Sunday, August 13, 2017

In Plain Hearing

I was watching the James Caan movie Hide In Plain Sight on TV.  As I often do, it was with the CC on.  And once again, it reminded me that closed captions are done by humans, and humans can hear things incorrectly.  (Maybe some day they'll be done by computers, who can also hear things wrong.  Just ask Siri or Alexa.)

Early on, two mafia guys are talking about their driver.  One says "He's a fag" to which the other replies that he hasn't looked into the driver's sex life.

But the CC had the line as "he's a fed," which would not only be a very significant plot point, but also makes the response a delightful non sequitur.

Later, two guys are playing pool and listening to the hockey game on the radio.  It's a Chicago Blackhawks game because you can hear the announcer mention Stan Mikita.

Soon after, someone states, according to the CC "Pole just scored." Okay, maybe not a big deal if you get it wrong, but someone reading along may wonder who is this Pole and why should we care. But any hockey fan listening to the movie (or the game on the radio) would know that it was Bobby Hull who got the goal.

2 Comments:

Blogger ColumbusGuy said...

Who also can hear things wrong, or which can also hear things wrong?

7:11 PM, August 14, 2017  
Blogger LAGuy said...

Computers are alive. Give up.

7:38 PM, August 14, 2017  

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