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English Language & Usage

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    Good point @EdwinAshworth, but it's a riff on a phrase, so I think the meaning can be fluid. Don't riffs usually mean "whatever it is used to mean in context" PLUS "see how I made a reference?" Commented 2 days ago
  • 2
    You could add to this by quoting the Wikipedia reference at 3: "In the 1960s, television controls enabled users to adjust the dimensions of the image, even to the point of distortion (the horizontal and vertical), and also to cause the image to "roll" vertically; this was in order to allow sets to be fine-tuned to compensate for sometimes-wide variations in reception quality. . . Such fine-tuning was phased out of western televisions in the 1980s and rendered obsolete with the advent of digital broadcasting." Commented 2 days ago
  • 5
    I am very satisfied by this answer - my question asking about common usage was, in hindsight, misguided. The fact that they are riffing off of a major piece of popular culture makes that aspect of the question void. Commented 2 days ago
  • 3
    This misses the very salient fact that for decades there were "control" knobs on every tv called the "horizontal hold" knob & the "vertical hold" knob, along with a "volume control" knob. These are the basis for the Outer Limits phrases. But you don't need to be referencing it to talk about controlling the horizontal & vertical, you can be just referring to the knobs & control. Commented yesterday
  • 6
    @philipxy Are you suggesting that the specific phrasing "We will control the horizontal... we will control the vertical" (or minor variation thereof) could be used without being a direct reference to the Outer Limits intro? Unlikely; the show's intro was a cultural touchstone in the '60s in the US, as much as "to boldly go" was. Commented yesterday