as opposed to pull, lick or squeeze

I suppose this might date from the days when so called "push-buttons" were new and intriguing and unobvious; people knew where they were with a giant lever, a bell-pull or a dial but modern-fangled push-buttons evidently required instructions in their use and would probably have read "please depress firmly momentarily" if there'd been enough room.

Localpeople may remember the time-before-last when the pedestrian crossing along George Street were updated that information notices were distributed to people explaining how Zebra crossings operate, slightly worrying both because lifelong residents of the UK should have had such things drummed into them as a child (by both teachers and parents or guardians) and one would hope that basic urban pedestrian survival techniques were amongst the questions in the Life in the UK test so that immigrants need not employ the risky "just watch what everyone else does" method of crossing streets; tourists (for the benefit of whom I assume the "LOOK LEFT" or "LOOK RIGHT" warnings written on the road at selected pedestrian crossing-points primarily to be) would be most at risk from not knowing how a particular crossing worked but wouldn't be covered by a mailing, further indicating signs at the crossing themselves to have been the best method. It would have been nice if there had been accompanying signs at various points along the road telling drivers what to do when faced with a Belisha beacon though most eventually seemed to learn the correct technique.