Banging on the TV

[gulliver]

Some of you younger folks may not remember, but thirty or more years ago, when a TV or other complicated device would go "on the fritz," you could sometimes just sort of bang on it. If you hit it in the right place, with just the right touch, it would start working again. This was usually good for a laugh too. In fact, the "cool" character Fonzie on the classic TV show "Happy Days" was famous for being able to smack a jukebox to get it to play free songs. I myself have done this on old pinball machines.

Banging on the TV would work in those days because the TVs were full of places where connections could become loose or tubes could become intermittent. It wasn't a great idea to hit the TV even then. You could definitely screw up your TV that way. But it was cheaper than getting the "set" (a TV used to be called a "TV set") repaired by someone who actually knew how it worked.

My point? A lot of people think it's cool to try to fix complicated things that they don't understand by banging on them.

[baldguy]

1. I've always been a fan of percussive maintenance for mechanical devices.

Doesn't work very well with people or other living things, though.

[JackintheGreen]

2. A gentle reminder

of how old I really am.

This is one of those things that I forgot I used to do when I was a kid, and that wouldn't even occur to my kid to do. I need to go lie down...

[democrank]

3. I`m with you, gulliver.

I still have a couple old devices I bring back to life with a good whack...like my radio.