[BC] TV tower kills birds

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/07/2005 11:33:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Towers at mre.com writes:

> Hello, I am MILLI (woman) or MEGA (Male) Watt, please enter my password to 
>  gain access.
>  
>  Now, with the GSC3000, I've done all kinds of screwy greetings.  It knows 
>  the words Vulcan, Klingon, Romulan, Spock, and a whole host of otherwise 
>  obtuse words which one rarely hears.

Actually, no... it's using English grammatical rules to convert the typed 
text into phonetically constructed words. Most of the time, it works quite well. 

I can't think of many examples, but there are some words that it does not 
pronounce correctly. By spelling them phonetically, you can get it to say them 
correctly. Worcester, for example. You'd probably have to spell it Wuhster or 
wooster. Doughnut would probably have to be spelled doe nut.

The beauty of a phonetic speech synthesizer is that by phonetically spelling 
your words, you can make it speak any English word, and almost any language, 
as long as the phonemes are similar. (You may have trouble with rolling r's or 
Middle Eastern consonant sounds, Asian vowels, etc.) Yes, you could even make 
it cuss someone out.

A phonetic speech synth is a fun "toy". :)

Willie...