I was driving the other evening and wanted to break up the miles with some music.
So I pushed the button on my phone and said: “YouTube. Jambalaya.”
Couple of seconds later the voice of the lady who lives in my phone said: “Here are some videos of Jam Belly I found on the web.”
My daughter thought that was a far funnier response than I did.
Obviously, Siri didn’t grow up in Pontotoc County.
Had I not been driving, I would have been interested in seeing what kind of videos would be summoned by the command of Jam Belly.
Sunday afternoon my curiosity won and I pushed Siri’s button and said: “YouTube. Jam Belly!”
Couple of seconds later, Siri says: “Here are some videos of Dan Bailey I found on the web.”
I have no idea who Dan Bailey is and have even less interest in watching videos of him, but it got me to thinking.
Siri goes pretty much everywhere I do, can hear all my phone calls and probably has to duck all day to avoid being hit by random text messages.
By now, she should be able to carry on a conversation like she’d spent her formative years playing dominoes in Slew Ballard’s barber shop.
So, I devised a clever test.
Pushed her button and said: “Fitzhugh.”
“I didn’t get that.”
“I said: ‘Fitzhugh.’”
“I don’t know what that means. If you like, I can search the web for “I said fit you.”
Frankly, I thought there was a little more attitude in her voice than I appreciated, but hey. I’m an open-minded kind of guy, so I let it slide.
Another test.
“Fried cornbread and pinto beans.”
“I couldn’t find any matching restaurants.”
Ok. I’ll give her that one. You can’t find fried cornbread and pinto beans in a restaurant.
Another test: “Should you put sugar in cornbread?
She waffled. Instead of taking a position - either right or wrong - she gave me a list of articles about people who don’t put sugar in cornbread and the heretics who do.
One last thing I wanted to know: “Can I get a new Siri?”
“Interesting question.”