Tuesday, June 29, 2010

GPS Henry? I Wish

Actor Henry Cavill from Showtime's The Tudors

We have a GPS, and for the longest time the automated voice that emitted from the device was that of a female. We call her Doris. We always joked that Doris was a bit bossy, at times impatient, even judgmental; especially if we took a different route than what she recommended. You could almost hear the disdain in her voice when stating, "Recalculating."

Then, this weekend's New York Times published an article called "Turn Right, My Love," asking if the GPS has become the new "other woman" in American relationships. I got a chuckle out of it.

Saturday morning, right after reading the article, Hubby called from North Carolina, where he was attending our niece's baptism. He proudly announced that he discovered a new set of voice options on the GPS, and that he now prefers that of the Australian female, whom he has dubbed "Olivia." The article talked about this option, also known as Australian Karen, a very attractive blond whose accent is apparently quite appealing to the male gender. In fact, the article mentions an unnamed actor whose wife caught him sitting in his car, just listening to GPS Karen giving driving directions. Hmm. You call her Olivia, do you?

I understand there is a GPS Charles who has a rather nice voice - perhaps I'll program his voice the next time we take a road trip. If only Henry Cavill from The Tudors would lend his voice to GPS. British Henry, yes, that would be quite nice. In fact, I may have to drive across country for that one.
Image courtesy of Showtime

11 comments:

myletterstoemily said...

i'm totally with you on that one!

Seersucker Scrapper said...

That is too funny. I am probably the last person on the planet who doesn't have a GPS yet.

I could be persuaded if they start doing celebrity voices though.

Hello Brad Pitt!

LPC said...

The tone of disapproval in the voice as whoever it is say, "Recalculating..." has always made me laugh.

Main Line Sportsman said...

I call the female on my Jeep's GPS :"Sal"....to rhyme with Hal...the computer from 2001 A Space Odyssey....
I was also amused by that NYT article..and would love an Aussie girls lilting accent on my GPS...Sal is kinda annoying.

Jessica Ryan said...

Lola tells me where to go. In fact Lola was "the voice of reason" (I have no sense of direction at all!) in the van and when we traded it in she happened to be the "voice of reason" on the SUV as well! I would be lost without her. She certainly has a sexiness to her.

James said...

Ous is always telling my wife" When possible make a legal u turn" She is not amused.

bevy said...

I would go ANYWHERE he told me!

My Droid has a GPS on it. Her voice is rather annoying... wonder if I can change it. Also, I need to give her a name! Hmmm...

teaorwine said...

I read the article in the NYT as well. We have given our GPS the nickname "Chloe" after, chosen for the technically-savvy character on
"24".

Toad said...

I suspect hubby would love to have YOUR voice, instead of some stranger.

annechovie said...

That is hilarious! What will they think of next? xx

A Refocused Life said...

Fun topic. We have 'Mandy' to direct us. We have the option to change voices, but we like the way she directs us to "Take the motorway".

We are finally use to having a third voice in the car when we travel - interrupting our conversations with commands. I'll admit a sweet or sexy voice might be more fun than Mandy.