Bowlingal - Dog bark analyser

November 17, 2003 12:02 PM

Bowlingal is a dog bark translator. Discuss. (Flash link)
posted by omidius (33 comments total)

Woof woof. Arf, woof. Grrrrr.
posted by Mwongozi at 12:10 PM on November 17, 2003

That's pretty damn stupid.
posted by Orange Goblin at 12:10 PM on November 17, 2003

Woof woof. Arf, woof. Grrrrr.

I've eaten my own shit.
posted by Witty at 12:16 PM on November 17, 2003

Happy.
posted by mildred-pitt at 12:17 PM on November 17, 2003

It's the American version of this!
posted by jazon at 12:19 PM on November 17, 2003

"I'm barking."

I never knew my dog had such a rich sense of humour.
posted by The God Complex at 12:19 PM on November 17, 2003

Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

/Gary Larson
posted by PenDevil at 12:21 PM on November 17, 2003

I love dogs. Largely because they don't talk.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:29 PM on November 17, 2003

posted by quonsar at 12:42 PM on November 17, 2003

Reminds me of the Farside cartoon with the professor who invented a similar device. All the dogs were saying was "hey!".
posted by tommasz at 12:46 PM on November 17, 2003

Your ass smells like cat food.
posted by vito90 at 12:46 PM on November 17, 2003

I'll take the analyser for three hundred, Trebek. Your mother took it last night!

sorry.
posted by The God Complex at 12:49 PM on November 17, 2003

a friend ordered this to review for his magazine. when talking with the a representative from the company - she mentioned that 'it might not work properly in Canada - we haven't quite got the accent down'

dog's have accents!?!
posted by spunkster at 12:58 PM on November 17, 2003

I wish I could make a comment about this, but my lawyer has advised me to remain silent on MeFi dog topics since my dog sued me for slander over the last one.

Still...
dogs have accents!?!
And Clams Got Legs!
ten MetaPoints for the first to identify the long-walking-dead comic strip that's from...
posted by wendell at 1:08 PM on November 17, 2003

B.C., you silly person.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:11 PM on November 17, 2003

B.C.

Damn, you crash. Lost time on the link
posted by jazon at 1:12 PM on November 17, 2003

for us cat lovers
posted by marvin at 1:17 PM on November 17, 2003

You know...if people spent the $100 or whatever this thing costs on obedience classes, they'd get a lot closer to understanding their dogs. It's a cute stocking stuffer for people who don't have anything better to do with their money, but for many people it'll be like pet psychics - a way to take the easy way out of actually doing something effective to make their dogs and themselves happier. (/bah humbug rant)
posted by biscotti at 1:20 PM on November 17, 2003

pet psychics

speaking of... i wasn't at the Royal Winter Fair the other day and they had a pet psychic. people would come up with questions and the psychic would try and help them. a real exchange:

little girl with small black dog: i want to know why my dog doesn't like to be picked up or have his belly rubbed.
psychic: was your doggie in a fight when he was little?
girl: no.
psychic: hmm. well, you know how there are certain places where you don't like to be touched?
little girl stares.
psychic: your doggie's just like that. next!
posted by dobbs at 1:56 PM on November 17, 2003

i wasn't there either and didn't hear that also.
posted by quonsar at 2:08 PM on November 17, 2003

ack! i've been quonsar'd!
posted by dobbs at 2:50 PM on November 17, 2003

I read this as "Bowling gal."
posted by JanetLand at 3:19 PM on November 17, 2003

posted by sharksandwich at 3:23 PM on November 17, 2003

Here, try the Korean version.

I was going to write a long post about this (my link) at my site or here, about how the Korean name (phonetically) 'ba-oo-ling-kul' not only sounds like 'Bullwinkle' but is such a sense-free borrowed-word abortion putting me in mind of the multitude of other Konglish nightmares that, when taken on top of the inherent mindboggling stupidity of the concept itself, it makes me quiver with barely-suppressed rage...

but I couldn't be bothered, 'cause I wasn't really that put out by it.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:33 PM on November 17, 2003

I read a review of this little toy where they used a taped series of barks and the thing interpreted the same set of barks differently again and again.

The skinny? Its pure and complete bunkum.

Though I do have to give extra special props to their rep that said Canadian dogs have accents! I hope they're still laughing about that one.
posted by fenriq at 3:33 PM on November 17, 2003

That oughta be 'bowlingual,' by the way, a lame play on 'bilingual'.

Which is another layer of annoyance in the cake, basically.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:35 PM on November 17, 2003

Yes, but is it a layer of frosting? These are the hard-hitting questions that must be asked.
posted by The God Complex at 4:15 PM on November 17, 2003

Mmmm, frosting.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:38 PM on November 17, 2003

Its pure and complete bunkum.

television: it translates what your leaders are saying.
posted by quonsar at 4:39 PM on November 17, 2003

I read a review of this little toy where they used a taped series of barks and the thing interpreted the same set of barks differently again and again.

Not saying the contraption works but it has 6 emotions and it then responds with a random phrase from the category it has selected based on frequency i.e. happy, sad, needy, on guard, frustrated and self-assertive.

Review excerpt: When the Bow-Lingual did analyze a real bark it did an impressive job. Here are a few highlights:
Webster barked when one of our brave testers wrestled around with him. The Bow-Lingual returned the phrase, "You're not so tough."
When we left Webster alone, he barked a sad little roof. Bow-Lingual: "Pay attention to me."
When holding a treat high above Webster's head, he growled. Bow-Lingual: "Frustrated!"
posted by meech at 4:57 PM on November 17, 2003

>dogs have accents!?!

No, that's frogs.
posted by mmoncur at 8:38 AM on November 18, 2003

Hold on a sec, my Bowelingual is telling me I need some maylox.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:23 AM on November 18, 2003

I can't believe no one has mentioned this:

[Homer's brother,] Herb: It measures the pitch, the frequency, and the urgency of a baby's cry, and then tells whoever's around, in plain English, exactly what the baby's trying to say! Everything from "Change me" to "Turn off that damn Raffi record!"
posted by jpoulos at 12:59 PM on November 18, 2003