I call it the remote. Maybe the TV remote or the DVD remote. I know a girl that calls it the "clicky" incessantly.

the clicker or we just cut out the words and make the thumb desperately pressing the button motion (usually due to awful programing or because one of the very few shows we watch is coming on and one of us actually remembered)

I need to invest in one of those whathca-ma-do-hickeys that beeps when you whislte.. heh.. or perhaps a clicker to find ones remote?

I have a terrible whatchamacallit tragedy.

One of the doohickeys critical to programming my VCR has decided that it no longer functions. I have tapped it, mashed it, and begged it to function, all to no avail.

Because cheap VCR manufacturers no longer put programming controls onto the front of the machine, I can't change any of the existing programs. I also can no longer adjust the time or date settings of my machine. Just so long as I don't want to make any changes to my current programming schedule, I'm okay. I can tape to timeshift things I've already selected, but as soon as DST begins, I'm screwed. None of the programmable remotes that I have (there are at least three in the desk downstairs) that would be usable for the VCR have programming controls ... they are limited to basic play, FF, REW, channel changing. Any remote capable of doing what I need it to do would probably cost more than a new VCR. Yes, new recording device is probably going to end up being my solution, but any thoughts on what I can do until I buy something else?

Spend more time with us here? :)

I never watch TV anymore -I'm too much of a net nerd.

But I did see a universal remote with video or DVD controls (not sure which now, but if it's universal they're probably the same thing, right?) in one of the electrical stores for about 5 bucks a couple of months ago. I didn't pay too much attention to its specs because I was trying to wrestle it from my 5yo who didn't like the offering on the demo TVs and thought he had the solution)

They're 'buttons', of course.

The TV buttons, Sky buttons, Tape buttons, DVD buttons, CD buttons, Wireless buttons....

In fact, the only buttons the current wife will not aknowledge are the missing buttons from my shirt......

my shirt buttons are missing I cry
so what she says
so sew them I say
you should be so lucky she says

Do your hands not work Jay? :p

Not from this quarter.

And Shawnee, whoever told anybody "whatsitsname" wasn't used in America? Now, "wossname," there's a different story -- that story being the kind of compression that's happened to Worcester and Salisbury, among others. It'd still be understood; just thought a trifle quaint.

You might care to add "doo-funny," one O or two, to the list.

And the whatchamajigger dances the thingamajig.