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I know an Alexa and she says the same. I'll admit I hadn't thought about it before but it does sound like an incredibly annoying thing to have dropped on you fr

I know an Alexa and she says the same. I'll admit I hadn't thought about it before but it does sound like an incredibly annoying thing to have dropped on you from on high: constant jokes, if anyone addresses you in an Amazon-enabled home all kind of crap gets triggered... I can see why people are infuriated by it.

echelon 6y ago
It's like "Karen", but in this case the blame for misuse lies on a single company rather than a meme. We shouldn't abuse people's names by using them for products, gross generalizations, etc. It's poor taste, and it frequently hurts people unintentionally. Imagine your own name being used as a term for ridicule or poking fun. It's not a good feeling.
- williw 6y ago
  Thoughts go to all the Pete out there
  - notriddle 6y ago
    I wonder if OJ ever got asked about his cousin Homer?
- koolba 6y ago
  > We shouldn't abuse people's names by using them for products, gross generalizations, etc. It's poor taste, and it frequently hurts people unintentionally. In the case of Alexa and Cortana, the intention is to treat the machine as a person you can talk to. It’s intentional that it has a human name.
  - qchris 6y ago
    Perhaps it's just my ignorance, but I was under the impression that Cortana was never really a name of a person, but adopted from the Halo franchise (now owned by Microsoft) as the name of the main character's AI companion, which sort of made the name up. If so, I think that makes it a little different. I double-checked on Wikipedia for the disambiguation [1], but there doesn't seem to a subsection for a normal person-name of Cortana, as compared to the one for Alexa. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana_(disambiguation)
  - throwawayboise 6y ago
    Should have just called it "Computer" like on Star Trek. Or let you give it whatever name you like. It's your device, in theory.
    - Mountain_Skies 6y ago
      IIRC, the word 'Alexa' and the configurable alternatives 'Echo', 'Amazon', and 'Computer' are encoded into the firmware of the device itself with a wide variety of different accents accepted. Using an arbitrary word would mean everything the device hears would need to be constantly sent to Amazon so their servers could detect your custom wake word or you'd need to train the device to use your custom wake word, which would never be as accent complete as the built in wake words. That might be fine if it's just you or if everyone in your household are willing to also go through a voice recognition training session with the device.
      - throwawayboise 6y ago
        > Using an arbitrary word would mean everything the device hears would need to be constantly sent to Amazon Isn't it pretty well accepted that is already happening? It's why I'll never have one of these things in my house. That and I don't like talking to machines (unless I'm cursing at them).
        sib 6y ago
        Nope.
- camjohnson26 6y ago
  Chad and Dick too
- toyg 6y ago
  > Imagine your own name being used as a term for ridicule or poking fun. You mean like "a John"? Or "Dick"? Or "a big Charlie"? These things are old as sin, stuff like this will probably exist forever. Forbid it as much as you want, it will always come back one way or another. Or is the problem that now they "trend female", whereas they historically trended male? I have a pretty simple name, but because it was used in the title of a popular movie at one point, I've endured jokes about it all my life. What are we going to do, have all characters nameless in media? Of course not. Sometimes the answer really is "grow a thicker skin". Either that or abandon the "tainted" name, like it happened to Adolph/Adolf.
  - echelon 6y ago
    I'm not calling for censorship. Growing a thicker skin is a virtue. But it'd be nice if the people promulgating the trend also stopped to think about it. > You mean like "a John"? Or "Dick"? Or "a big Charlie"? This has been the case for so long that parents have had ample time to stop naming their children this. They recently renamed a nearby bridge in Georgia from "Dick Hunter Memorial Bridge" [1,2]. [1] http://ethunter1.blogspot.com/2006/03/hunter-bridge-part-2.html http://ethunter1.blogspot.com/2006/03/hunter-bridge-part-2.h... [2] https://thegate.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Dick-Hunter-Memorial-Bridge.jpg https://thegate.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/...
    - toyg 6y ago
      > parents have had ample time to stop naming their children this. I think it would be very depressing to abandon a glorious name like John just because a bunch of prostitutes use it as shorthand.
      - quantified 6y ago
        It’s a nickname for toilet, I think that’s the bigger issue. But I know lots of Johns all ages, it’s not going away. With the right last name, Richard can be carried with pride. I’ve met a Steele and a Hardin, they were perfectly happy to have their last name included.
8ytecoder 6y ago
I was in a call with an Alexa on Zoom and every time anyone mentions her name, my Echo would be triggered. I had to go mute Echo for the entire duration.
reaperducer 6y ago
People are like that. Ask a tall person if he's tired of people asking, "What's the weather like up there?" My first name is associated with a catch phrase of a particular era, and I can judge how old someone is by their reaction to it. You live with it. You move on with your life.
- quantified 6y ago
  Wonder how Boomer Esiason is taking to “Hey Boomer”
- morganf 6y ago
  Whatcha talking about, Willis? Hehe ;)
- saghm 6y ago
  For the first dozen or so years of my life, virtually every adult I met thought they were clever by referring to me as "Sam I am" (like from the Dr. Seuss book). Although thankfully that eventually waned, I still have a very intense dislike of that phrase.
- another-dave 6y ago
  I don't know, it feels like a different category when imposed from a company & overnight. There was an "Austin Powers" at an old workplace. Imagine being that guy, with a perfectly normal if uncommon name until one day a trailer for a new comedy spy film comes out… Obviously not much you can do about it with films, it's possible to happen, but I'd find that _much_ more annoying that getting tall jokes.
xuhu 6y ago
I'm colorblind and don't get offended by people asking "is this shirt red or green" when they find out. I started enjoying it once I had enough comeback lines to pick from.
- mewpmewp2 6y ago
  That sounds like a really great way to handle it. Find and learn the best comebacks possibly and make everyone feel good about the situation while showing off your positive attitude and wit.

echelon 6y ago

It's like "Karen", but in this case the blame for misuse lies on a single company rather than a meme. We shouldn't abuse people's names by using them for products, gross generalizations, etc. It's poor taste, and it frequently hurts people unintentionally. Imagine your own name being used as a term for ridicule or poking fun. It's not a good feeling.

williw 6y ago
Thoughts go to all the Pete out there
- notriddle 6y ago
  I wonder if OJ ever got asked about his cousin Homer?
koolba 6y ago
> We shouldn't abuse people's names by using them for products, gross generalizations, etc. It's poor taste, and it frequently hurts people unintentionally. In the case of Alexa and Cortana, the intention is to treat the machine as a person you can talk to. It’s intentional that it has a human name.
- qchris 6y ago
  Perhaps it's just my ignorance, but I was under the impression that Cortana was never really a name of a person, but adopted from the Halo franchise (now owned by Microsoft) as the name of the main character's AI companion, which sort of made the name up. If so, I think that makes it a little different. I double-checked on Wikipedia for the disambiguation [1], but there doesn't seem to a subsection for a normal person-name of Cortana, as compared to the one for Alexa. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortana_(disambiguation)
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  Should have just called it "Computer" like on Star Trek. Or let you give it whatever name you like. It's your device, in theory.
  - Mountain_Skies 6y ago
    IIRC, the word 'Alexa' and the configurable alternatives 'Echo', 'Amazon', and 'Computer' are encoded into the firmware of the device itself with a wide variety of different accents accepted. Using an arbitrary word would mean everything the device hears would need to be constantly sent to Amazon so their servers could detect your custom wake word or you'd need to train the device to use your custom wake word, which would never be as accent complete as the built in wake words. That might be fine if it's just you or if everyone in your household are willing to also go through a voice recognition training session with the device.
    - throwawayboise 6y ago
      > Using an arbitrary word would mean everything the device hears would need to be constantly sent to Amazon Isn't it pretty well accepted that is already happening? It's why I'll never have one of these things in my house. That and I don't like talking to machines (unless I'm cursing at them).
      - sib 6y ago
        Nope.
camjohnson26 6y ago
Chad and Dick too
toyg 6y ago
> Imagine your own name being used as a term for ridicule or poking fun. You mean like "a John"? Or "Dick"? Or "a big Charlie"? These things are old as sin, stuff like this will probably exist forever. Forbid it as much as you want, it will always come back one way or another. Or is the problem that now they "trend female", whereas they historically trended male? I have a pretty simple name, but because it was used in the title of a popular movie at one point, I've endured jokes about it all my life. What are we going to do, have all characters nameless in media? Of course not. Sometimes the answer really is "grow a thicker skin". Either that or abandon the "tainted" name, like it happened to Adolph/Adolf.
- echelon 6y ago
  I'm not calling for censorship. Growing a thicker skin is a virtue. But it'd be nice if the people promulgating the trend also stopped to think about it. > You mean like "a John"? Or "Dick"? Or "a big Charlie"? This has been the case for so long that parents have had ample time to stop naming their children this. They recently renamed a nearby bridge in Georgia from "Dick Hunter Memorial Bridge" [1,2]. [1] http://ethunter1.blogspot.com/2006/03/hunter-bridge-part-2.html http://ethunter1.blogspot.com/2006/03/hunter-bridge-part-2.h... [2] https://thegate.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Dick-Hunter-Memorial-Bridge.jpg https://thegate.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/...
  - toyg 6y ago
    > parents have had ample time to stop naming their children this. I think it would be very depressing to abandon a glorious name like John just because a bunch of prostitutes use it as shorthand.
    - quantified 6y ago
      It’s a nickname for toilet, I think that’s the bigger issue. But I know lots of Johns all ages, it’s not going away. With the right last name, Richard can be carried with pride. I’ve met a Steele and a Hardin, they were perfectly happy to have their last name included.

8ytecoder 6y ago

I was in a call with an Alexa on Zoom and every time anyone mentions her name, my Echo would be triggered. I had to go mute Echo for the entire duration.

reaperducer 6y ago

People are like that. Ask a tall person if he's tired of people asking, "What's the weather like up there?" My first name is associated with a catch phrase of a particular era, and I can judge how old someone is by their reaction to it. You live with it. You move on with your life.

quantified 6y ago
Wonder how Boomer Esiason is taking to “Hey Boomer”
morganf 6y ago
Whatcha talking about, Willis? Hehe ;)
saghm 6y ago
For the first dozen or so years of my life, virtually every adult I met thought they were clever by referring to me as "Sam I am" (like from the Dr. Seuss book). Although thankfully that eventually waned, I still have a very intense dislike of that phrase.
another-dave 6y ago
I don't know, it feels like a different category when imposed from a company & overnight. There was an "Austin Powers" at an old workplace. Imagine being that guy, with a perfectly normal if uncommon name until one day a trailer for a new comedy spy film comes out… Obviously not much you can do about it with films, it's possible to happen, but I'd find that _much_ more annoying that getting tall jokes.

xuhu 6y ago

I'm colorblind and don't get offended by people asking "is this shirt red or green" when they find out. I started enjoying it once I had enough comeback lines to pick from.

mewpmewp2 6y ago
That sounds like a really great way to handle it. Find and learn the best comebacks possibly and make everyone feel good about the situation while showing off your positive attitude and wit.