New iPhone feature is butt of Japanese joke

[RandySF]

Particularly impressive is Siri, Apple's new voice-command app that lets you talk to your iPhone. Need to know how bad traffic is in your area? Just ask the phone and Siri will give you real-time data on traffic outside.

However, Apple forgot the cardinal rule of language-based technology: If you build it, your audience is going to make lewd jokes with it. And Apple's new app made it all too easy for people to turn it into a joke, considering what Siri sounds like in Japanese. Here's a hint: The iPhone 4S almost certainly will be Sir Mix-a-Lot's favorite smartphone.

To the Japanese, the name Siri sounds almost identical to 尻, pronounced shiri. Shiri is a colloquialism for -- in the politest possible sense -- buttocks. Its proper usage, however, is crude. As Yoree Koh of The Wall Street Journal put it, the comparable term in English rhymes with "crass." Compliments for Apple's major new technology, likely to be the focus of marketing campaigns across the world, will make the speaker sound like a cat-calling construction worker in Japan.

Shortly after Siri was announced, both "Siri" and "shiri" became trending topics on Twitter in Japan. Google Japan searches for Apple's new voice-recognition software had the search engine asking users if they actually were looking for "shiri," and it isn't difficult to imagine what the image search returned on those queries.

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[alfredo]

1. I wonder what it will return if you asked "What is a Santorum"?

[hifiguy]

2. Reminds me of when Chevrolet tried to sell its Nova

model in Spanish speaking countries, where "no va" means "doesn't go."

There's nothing new under the sun, it seems.

[TheDebbieDee]

6. The Mazda Miata had the same problem...........

I can't remember in which language this is supposed to be but Miata means "to be urinated on". Lol.

[TlalocW]

10. That's an urban legend

Because as it happens, nova also means an exploding star in Spanish.

TlalocW

[KansDem]

12. Or the French automobile company "Citroën"

...and "citron" is French for "lemon!"

:rofl:

[hifiguy]

16. Citroen was named for its founder,

Andre Citroen (can't figure out the "umlauts" on my computer).

And it was pronounced "Sit-Roh-AN" IIRC, which is, I think, different from the pronunciation of "citron."

[MADem]

3. Now THAT's funny! nt

[Auggie]

4. Who cares?

Still, failure at this level is so un-like Apple.

[Exultant Democracy]

7. Apple didn't invent Siri, it was an independently developed app and the bought the company

that made it.

I have it on my older iphone and I have to say when I'm on the go siri is awesome.

[Auggie]

11. I'm looking forward to using it

[tblue]

5. HAHAHA!

I know a little Japanese and we called it 'oshiri.' That is very very funny. I think it's kinda cute actually.

[sammytko]

8. Didn't they say the name iPad was going to make people think of feminine protection?

Who cares

[MilesColtrane]

9. At least Japanese companies doesn't make faux pas like that.

http://www.engrish.com

[bpcmxr]

13. One of the greatest websites ever.

:)

[Speck Tater]

17. I bought a pocket knife made in China that said "Sharp object. Keep out of children." nt

[leftyohiolib]

14. all your base are belong to us

[frazzled]

15. Interestingly ...

This summer my nephew, who has lived in Tokyo for the past 7 or 8 years, came for a visit back in the States. For some reason I don't recall (I think everyone had pulled their iPhones out to look up something, and mr. frazzled used Google Voice for the search), we asked him whether he had the Google Voice app. He said he didn't, because he didn't know if it would work in Japanese all that well. But he took the phone and decided to try. He spoke something in Japanese to it, and voila, it brought up exactly the right search. He was impressed, because he said if it understood HIS Japanese accent, it was very good. (He was lying, his Japanese is excellent I believe.)

[SteveM]

18. Was traffic bad in Siri Lanka? nt

[Distant Observer]

19. As Apple continues to kick butt (shiri), I think the joke will be on the competitors.

Siri is the first truly differentiating technology in the smart-phone market and as the functionality become more obvious it will be also be obvious why it is hard for other company's to deliver similar service.