rimot kontrol_ (from _remote control_).
In the Galilee, it's _makhshir_, a borrowing from the Hebrew מכשיר, which means "device."

In standard Arabic it's جهاز التحكم عن بعد (_jihaazu 't-taHakkum `an bu`d_), but no one says that in everyday life.

I personally say _rimot_ in Arabic and _remote_ in English.





amikama said:


> In Hebrew it's *שלט רחק* (_shalat rakhak_) or *שלט רחוק* (_shalat rakhok_), or just *שלט* (_shalat_) for brevity.
> שלט means "controller", רחק/רחוק means "remote".


 I find this highly interesting because it shows that Palestinian Arabic uses a Hebrew word in a way that native speakers do not use it. I would have expected the Hebrew translation to be מכשיר something or other.


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## Trinite

I personnaly don't call it, I know it won't come. I go and fetch it.


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## irene.acler

In *Italian* we say _telecomando_.


I have a question:



Kangy said:


> In Spanish: control remoto
> For short: control


 
Kangy, are you referring to the way you call it in Argentina or Spain? Because I thought you call it "mando a distancia".


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## Kangy

irene.acler said:


> Kangy, are you referring to the way you call it in Argentina or Spain? Because I thought you call it "mando a distancia".


Argentina


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## irene.acler

Gracias, Kangy


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## OldAvatar

robbie_SWE said:


> In Romanian we say "*telecomanda*", just like in French and Spanish. Don't know if there is a slang.



Slangy, some people, not many, use „rimot” from English _remote_.


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## Hakro

*Finnish*: kaukosäädin (literally "remote adjuster")


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## wildan1

nartak said:


> Clicker is generally used by people who actually had an old television which had a remote that would actually click a sound towards the television.


That must be why we call it _a clicker_ in our house--our grandmother had a TV with such a remote control back when that was an unusual luxury. 

It even developed a "Spanish" nickname we made up -- _el cliquero_!


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: _дистанционно управление_ ("distant control") or, much oftener, just _дистанционно._


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## apmoy70

avalon2004 said:


> In Greek it's *τηλεχειριστήριο* [tilechirestírio}, although there is probably a shorter term in existence!


In Greek it's:

A/«Τηλεχειριστήριο» 
/tileçiris'tirio/ (neuter noun); Compound, adv. and prefix «τῆλε» ('tēlĕ, 'tile in the modern pronunciation)--> _at a distance, far off_ (PIE base *kʷel-, _far off_) + learned (Katharevousa) neuter noun «χειριστήριο» (çiris'tirio)--> _manual, manipulator_
B/ «Τηλεκοντρόλ»
/tilekon'trol/ (neuter noun); Hybrid word; adv. and prefix «τῆλε» + English loan word "control"
C/ «Κομπιούτερ»
/komp'çuter/ (neuter noun); the English word "computer"
A & B prevail by far.


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## Nizo

In Esperanto, it's a *teleregilo*.  _Tele-_ comes from the Greek for _at a distance/far off_ (see above); _regi_ is the Esperanto verb meaning _to command_; _-ilo_ is an Esperanto suffix for a tool / a device / an instrument.


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## Adlu

Albanian:

*Telekomandë*

or
*
Pult* (more popular)


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## marco_2

In Polish: *pilot*


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## 涼宮

In Venezuelan Spanish we use ''control''.


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## إسكندراني

In Egypt it's ريموت remoot, or ريموت كنترول remoot kontrool - just like palestinian (directly from English).


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## ilocas2

Czech:

*dálkový ovladač* - something like "distance controller"

In normal life it's called mostly just *ovladač*


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