Why we press buttons - 6 Minute English

Rob: Hello. This is 6 Minute English and I'm Rob.

Neil: And I'm Neil.

Rob: Today we’re talking about buttons.

Neil: Yes, buttons. Buttons are what we

have on our clothes to fasten them but

the word is also used for things that we

push to make things happen.

Rob: Things like your bedside alarm, radio,

toaster, kettle. We press hundreds of

buttons every week without thinking

about it. Not everyone likes buttons

though, particularly the ones we have on

our clothes. It’s a recognised phobia.

What is this fear called? Is it

A: buttonophobia, B: koumpounophobia,

or C: coulrophobia. Any ideas Neil?

Neil: Er – I think I’ve got a fear of pronouncing

these words! No idea what the answer is, I think

buttonophobia is much too obvious – so

it’s one of the others – or is it? It’s

a hard one.

Rob: Well, I'll have the answer later in the

programme. Thinking Allowed is a BBC

Radio 4 programme which covers a range

of interesting topics. Recently, they

featured a discussion about buttons and

how important they are to everyday

life. Steven Connor, Professor of English

at the University of Cambridge, was on

the programme and he talked about the

appeal of buttons. What does say about

children and buttons?

We do love buttons and I think the

pleasure and the temptation of buttons…

this temptation and everyone feels it,

which is why buttons have to be very

convenient. On the other hand they have

to be kept away from children, so they've

got to be put high up on the wall, and

buttons that really matter have to be

made quite hard to push – like put behind

glass or something.

Rob: OK. What does he say about children

and buttons?

Neil: That they have to be kept away from

them! As I said before, I loved pressing

buttons as a child. I would press any that I

saw, so important ones did have to be out

of my reach.

Rob: Yes, he said buttons are a

temptation. A temptation is something

that makes you want to do something

and it’s often used when it’s something

you shouldn’t really do. So buttons that

lead to potentially dangerous or serious

consequences, like a fire alarm, need to

be protected, maybe behind glass, so

temptation doesn’t get the better of us.

Neil: But many buttons have a useful,

practical purpose in everyday life, like

calling a lift - so these buttons have to be

easy to use without difficulty. The adjective

for this is convenient. These everyday

buttons have to be convenient.

Rob: Professor Connor goes on to say a

bit more about why buttons are so

appealing. What’s his opinion?

You know what I think? I think it's down to

the fidgeting instinct of very digital or

manual creatures. I think we want to fidget

with things and adjust them, we want to

make them slightly better… I guess it's the

grooming instinct in apes.

Rob: So then, why can’t we resist buttons?

Neil: Because as humans we have a

fidgeting instinct. We can’t stay still for

very long, we need to move around a lot

because we are very digital creatures.

Rob: The use of digital though, is nothing

to do with modern online technology, is it?

Neil: No, a digit is a finger or toe. So we

are digital creatures – we have fingers

and we like to use them.

Rob: And one thing other digital creatures

do, creatures like apes, is grooming. That

is they use their hands to clean the body

hair of other apes. They look through the

hair for insects and bugs and pull them

out and eat them. But we can also use the

word grooming for humans, someone

who is well-groomed for example is neat

and tidy, clean and well presented.

Here’s Professor Connor again.

You know what I think? I think it's down to

the fidgeting instinct of very digital or

manual creatures. I think we want to

fidget with things and adjust them, we

want to make them slightly better…

I guess it's the grooming instinct in apes.

Rob: Before we wrap up, time to get the

answer to this week’s question. Some

people have a fear of buttons, it’s a

recognised phobia, but what’s it called? Is it...

A: buttonophobia, B: koumpounophobia,

or C: coulrophobia. And Neil, you said?

Neil: I didn’t, but I don’t think it can be

‘buttonophobia’, that’d be too easy.

And I think coulrophobia is a fear of

clowns, so I’m going for the other one -

koumpounophobia.

Rob: That it right.

Buttonophobia is a made up word, and as

you said, coulrophobia is a fear of clowns.

Right, now let’s review today’s vocabulary.

Neil: We’ve been talking about buttons.

These can be small round things we use

to fasten our clothes, or the things that

we push to make something happen.

Rob: Buttons can be a temptation. We see

one, we want to push it. So a temptation

is something that makes us want to do

something we know we shouldn’t.

Neil: And then we had the adjective

convenient. Something that is convenient

is easy to use without difficulty. For

example the buttons to call a lift are at a

very convenient height, they can be

reached easily.

Rob: Professor Connor went on to talk

about our fidgeting instinct. As humans

we love to fidget, we like to keep moving

around, we can’t stay still for very long

and we love to do stuff with our hands.

Neil: The professor talked about us being

digital creatures, which means creatures

with fingers – a digit is another word for a

finger or toe.

Rob: And finally we had grooming.

Neil: This is the habit of making ourselves

look nice by cleaning, washing and doing

our hair. It’s something some animals,

such as apes, do for each other.

Rob: Well the button here in the studio is

flashing, which tells me it’s time to wrap

up for today. Do join us next time and if

you can’t wait, you can always find us on

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

our App and of course on our website

bbclearningenglish.com. Bye for now.

Neil: Bye! Can I just press that button?

Rob: Oh go on then, if you like!