September 26, 2007

Robot of The Week: Roll-Oh

This "chromium-plated butler" does all the chores of the american housewife, therefore making her existence completely meaningless.

2 comments:

Lance Ehlers said...

Yes, crushed feet and babies are just a daydream away!

What was it about the 40s and 50s which caused people to pronounce a simple word like "robot" as either "row-bit" or "row-boat"?

stexe said...

I was thinking the same thing, until I read this explanation in another blog:
If you look up the word "robot" in Webster's dictionary, you will find that there are two possible pronunciations; the first is like "row-bought", as most people say, the second like "row-b't", with the final vowel represented by an upside-down 'e', which is similar to the second 'e' in "sherbet". Although it does have an odd ring nowadays, originally it was considered the correct pronunciation! Professional narrators do go to school for these things.