Barbra Streisand Called Tim Cook to Fix Siri's Mispronunciation of Her Name

[MacRumors]

NPR posted an audio interview with singer Barbra Streisand over the weekend, focusing on Streisand's North American tour of her new album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway. In the middle of the 8-minute interview Apple gets mentioned briefly, specifically regarding the way that voice assistant Siri has mispronounced Streisand's name over the last five years.

Siri uses a hard 'z' sound when saying the second 's' in Streisand, so the singer took it upon herself to ask Apple CEO Tim Cook to get the company to correct the error in Siri's language. Cook was said to respond with an agreement to fix the issue in "the next update," supposedly referring to iOS 10.

"She pronounces my name wrong. Streisand with a soft 's' like sand on the beach, I've been saying this for my whole career. And so what did I do? I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name finally, with the next update on September 30th. So let's see if that happens, because I will be thrilled."

It's unlikely Cook so readily divulged the release date of iOS 10, which is expected to launch earlier than the date mentioned by Streisand. The release for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus could be on September 16 or September 23, according to recent rumors, meaning iOS 10 would launch within a similar timeframe.

Article Link: Barbra Streisand Called Tim Cook to Fix Siri's Mispronunciation of Her Name

 

[ValSalva]

Next year: macOS 10.13 Streisand

 

[blacktape242]

she's such a B.... anyways

 

[WordsmithMR]

She's ****ing useless.

 

[ImperialForces]

Huh? Jesus Barbara, what a waste of time. I guess only celebrities care about the pronunciations of a primitive VI.

 

[S.B.G]

Obviously a very minor issue to everyone, if an issue at all. But to her I can see how it would be an annoyance being a public figure and the fix, I'm sure was a simple one for Apple to accommodate. I reckon its nice to have connections.

 

[MRU]

When you have so much ego you can worry about the asinine.... with a soft S of course.

 

[bruinselmann]

I don't get it. Isn't the "s" in sand a sharp "s"? To me, a soft "s" is, for instance, the one in "reason".

Either I just don't get it (not a native speaker) or Mrs. Streisand has been using the wrong explanation for her whole career and it's no wonder Siri got it wrong.

 

[japanime]

Actually, it's a fun little story. Not everything article has to be deep and heavy. Kudos to Macrumors for picking it up.

Oh, and "What's Up, Doc?" remains one of my favorite movies of all time. Streisand is magnificent in it (as are the rest of the cast).

 

[Bending Pixels]

oy vey........

 

[kdarling]

Hey, non-famous people in the EU have demanded that their entire history be deleted from Google search results.

Doing something like this is nothing in comparison.

Besides, Streisand is one of the top gay icons, so maybe Cook was thrilled to get it fixed for her.

 

[Porco]

"Sure thing Brabar!" said Tim.

 

[CarpalMac]

I decided to skim read the article:

Barbra Streisand Called Tim Cook to Fix Siri.
Cook was said to respond with an agreement to fix the issue in "the next update," supposedly referring to iOS 10.

Great news!!!

 

[johncarync]

Um...You can CURRENTLY correct Siri's pronunciation by telling Siri, "That's not how you say that."
http://www.macworld.com/article/2602878/how-to-correct-siris-pronunciation.html

 

[ike1707]

What's his number? I've got at least a dozen things I'd like to complain about.

 

[iamnotme]

First world problems. Imagine how hard it must have been 10 years ago without an interactive assistant....

 

[Nozuka]

Tim probably asked for an autograph in return.

 

[machpost]

Ahh yes, Tim Cook, the great philanthropist, using his wealth, his far-reaching influence and power to right the world's great injustices.

 

[Gasu E.]

Huh? Jesus Barbara, what a waste of time. I guess only celebrities care about the pronunciations of a primitive VI.

Did she do something wrong? I think most people care if their name is mispronounced. Blame MR for considering this everyday occurrence to be newsworthy.

 

[9052042]

Snoop Dogg is on that

 

[JohnApples]

Can't you just correct Siri yourself? That's what I've been doing for years.

 

[iMcLovin]

And they probably put some engineers to this and postponed Mac desktop machine updates for 6 extra months...

 

[saudade]

Who is this mummy? Necer saw her before dud

 

[Marzzz]

#firstworldproblems

Not even; more like 1% of the 1% problems...

 

[coolfactor]

I don't get it. Isn't the "s" in sand a sharp "s"? To me, a soft "s" is, for instance, the one in "reason".

Either I just don't get it (not a native speaker) or Mrs. Streisand has been using the wrong explanation for her whole career and it's no wonder Siri got it wrong.

I think the use of "hard" vs "soft" is not accurate for the letter "s". It works for "c".

Your example of "reason", where the letter "s" is pronounced with a "z" sound (is it by you?), is exactly what Barbra wanted to have fixed. It's likely the vowels around the letter causing Siri to pronounce her name with a z-sound, too.

People here are too negative. Where's the love? The world needs more love, not hate.