Panic!!! Button

We have an alarm system in our house. And conveniently, the alarm system people have provided us with little remote control dealies (for lack of a better word) to put on our key chain. That way, when we come home and open the door and the alarm begins going off, we simply have to press the correct button on our key chain and, boop!, off it goes. This prevents us from coming in, quickly throwing our bags down, and frantically running throughout the house to the keypad to punch in our code before the scary alarm starts and the swat team comes out.

This little remote-control-key-chain-dealy also comes with a panic button. The panic button is different. It isn't white. It is red. If you hold this button down, the scary alarm begins going off immediately. Obviously, this button is to be pressed only in emergencies.

But what I don't understand is this: Why do the alarm people assume this frenzied, panic-stricken emotional state on behalf of their customers? Why call it a "panic" button? Do the alarm companies see the users of this button as utterly freaking out? "Why else would they hit it?" they are probably asking themselves. Is this the button you hit when you are simply panicking? Why not use a more emotionally-neutral term and call it the "Emergency" button? Just because I am in an emergency does not necessarily mean that I am panicked. I don't like being pigeon-holed into certain emotional states.

And what happens if you are having a panic attack? Do you hit it then? Certainly, one could make the case that this is legitimate. "Hey, I was panicking. So I hit the panic button." Perhaps one could make the case that this is the only time one should hit the panic button - when one is truly panicking.

Capin.