This was a fun meeting. We were four people, with one newcomer, Josh, a freshman from Drexel university. Josh was very curious about our organization and what we do and somehow we started talking about the NSA Annual Conference and our experiences there. Mitch, Bill and I had a lot to say and we all recommend to experience it at least once. As you all know, this year’s conference will be in Atlanta Georgia from July 6 – July 10. (for details on the conference go to http://www.westutter.org/annual-conference/).
We talked about difficulty talking to inanimate objects, such as giving voice commands to a phone, car or other electronic devices. Why do we stutter when we talk to an object that cannot judge us, give us bad looks and has no influence over our lives? I don’t know, but I personally find it difficult to speak to an electronic device. I feel the pressure of having to say the command within the few seconds that the device is expecting to receive it. I also have a strong Spanish accent which means that I have to repeat the command more than once. We thought that the time pressure was one of the key factors. The device does not judge, but it reacts and responds, and when it doesn’t understand or doesn’t get what it expects is almost like saying that we didn’t say it correctly. What are your experiences and opinions on this?
We played Trivial Pursuit during the last half hour of the meeting. We played a condensed version where we just took turns to reading and answering questions. Interestingly, one of the clues was: “What was a popular song in the 1910s about a boy that stutters? The answer was “K-K-K-Katy”. If you are curious about the lyrics, you can find them here: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/sheetmusic/lyrics/OHara__K_K_K_Katy.html. You can hear an old recording at: https://ia902606.us.archive.org/35/items/BillyMurray_part3/BillyMurray-K-K-K-KatyStammeringSongWorldWarISong_2.mp3
See you at our next meeting!