They’re funny things, vowels. Well, funny until we have to deal with speech recognition technology — as complaints about a new iPhone application’s inability to recognize British accents have highlighted. There’s nothing more likely to wipe the smile off your face than sitting in public, trying to communicate with a machine unprepared to meet you even halfway. So you want to know how much money you have in your bank? Well, not until you’ve convinced everyone within earshot that you’re a blathering lunatic who believes she can speak Whale language.
