the.com/regulator
The unglamorous referee deciding whether your money, food, and air try to kill you.
means A person, body, or device that controls or governs something — keeping an industry, a system, or a flow of fuel, current, or pressure within safe and lawful limits.
from From Latin 'regula,' a straight stick or ruler — the same root behind 'regular,' 'rule,' and 'regiment.' The verb 'regulate' arrived in English via Late Latin 'regulare' (to control by rule), and 'regulator' followed as the agent: the one who keeps things straight. The mechanical sense — a clock's regulating mechanism, then steam and pressure regulators — grew alongside the governmental one, both leaning on the same idea of a ruler holding things to the line.
- watchmaking origin
- Named for a pendulum clock that set other clocks
- revolving door
- Many regulators later work for who they regulated
- body version
- Your brain's hypothalamus regulates temperature, hunger, sleep
- scuba gear
- A regulator turns deadly tank pressure into breathable air
- slow by design
- Rules often arrive after the disaster, not before
sec — u.s. securities and exchange commission, established 1934, oversees stock markets and public companies
fda — u.s. food and drug administration, established 1906, approves drugs and food safety
ofcom — u.k. office of communications, established 2003, regulates tv, radio, and telecommunications
ecb — european central bank, established 1998, regulates eurozone monetary policy and banking