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.