Thread: GPS speak - will it change the way we say things?

Not unless teachers are replaced by robots or sat nav devices

That's good to hear that the Dept of Education has added a course on street and place names into the curriculum. How much other education is doing web searches where there is no verbal pronunciation of text. So in a way the teacher has been replaced by a robot, or at least a computer for a part of the educational cycle.

Diana

I have just updated my Navman maps and now if I put in my home address (I live in a side dead end road) it sends me past my turn about 3 Km, loop around a block, back to my turnoff and then home. Drives me insane.

Must admit I find some of the pronunciations bloody funny and slip them into vocabulary (usually when driving) provided someone else is aware of the in-joke.

Mine says Maroondah in the most pretentious manner with a bit of a Welsh timbre to it... quite funny versus the bogan way most people pronounce it.

I've never been or heard of Beauchamp and would most likely have pronounced it Beau-shom. Some of these pronunciations can be a bit esoteric and the locals often look at you like you have two heads when you say it wrong.

Speaking of two heads, its easy to tell those from Launceston by the way they pronounce it vs. the bastardised LAWN-ceston.

We call our ozzie Garmin girl "Julia" as she pronounces road as "Roooaaaad"
"Tuuurn riiight on Avooooca Roooaaad"
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by jx2mad

I have just updated my Navman maps and now if I put in my home address (I live in a side dead end road) it sends me past my turn about 3 Km, loop around a block, back to my turnoff and then home. Drives me insane.

It's all Sensis (Telstra) fault! Isn't everything?

I have the same problem at the farm, not that I need it but I often check it's navigation to see how bad it is. Coming back from the beaches, Culburra, Calala and Currarong when we get to our street, instead of it turning right, (we own the corner of the main road and the road our main gate is on), it turns us left, takes us 2 Km down the road oposite, turns us right another 3 km, right again 1.7 Km, right again 2 Km, then left at our road where we should have turned 8.7 Km ago. I followed just to see how wrong it is.

Now when I get into a cab and the driver starts programming in the address, I say no thanks and get out.

GPS are good for speed checks and when you don't know where you are going and don't have a MAP.

Diana

Hi all, children learn to speak from their most common exposure to heard words, which is usually parents. Some kids with high TV time take on the dominant pronounciations, mainly American, that permeate our TV airwaves. As Navman style devices become more common, there will be some effect on general pronounciation. My wife, an Highschool English teacher, has noted a deterioration in spelling since mobile phone messaging has become so common. No doubt this will spread over time. Remember, all languages, particularly English, are evolving so there may be no way to stop it or slow it down. I occasionally find myself struggling to follow conversations with younger people as their word useage escapes me. Some of this would be localised slang but much of it is widespread amongst the younger generation. I recently heard a person described as "fully sick" in admiring tones. Beats me. Dictionaries will struggle to keep up. The above term is probably outdated by now. Cheers, 130man.

Hi,
Mackery St instead of Macquarie St was a source of amusement for a while till an update seems to have fixed it.

cheers