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  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    ... please call us on oh-one-nine-one ...four million, three hundred and twenty-six thousand, three hundred and twenty-two.


    The, verbatim, final parting on a (not entirely unsolicited) automated phone call my partner received yesterday from a firm offering free e-learning ("how to use a computer") courses.

    Phone number un-obfuscated, not that searching on it appears to immediately bring up the company concerned (which is another WTF since it appears their SEO is so dire...)


  • @PJH said:

    three hundred and twenty-two
    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB. I would have listened to it again just to hear that done correctly. Did it have a generic American accent or received pronunciation? (Somehow, I doubt it would have used a Geordie accent.)


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @TarquinWJ said:

    @PJH said:
    three hundred and twenty-two
    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB. I would have listened to it again just to hear that done correctly. Did it have a generic American accent or received pronunciation? (Somehow, I doubt it would have used a Geordie accent.)
    Any further commentary on my part at the moment would be pure speculation, since I'm now at work.



    Given this was just a throwaway conversation we had, I didn't hear the message myself and I didn't query such matters, it might not have been quite verbatim, and could indeed have been en-US, and I inserted an and since I would normally put one in myself.


    ...I would have listened to it again just to hear that done correctly....
    This was an incoming call, not an outgoing one, so that wouldn't have been an option anyway.


  • At least it didn't give you the phone number in scientific notation.



  • The IT Crowd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ



  • @PJH said:

    ... please call us on oh-one-nine-one ...four million, three hundred and twenty-six thousand, three hundred and twenty-two.

    My parents used to have the number 890-9089 (don't bother calling it; I'm not supplying the area code, and anyway they're both deceased so the number was reassigned to Jenny from the Tommy Tutone song).  Whenever somebody asked for their number and we didn't think they had any justifiable reason for it (like writing a check) we'd rattle off as quickly as possible "eightninetyninetyeightynine".

    Two or three iterations of "if you're not going to pay attention here it is again exactly the same way" and they usually decided they didn't really need the number after all.



  • I recently had the misfortune of needing to speak with someone from A Major Bank's HR department.

    Or at least needing to engage in an online chat with someone half way around the world who was working on behalf of them.  Same thing, really, from a certain point of view.

    The web-based chat package they use (I won't name names, but it was truly 'Orrible) displays a big warning never to disclose usernames, passwords, or SIN/SSN in the chat, as nobody would ever need to see those, and even enforces that rule by carefully blocking out any string of six or more digits.

    I'm sure you can guess what format the ticket numbers used by that office took.  Rather than deal with the actual problem, they have developed the practise of spelling out numbers one digit at a time.  Imagine my joy at being assigned ticket five million, four hundred and sixty two thousand nine hundred and two.

    Still, dealing with the chat system is still far easier than going through the automated phone system, which appears to have been developed by whales for communicating deep underwater.  Every time I have tried to get past the auto-bumpkin system, usually by saying "English.  En-GLISH.  ENG-LISH.  Ahn-Gleesh.  Ehn-gliss.  Ay-Nng-Leesh.  ENG-Lease." until it eventually lets me by, I am reminded of these guys.

    Even stabbing the traditional "just let me speak to something approximating a human" keys won't work until I get past the first three prompts.  I eventually tried recording the prompts and playing back just the desired words but that didn't help.  On the plus side, I guess that minor complaints like "I didn't get paid this week" are down as it's less trouble to live with the problem than to contact anyone who can do anything about it.

     

     



  • @TGV said:

    The IT Crowd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ

     

    Well that's easy to remember! Oh - one quintillion one hundred and eighty-nine quadrillion nine hundred and ninety-eight trillion eight hundred and nineteen billion nine hundred and ninety-one million one hundred and ninety-seven thousand and two hundred and fifty - three.

     

     



  • @da Doctah said:

    My parents used to have the number 890-9089 (

    When I was in high school one friend had the number 3x33x3 and other 3y33y3. I thought that was interesting. But then 8 digit phone numbers came in and wrecked the rhythm! (If you knew where I grew up you could probably guess the numbers, which are probably still connected)



  • @TarquinWJ said:

    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB
    For those of us who are neither en-GB nor en-US, what would be the difference?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Zecc said:

    @TarquinWJ said:

    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB
    For those of us who are neither en-GB nor en-US, what would be the difference?

    "One hundred ten" vs "One hundred and ten".



  • @PJH said:

    @Zecc said:

    @TarquinWJ said:

    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB
    For those of us who are neither en-GB nor en-US, what would be the difference?

    "One hundred ten" vs "One hundred and ten".
    I didn't realize that was a GB/US thing. I always thought it was just a matter of personal preference or intended level of formalism. A lesson is learned.

    What about en-AU?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Zecc said:

    @PJH said:
    @Zecc said:

    @TarquinWJ said:

    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB
    For those of us who are neither en-GB nor en-US, what would be the difference?
    "One hundred ten" vs "One hundred and ten".
    I didn't realize that was a GB/US thing. I always thought it was just a matter of personal preference or intended level of formalism.
    There are actually quite a few differences, but unless they're pointed out they go by unnoticed. Everyone knows about missing/superfluous U's, but there is also "Quarter of four" vs "Quarter to four" and "Public School" vs "Private School" (and vice versa.)



  • @Zecc said:

    What about en-AU?

    We include the "and".


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @PJH said:

    "Quarter of four" vs "Quarter to four"
    I've never encountered that one before. Someone says “quarter of four”? Where?



  • It's for when you have four quarters in your pocket and you refer to one of them.



  • @Zecc said:

    @PJH said:
    @Zecc said:

    @TarquinWJ said:

    Ah, but at least their TTS managed to use en-GB
    For those of us who are neither en-GB nor en-US, what would be the difference?

    "One hundred ten" vs "One hundred and ten".
    I didn't realize that was a GB/US thing. I always thought it was just a matter of personal preference or intended level of formalism. A lesson is learned.

    What about en-AU?

    One hundred ten and a kangaroo.

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dkf said:

    @PJH said:
    "Quarter of four" vs "Quarter to four"
    I've never encountered that one before. Someone says “quarter of four”? Where?
    It's common in the States apparently.



  • There is no "the States", you need to specify which one you mean.

    There's far more cultural difference between Washington State and, say, Alabama than their is between England and New Zealand. Seriously, I've visited all four places, therefore I am an expert on everything.

    For instance, "quarter of" is nonsense here in Washington. In my entire life I've literally never heard that. Yet that Straight Dope article says it's common in Southern California? Go figure.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @blakeyrat said:

    There is no "the States"
    Yes there is. You probably call it "The United States of America" or "USA" though.



  • @PJH said:

    @dkf said:
    @PJH said:
    "Quarter of four" vs "Quarter to four"
    I've never encountered that one before. Someone says “quarter of four”? Where?
    It's common in the States apparently.
     

    Only certain parts of the states.  I know where I live you hear "quarter past" instead.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @PJH said:

    @dkf said:
    @PJH said:
    "Quarter of four" vs "Quarter to four"
    I've never encountered that one before. Someone says “quarter of four”? Where?
    It's common in the States apparently.
    I've never noticed it in the past few times I've been there, but that was only in like 10 different states, so maybe not a representative sample.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @powerlord said:

    @PJH said:

    @dkf said:
    @PJH said:
    "Quarter of four" vs "Quarter to four"
    I've never encountered that one before. Someone says “quarter of four”? Where?
    It's common in the States apparently.
     

    Only certain parts of the states.  I know where I live you hear "quarter past" instead.

    ITYM "quarter to"...? 'Quarter of four' is 3:45.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @PJH said:

    'Quarter of four' is 3:45.
    Quarter of four is 1. Or “f”, depending on how you interpret it.

    (I'd accept “quarter before four”, or even “quarter 'fore four”; there are German immigrants to think of…)



  •  @blakeyrat said:

    There's far more cultural difference between Washington State and, say, Alabama than their is between England and New Zealand. Seriously, I've visited all four places, therefore I am an expert on everything.

    But "uh-huh" as a response is country wide down there. 


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Nexzus said:

    But "uh-huh" as a response is country wide down there. 

    Nuh-uh!



  • @Nexzus said:

    But "uh-huh" as a response is country wide down there.

    Sorry; I guess we should be saying, "INFORMATION RECEIPT CONFIRMED!!!"



  • @dkf said:

    (I'd accept “quarter before four”, or even “quarter 'fore four”; there are German immigrants to think of…)
    If you want crazy ways to tell the time, Slovenian has (translated) "quarter on four", which means 3:15 and "three quarters on four", which means 3:45.


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