Quote:
Originally Posted by DampRobot
I always yell "rowboat" instead of "robot."
|
We've started sort of a running bit to continually evolve what we say every time we pass certain teams/volunteers. (All spoken, not yelled.) We only do it for people we think will get a kick out of it; otherwise it's just "please excuse my robot". Scope varies by event, but IRI was great for it. We'd have conversations with random people that went literally, "Row-bot!" "Row-bot?" "Row-bot.
" "Row-bot..." "Row-bot
" "Row-bot.
", all the way to and "glow-tote" and "faux-moat".
As far as what's so grating about "ROBOT!", I'd argue it's both. It's not just the tone and relative volume--though that's probably the originating issue. The word itself compounds it: if someone's already being aggressive, there's an impression on condescension in the thought that others should move specifically
because it's a robot, rather than because I'd like you to excuse me. It's also more terse, which doesn't help in this case.