Stupid fun with Alexa and local accents

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Are you part of the cot/caught merger and wondered which word it sounds like you’re saying to other people? Wonder if you say Aaron and Erin differently? Ever taken a really long time to figure out what words people were spelling phonetically when they wrote “sluff” or “crick”?

Answer those questions and more by telling Alexa “Alexa, spell…” and see what she spells!

Apparently when I say caught or cot it sounds like caught to people who do not say them the same. And the word I use for Don and Dawn is definitely Dawn. When I say slough and creek, not sluff and crick she indeed knows what I’m saying. As a bonus, she understand when I say “calm” and even “drawer” too, even though Dragon Naturally Speaking never does.

Alexa’s hearing isn’t perfect, though. While I can get her to correctly spell Mary and Marry, she thinks Merry is Marry too, and I know they don’t sound the same when I say them. Still, if you’ve got nothing better to do, learn secrets about your very own accent from your digital assistant.

2

Reminds me of the time, on Big Bang Theory, when Barry Kripke (who has a speech impediment) tried to communicate with Siri.

“Siwi, can you weckommend a westauwant?”
“Sorry, Bawwy, I don’t understand ‘weckommend a westauwant’.”

3

That’s what I thought of!

I don’t have Alexa or Siri but it sounds like a fun experiment ("expeeriment?). What if you ask it to spell February or Wednesday?

4

Tell Alexa “Klaatu, Barada, Nikto”. She has a couple of groovy responses.

5

Say “Alexa?” to Siri and see what she says.

My Mum said something that sounded like “Alexa” and Siri said:

“Wow… Awkward”

6

Ha!
When requesting she play a piece of classical music, we’ve discovered that Alexa often doesn’t UNDERSTAND the proper pronunciation of a foreign name, but she then goes on to PRONOUNCE it just fine, e.g.:

Me: “Alexa, play the Piano Trio in a minor by Ravel [rah-VELL]”

Alexa: “I don’t understand that.”

Me: “Alexa, play the Piano Trio in a minor by Ravel [RAAE-vuhll]”

Alexa: “Okay, playing the Piano Trio in a minor by Ravel [rah-VELL]”

(Maybe in this case it’s because “ravel” is also an unrelated English word, more commonly seen in its antonym “unravel”).

7

You pronounce Ravel ‘RAAE-vuhll’? Are you sure?

8

Not on this side of the Atlantic, you wouldn’t.

9

I don’t. ALEXA only understands me if I mispronounce it thus.

10

that reminds me of an anecdote.

I usually only see my brother and his family once a year when we fly across the Atlantic for Christmas. He has an Alexa on the kitchen counter and uses it all the time.

Last time I visited him (2019 just before covid), I was in the kitchen and the following happened:

Me: Alexa, what is the weather today?
Alexa:
Me: Alexa, please tell me the weather today.
Alexa:
Me: Alexa, tell me the damn weather!
Alexa:
My brother: Orville, why are you shouting at the coffee maker?

They had moved Alexa to another room… :crazy_face: