Sunday, September 16, 2012

I Can Do Math and Stuff

I do love the series of TV commercials for the Hopper – a DVR device for DISH satellite TVs. Especially the wacky extended family with the strong Boston accents (Dorchester maybe?). “I’m SMAAHT. I’m wicked SMAAHT.”

I spent much of last week with lots of truly smart people at Canberra Industries, makers of a wide array of radiation detectors for the nuclear industry and others. Lots of engineers there, but I’m use to working in an engineering culture, so that wasn’t anything new. But Canberra employs about 60 radiation physicists at the facility. Now that’s egghead city with super clever folk running up and down the aisles! They can do math & stuff.


4 comments:

Gringo said...

I wonder if the company has ads specific to regions. Show this ad in eastern New England, but not in Alabama or California. Conversely, develop an ad specific to Alabama etc.

Many of us are tired/ti-ud/taard of TV "accentless" accents. Or as my Mass origin sister in law said, "cosmopolitan" accents. Which she gained, as she correctly perceived her native Mass accent wouldn't fly outside her home region in work that involved a lot of speaking.

"Math and stuff" - priceless.

Though not all can perceive distinctions in accents. Many tagged a local plumber as Louisiana Cajun, due to his accent. Turned out he was from Quebec. A neighbor who has spent maybe a month of his life outside TX- but well educated with MS in CS- told me the plumber had a Yankee accent. Wasn't TX, so it had to be Yankee.

Sponge-headed ScienceMan said...

Gringo - Accents can be subtle for sure. AVI can tell you the differences among the NE states, but my ears aren't quite that astute I guess. My parents left NE for jobs in the South when I was still in college and my younger brother and sister developed southern accents as a result. I tell people that I'm the last Yankee hold out in our family, but I don't have a Yankee accent because we lived for short times in NJ, PA and VA before returning to Massachusetts about the time I started high school. Many of those flat TV accents are learned, by the way. Aspiring news anchors will get training to rid themselves of any regional accent so they are more employable. Boring!

james said...

It is funny how little math non-theorists actually use on a daily basis.

Anonymous said...

I love the Hopper commercials too, about as much as I love the actual Hopper. It's a "brand-recognition" scheme, with the overstated Boston Accent, and while some hate it, the Hopper itself is fantastic. A DISH coworker let me in on the secret, and I can now record up to 6 live HD programs at once. With AutoHop, I can skip commercials, and PrimeTime Anytime automatically records every PT show on all four major networks! It's easy, convenient, and what a "Smaaaht" person would buy!