Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Y'all have a Texas accent? Siri (and the world) might be slowly killing it
The Guardian ^ | 10 Feb 16 | Tom Dart

Posted on 02/10/2016 1:48:23 PM PST by SkyPilot

'People speak to machines differently than how they speak to people,' says language technology expert Alan Black.

It was a simple enough question, at least in this part of the world.

"How can we mosey on down to the rodeo?" my friend Ben Crook drawled, sat in a rocking chair on his front porch, a can of Lone Star beer in his left hand on a humid night in Houston.

Only one thing jarred with this otherwise stereotypical Texas scene: Crook was asking Siri, the voice-activated digital personal assistant on his iPhone, rather than, say, a passing sheriff on horseback with a cowboy hat wider than the Buffalo Bayou.

Siri understood the individual words but didn't know how to respond. But Crook had other questions. He was hungry; heck, so hungry he coulda eaten the north end of a southbound billy goat.

"We're fixin' to eat brisket, where should we go?" he asked Siri. She offered a list of 15 restaurants - though not all appeared to serve Texas barbecue. Siri was also helpful when asked where to find crawfish, but baffled about kolaches, the pastries of central European origin that are hugely popular in Texas, calling them "Colotchies".

Meanwhile, though the free Dragon dictation app performed admirably when fed lines from the 2004 movie The Alamo, it did turn "Davy Crockett feller" into "David Rockefeller", and evoking a family of Yankee industrialists is no way to describe a hero of the battle for Texas independence.

The upshot of this brief and decidedly unscientific experiment is that Siri is at her best when addressed in standard English, with accents toned down and slang avoided where possible.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: accents; apple; language; siri; technology; trends
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last

21 posted on 02/10/2016 2:13:36 PM PST by DoughtyOne (the Free Republic Caucus: what FReepers are thinking, 100s or 1000s of them. It's up to you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

Funny. My parents, my siblings, and my nieces and nephews who live in Texas all have Texas accents. They’re all technologically savvy and I haven’t noticed a drop off.


22 posted on 02/10/2016 2:13:59 PM PST by Durbin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

By the same token, I wonder if Siri could tell me the quickest way to the corner of Toidy Toid ‘n Toid?


23 posted on 02/10/2016 2:16:40 PM PST by Impala64ssa (You call me an islamophobe like it's a bad thing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

The best one I heard was when my son was fishing on the Stubblefield bridge on the North fork of Lake Conroe in Walker County. He said this old lady pointed to the creek bank and said, “I’m gonna bunker down over yonder.”


24 posted on 02/10/2016 2:18:54 PM PST by Undecided 2012
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot
I have a Texas accent but I don't use the word “mosey” very often and I don't talk to Siri. Yesterday I called 1411 to get a phone number. No matter how many times I said “ Houston” the robot on the other end did not understand me and finally after about 10 tries the robot hung up on me!

I don't think my accent was the problem.

25 posted on 02/10/2016 2:19:56 PM PST by Ditter (God Bless Texas!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: discostu

The Midwestern accent was prevalent in the media in the 1930s-1950s. Since Opie it’s also been flattened. The California radio voice rules all. Yes, it happens to be my accent, but I am sad about it. I love all the different accents of this country.


26 posted on 02/10/2016 2:20:01 PM PST by Yaelle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: discostu

From the article you cite...

“The fact that a rural, broadly Midwestern dialect became the basis of what is General American English is often attributed to the mass migration of Midwestern farmers to California and the Pacific Northwest from where it spread,[citation needed] since California speech itself became prevalent in nationally syndicated films and media via the Hollywood film industry.”

Having lived in CA all my life, it always seemed to me that people on TV talk like people here do. Most people from the Midwest sound “hick” (as Midwesterner Rush Limbaugh calls it) in comparison.


27 posted on 02/10/2016 2:21:45 PM PST by Hugin ("First thing--get yourself a firearm!" Sheriff Ed Galt, Last Man St anding.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Yaelle

Of course when SoCal became the center of media, especially the destination for people with dreams of stardom, the midwestern accent took over SoCal. The California radio voice is the midwestern accent.


28 posted on 02/10/2016 2:22:30 PM PST by discostu (This is a different kind of flying... all together.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: justlittleoleme
I grew up in Texas, but spent every summer at my Grandparents in Georgia.

My drawl is very slow, except when I'm mad. The madder I get, the faster I talk.

And I get very mad when people try to finish my sentences for me.

29 posted on 02/10/2016 2:25:44 PM PST by Elderberry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Hugin

You think Californians have no accent?

That’s funny rite there!


30 posted on 02/10/2016 2:28:49 PM PST by Ditter (God Bless Texas!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Hugin

Yes, for a variety of reasons the midwestern accent took over CA, especially SoCal where so much of the entertainment industry is headquartered and so many of the people think they’re going to be famous. It’s the midwestern accent that rules the media, since long before CA became the media capital.

No matter how you want to trace it, the General American Accent, which is what the media uses, came from the midwest.


31 posted on 02/10/2016 2:30:12 PM PST by discostu (This is a different kind of flying... all together.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

I suppose I do have a Texas accent, like everyone else out here-but since I shut off GPS-and all those annoying apps as soon as I got this phone, I’ll never know if it is unable to understand accents...


32 posted on 02/10/2016 2:35:37 PM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: discostu
since long before CA became the media capital

When was that? Before movies, radio and TV?

33 posted on 02/10/2016 2:39:20 PM PST by Hugin ("First thing--get yourself a firearm!" Sheriff Ed Galt, Last Man St anding.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: discostu
Accents have been on the way out since long before Siri. When TV decided the “normal” American accent was midwestern all other accents were on a ticking clock. Every generation is exposed less and less to their regional accent and more and more to the midwestern. Mass media does that.
Yep, I am no longer able to speak with my native (Boston) accent and my born-in-Boston son has never had one. Funny thing is, my from-somewhere-else neighbors think I have a strong accent. The fact that they can understand anything I say tells me I no longer have a strong Boston accent ;)
34 posted on 02/10/2016 2:39:30 PM PST by Prolixus (In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Elderberry

Mine gets worse when I am tired. But yeah mad doesn’t help either.


35 posted on 02/10/2016 2:39:32 PM PST by justlittleoleme (Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Jolla
I'm from Boston and I don't talk funny .... you hear funny.

MY uncle didn't marry an insect !

36 posted on 02/10/2016 2:43:48 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

I asked siri where to find a Chicken fried Steak and she couldn’t tell me.
True story.
(I already knew where to go, anyway).


37 posted on 02/10/2016 2:49:59 PM PST by GrouchoTex (...and ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

LOL!


38 posted on 02/10/2016 2:51:28 PM PST by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Jolla

“Texans don’t have accents, lot’s of folks outside the state kind’a sound funny but not Texans.”

Amen to that, y’all!


39 posted on 02/10/2016 2:52:32 PM PST by GrouchoTex (...and ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

I’ve never heard a Texan ask how can we mosey on down to the rodeo. EVER.


40 posted on 02/10/2016 2:53:18 PM PST by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson