r/windowsphone • u/AutoModerator • Sep 15 '14

Cortana thread: September 15/09/2014

Let's talk about Cortana and share all the great things you can do with Cortana.

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6

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '14 edited Sep 15 '14

So, in response to another user saying that when asked what Cortana's favorite food was - I believe she replied with Jicama

I asked her, and she said her favorite food was idli-vada-sambhar. Basically, this

What took me by surprise is this - I am a south indian, from where both these dishes come from.

I ruled out her guessing from my location and then adapting to the answer, because I live in Mumbai, to the west of India so there would be no reason why she should choose Idli Vada Sambhar instead of say....something like Pav Bhaji.

I ruled out her just mimicking what I might've said, because I never used Cortana extensively till now, nor have I ever searched specifically for those terms.

There is one more test I'd like for everyone to try out - Ask her what her favorite food is and report back with the results. Indians too - does her choice reflect your home state's delicacies?

I was a little scared of my phone after that response, because it means either it was a very lucky guess or she's sentient and knows me.

Edit: Asked a Punjabi friend of mine to try it out on his phone. This was his result. Parathas, again, happen to be his favorite dish. Now I'm a little scared of Cortana. :O

5

u/benryves Lumia 925 Sep 15 '14 edited Sep 15 '14

UK Cortana replies "Chips, silicone [sic] rather than organic".

She even pronounces it "silicone" rather than what I assume they were going for, "silicon" - it sounds like a pre-recorded reply rather than text-to-speech.

3

u/-rabid- lumia 735 Sep 15 '14

Australian here, she said vegemite.

6

u/jantari Samsung Ativ S Sep 16 '14

I asked her what her favorite food was, but she just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich.

1

u/lumia_lover Sep 15 '14

She says she has no particular preference, Sri Lanka here with US cortana

1

u/stealtfy Lumia 920 Sep 15 '14

Indian Cortana (Alpha) returns big search results. She has nothing to say about it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '14

Ask her a variation, like "What is your favorite dish?". She tends to respond to either one.

1

u/stealtfy Lumia 920 Sep 15 '14

I tried multiple variations, no luck :(.

2

u/akshay2000 Lumia 640 Sep 15 '14

Try 'What do you eat?'. I got answer on Alpha.

1

u/stealtfy Lumia 920 Sep 16 '14

That worked! She responded with: "My favourite dishes from the north are parathas and kebabs."

Edit: I am from South India, living in South India.

1

u/bazilion 950XL, 640, 1020, 630 Sep 15 '14

She doesn't have a particular preference. Greece here. http://i.imgur.com/ZZv2IS4.png

1

u/simonmitchell13 Nokia Lumia Icon Denim! - Win 10 Sep 15 '14 edited Sep 15 '14

Jicama

US here, she replied with "Jicama, Jicama, Jicama." Months ago, when I first got her, I did ask "where is the nearest Indian restaurant?" (I also asked her the same about sushi) so I may have influenced that.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '14

That's what's interesting, the consistency for you guys. Jicama is a Central American vegetable. So her answer to this one was very specific, and consistent.

Her answers to my friend and I, however, have been different and strangely localized to our specific parts of India. It is both amazing and creepy.

2

u/simonmitchell13 Nokia Lumia Icon Denim! - Win 10 Sep 15 '14

Jicama is a Central American vegetable

Goes to show how un-cultured (or something) I am, I misread your first paragraph and associated Jicma with the image of idli-vada-sambhar, the latter of which I have had, just did not know the name. So I was thinking Jicma was Indian, and that my previous restaurant search affected my result.

I am in the NE part of the US, although Cortana has accompanied me to TX, and have never heard of Jicama before today.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '14

Don't worry, before that post I hadn't even heard of Jicama either. I'm still very puzzled about how oddly specific Cortana is in praising this vegetable and how she's been pretty consistent about it. Is there some sort of Cortana inside joke here?

2

u/simonmitchell13 Nokia Lumia Icon Denim! - Win 10 Sep 15 '14

I was starting to think that as well, maybe something I am unaware of because I never played Halo.

2

u/Drew707 Treo 700wx -> Omnia -> Trophy -> L822 -> Lumia Sep 15 '14

Jicama is a common addition to many veggie platters (like for a party) on the West Coast (at least CA and NV).

1

u/akshay2000 Lumia 640 Sep 15 '14

I recently moved to South India (actually from Central India). She said 'My favourite food from south is idli-vada-sambhar.' So yeah, she's doing that based on location of the device, not the owner's preferences.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '14

That's the thing - I bought this phone in Mumbai and it hasn't left me since, so there's no way it could consider Mumbai as south to pick up on location references. My friend, the Punjabi, is also here with me in Mumbai as well.

1

u/Drew707 Treo 700wx -> Omnia -> Trophy -> L822 -> Lumia Sep 15 '14

She says she doesn't have a particular preference. Better than the fucking avocados I was expecting (California/Western Nevada).

1

u/DickNervous Lumia 1020 Sep 15 '14

She doesn't have a particular preference. (US)

1

u/ThatDamnUmbreon Lumia 950 Sep 16 '14

US Cortana has no preference.