I have been thinking about this one for awhile.

It seems to me that we ought to use “remote controller” to refer to the device that controls a television set.

I believe that the use of “control” in place of “controller” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” linguistic hypothesis.

This is analogous to the use of “install” in place of “installer”; many people like to drop the third syllable because it is simpler to say or write the two-syllable word than to say or write the three-syllable word.

The argument against using “install” as a noun is much stronger than the argument against using “control” as a noun. The latter argument already has been lost, it seems.

In contrast, it is worth asking people who use “install” as a noun whether they mean “installer” or “installation”; ask this in a group, and you will get conflicting answers. The conflicting answers make the respondents realize that they had different meanings in mind.

That illustrates why word choice matters. Pick an overloaded word with equally weighted definitions, and your audience of listeners or readers will have conflicting opinions about what you said or wrote. Pick a word with a clear definition, and your audience will have a clear understanding of what you meant.