What does it say about Americans when they develop affection for a vacuum cleaner, to the point of assigning it a gender and giving it a cute name?
Nothing good, I think, but the matter is explored in some depth by Washington Post writer Joel Garreau. The machine in question is the Roomba, the artificially intelligent floor cleaner that found its way under millions of Christmas trees this season.
Because it seems to move of its own accord, certain people seem to consider it sentient. Any bloggers get this for Christmas? Anyone who will admit to anthropomorphizing it? This is one of those times you might not want to use your real name.
Posted by Dave Knadler
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44 Comments
i’d love to get one of these for my disabled grandparents, but they have shag carpet, and it’s not designed for that. seeing that shag is making a comeback, the company might want to think about making one for that.
Bought one a couple of years ago, love it. I turn it on, come back to the computer and tell my husband I cleaned house all day!!
Mulva-You are an insult to liberated women. Did you lie to your husband so he wouldn’t beat you?
Shag <– making a comeback in trailer parks only.
“What does it say about Americans when they develop affection for a vacuum cleaner, to the point of assigning it a gender and giving it a cute name?”
What’s the big deal? We’ve done that with our cars forever.
I wanted one, but my toothbrush “Ralph” threw a tantrum , and the whole idea was scrapped!
Alas.
Maybe a backyard cnine version, als “Scoppi-doo”?
Make that canine version, ala ..
Now come on lets be accurate. Shag isn’t making a comeback.
The new sytle and name for Shag is Frieze. (Freezay)
And I think its just as ugly as shag was. Berber forever !
Testicles, you are such a dipsheet. The shag out now YOU probably couldn’t even afford.
I agree XXX, cars do have names too, but we normally value our cars far more than our appliances.
Guess I’m going to have to find a name for my crock pot now too lol.
I cant spell today..
replace sytle with style
It’s shag, no matter what modern name you call it- I so dig the shag- wonder if it comes in that funky blue turquoise color that was in my other grandpa’s house in the 70’s.
And Berber sucks hineyhole, it’s not even soft to want to sit on.
Berber is quite comfortable to sit on.
But sofas are for the sitting, not carpet.
Only if you’re old :D.
I happen to like laying on the floor.
That sounds like a personal issue.
Crockpot <— preferred cooking vessel in the trailer park.
You found her, Golf Nutz!
Stalking P Mom until you found her and then making some stupid remark – about a crock pot?
Nutz, if you’re such a high-powered business tycoon, why do you spend so much time stalkig P Mom?
“sucks hineyhole” <— true trailer park jargon
Fleets enema, aside from the funny Seinfeld reference, that was a mean thing to say. And if you actually cleaned a house like a good husband, you’d know there’s a hellova lot more than running a vacuum to make a house clean.
And Testicles, yes, I live in a trailer park. You can come stalk me there.
*shock*
Hehe, come on, come find me.
Hmmm KSGolfnut uses the
“”
hmmm, it got instantly edited
as I was saying KSGolfnut uses
—-> exactly the same as (popup!)
does. (p)(o)(p)(u)(p)(!) in case this gets edited again.
We all know, JM, that Nutz stalks, trolls and lurks the blog. That is just the nature of Golf Nut and it is a burden that we have to bear.
He’s a funny guy, JM. He claims to be a mega successful businessman, a good Christian and a great family man, but he stalks P Mom like a fifteen year old boy, admits to extra-marital affairs, and apparently doesn’t spend a whole lot of time on his “business.”
Other than that, he’s a hell of a guy.
I bet all the illegal immigrant housemaids are scared of the Roomba and will complain about robots taking their jobs. They do have Roombas that cut grass too. I’ll bet those wetback gardeners will make a huge fuss because of it. Now if only those Japs could make a machine that did all kinds of menial labor, like a Swiss Army knife kind of robot…
Drug Addict is clearly miffed. *shrug*
Obviously, he isn’t happy with his life; ergo: drug abuse.
Pee,I don’t go into trailer parks. You should be able to figure that out.
Oh, no Nutz, you are way wrong on this count. I have a smoke now and then, nothing any worse than doing shots of Jack in a bar.
BTW – I don’t abuse drugs – I take very good care of my stash.
And, just for the record, why ARE you stalking P Mom?
Hmmmm?
Drug Addict,I don’t stalk anyone. You’re too stoned to think logically.
Sorry Nut Balls, no smoke tonight, not yet anyway. I am cooking dinner right now.
BTW – Why is it that you ALWAYS show up right after P Mom?
Pervert.
He’s obsessed with me, he wants some of that women’s liberated lovin. Sorry testicles, my bleeding heart only extends so far. I wouldn’t even give you a mercy ****.
Ah man, P Mom! I just got this horrible visual of Golf Nutz wandering around unsuspecting trailer parks with his Cheney waving around, looking for his next victim.
That is one scary thought!
hehe…typical liberal ploy. when you can’t win with your phoney lib logic, you cry “obsession!”
heh
“it’s not a level playing field”
bawhahahaha
And you’d know this how, you grew up a little rich kid testicles, or at least upper middle class. You have no clue what it’s like to be underpriviledged. And by some of the things you say on here, it seems as if your mommy and daddy bought your degree for you, I find it hard to believe you passed any class by yourself.
“bought your degree” LMAO. Another liberal fantasy.
I went to class, studied, wrote papers, executed labs….
all without cheating, Pee.
And graduated Magna Cum Laude. Twice.
Was it the college for the mentally challenged?
Spoken like a true “college expellee”
Actually?
Goof and I have something in common.
I washed out of engineering college too. Space program died and I lost interest.
Goof took a different course. He became an industrial “engineer”. What that means is that he couldn’t hack the physics and higher math so he became a bean counter. And as he himself has posted, he married a doctor.
Not the first winger on this forum to be a closet “kept man” who compensates by lashing out.
He didn’t marry a doctor, he married a teacher. Or at least that’s the latest story I heard. First it was a teacher, then a scientist with the human genome project HA! He’s been caught in so many lies, it’s hard to believe anything he says.
Junior,I’m not surprised you failed engineering school. It’s tough. I took (and passed) the highest level of physics offered, and I’ve taught calculus as an adjunct at WSU. I think I did ok in the “higher math”. =)
MrsDMC is not an MD. She’s a PhD. She teaches. She’s involve in research – as most all professors are.
And she makes far less than I do.
Hmmmmm, pimps must be getting more out of their hookers these days…
I have a Roomba named Marvin after the depressed robot from Hitchiker’s Guide. After he cleans my floor we sit and have tea and discuss current events. It’s very cozy.
I dont equate affection with genderizing. Im in a robotics club, and we don’t assign genders to our bots. We love them as they are.