Post #699418

When I was a kid, the thing you could use to operate your electric garage-door opener from outside, such as from the car, was a little larger than a deck of cards – which, back then, was pronounced "pack of cigarettes". It was kept in the glovebox or clipped to the sunvisor. My parents called it the "beeper", only and always. It made no noise except for whatever came from the plastic button itself, and it certainly didn't beep; I never associated "beeper" with any kind of beeping. That's just what the thing was called, a beeper. Another kind of beeper grew common in the '80s, the kind also called a pager. But my folks kept calling the portable garage door button a beeper. Was it just them? Anyone else ever encounter this usage? (It was not called a "remote control", and it _definitely_ wasn't called a "remote". I first heard "remote" as a noun in an episode of The Cosby Show in the late '80s, and figured it for an AAVE usage. Maybe or not, but it's ubiquitous now!) @troublewithwords @grammargirl