Don't touch that dial

See stay tuned. Only this form displays even more gall, because it suggests that you were about to touch the dial, and the announcer knows it because he's well aware that he was boring you to death. It's like when Dan Rather says "See you tomorrow night", only how can he fucking see me when there's no camera in my room? Pretending that I have some kind of feedback, when actually I'm at the receiving end and he's at the giving end. What's up wit dat?

It had never occured to me that this phrase might seem odd to some people, but there I was, on vacation with my boyfriend's family, and someone said, "'Don't touch that dial." His eight-year-old brother turned to his mom and asked, "Mom, why do people say that?"

Then I realized that the phrase doesn't have a lot of context anymore. For the most part, there aren't dials on TVs and most people simply use a remote. It seemed like a strange question at first, but the eight-year-old found the idea of a TV that you control with a dial, one you have to walk up to, equally strange.

Amazing how a question from a kid made me suddenly feel so dated.