Weird things that once you notice them are everywhere

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My son is about to turn a year old and people keep giving him things with buttons and lights that talk. (Some of them are good toys. Some of them mysteriously wind up at Grandma’s.). The weird thing is, none of them have a male voice. NONE. Last time I was at Target I went down the whole aisle checking and every single toy that talks is a woman. Even if that doesn’t really make sense for the toy (there was a puppy that came in “boy” and “girl” for some reason, but both of them had lady voices.

It’s weird that I can’t buy my little boy a toy that has man who talks to him!

So what other weird things did you notice and think “hey that’s funny” but then realize are everywhere?

2

Are they actual recorded female voices? Or is it just that such toys all have crappy speakers that don’t do low frequencies?

3

I was at this random guy’s house who offered to show me his lifelong toy collection.
I’m like ok…suure.
Then his toys moved and talked with a sinister voice.
I then walked out of the house…

4

What about a “See and Say”? They use a male voice.

5

Is it possible that this is just the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?

6

I remember a stuffed talking Eeyore at Target a few years back that definitely had a male voice.

7

I think you’ll find that almost anything that:

A. Sings and
B. Is made by Fisher-Price

uses the same woman’s voice!! :eek:

I assume she is in an insane asylum somewhere constantly singing "♫La comida, it’s the kitchen!♫

8

This doll has a male voice.

:smiley:

9

Gawd… This was a “thing” back when machines first started to talk.

Since the machines were, in essence, servants, the PC crowd accused them of sexism. Yes, really.

The explanation was that it was easier and cheaper to make higher-pitch voices than lower-pitched voices.

I would expect toys to use the cheapest technology.

Do talking GPS units still use “feminine” voices?

10

The explanation I have heard for this is that female voices are easier to understand, and are liked better by a wide range of ages and sexes.

I forgot where but it implied this was the result of actual study and focus groups, nearly any prerecorded or machine generated voice will be female by default due to this.

11

What about Speak & Spell? It used a mans voice. Very authoritarian.

12

Try to imagine Teddy Ruxpin with Harvey Fierstein’s voice…

13

Look, you haven’t lived until you’ve walked into a pitch black bedroom and heard from a corner an absurdly high pitched female voice “… come and PLAY with me!”

14

…or been driving after dropping the kids at daycare and hear a male voice from the backseat say, “Goodbye” as the Speak and Spell goes into auto-shutoff.

15

Back when stand-alone GPS devices were all the rage, somebody made one with replaceable voices. You could download different voice sets done by various actors or impersonators.

I never had one, but I always wanted to get a Mr. T voice set. Can you imagine driving along & suddenly it shouts
“I pity da foo who don’t turn lef in 100 feet!!!”
“GO Back foo!! You missed da turn!!”

etc.

16

I swear: my Chrysler van’s GPS voice is Susan Sarandon. And she sounds HURT when I disobey a direction.

I’m sorry, Su…GPS. I’ll try harder.

17

Sean Connery ( or a reasonable facsimile) tells me where to go on my GPS. I figure if I have to have a man tell me where to go, it might as well be Sean Connery!

18

When my mom got her first GPS I changed it to “Australian man” and she never did figure out how to change it back. Used to crack me up.

19

Why would she ever want to? :wink:

20

If you want bossy,
go Aussie.