I was reading through the Chrome extensions API, and came across this amusing reference to the (in)famous “Series of Tubes” speech by the now deceased former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens:
is not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand, those tubes can be filled, and if they are filled when you put your message in, it gets in line, and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material.
I remember back in 2006 when this went viral, how quick I was to join everyone else in ridicule of the late Ted Stevens’ metaphor/ wording. However, I must admit that my pro Net Neutrality bias led me to be a bit unfair. For a layman, it’s an apt enough metaphor, as demonstrated by its reference in the Chrome extensions API documentation.