Hey Siri Comma, I have a problem Period.
Nope, I’m not talking about the kind of period that plagues women throughout what could arguably be called their best years. Although those are indeed sometimes a problem. No, I’m talking about the kind of period that should come silently at the end of a sentence.
The problem didn’t start when I began using Siri to get my iPhone to talk to me or do things for me. Nor did it start when I went a step further and began using the little microphone icon on my iPhone’s keyboard. I may not be the slowest smartphone typist, but I’m certainly not the fastest and I love being able to create a text message, an email, or a note quickly using the speech-to-text feature that is enabled when I tap that little icon.
It took me a little while to get used to verbalizing my punctuation, which is required in order to avoid very long run-on sentences, but now it’s like second-nature. THAT is where the problem began. You see on a couple of occasions lately, I’ve caught myself leaving VOICEmail messages complete with commas, periods, and even exclamation points… fully verbalized EXCLAMATION POINT!
So far, it’s only happened on calls to people who know me well enough to just laugh or roll their eyes Period. But what happens when I start verbalizing my punctuation at a cocktail party or during a meeting Question Mark? And what if someone in the meeting happens to be named Mark Question Mark? How will this end Question Mark? If no one can help me, not even Mark Comma, I may be forced to stop using that little microphone icon Period.
on Wednesday, April 20, 2016