There are more than 120 million “smart speakers” in US homes. In our house, we have the Google Home speaker, and here in my home office I have Alexa. But most people just ask Alexa boring stuff, like “what’s the traffic like this morning” or “is it going to rain today”. There are lots of FUN things you can ask Alexa too. She actually has kind of a clever and sassy personality.

 

Next time you’re talking to Alexa, try out some of these:

Human: “Alexa, flip a coin”

Alexa: “You got heads” or “You got tails”

Human: “Alexa, roll the dice”

Alexa: “3” (or other random dice number)
(you can also tell her to roll multiple dice)

Human: “Alexa, pick a card”

Alexa: “Your card is the 3 of spades” (or other random card)

Human: “Alexa, play thunderstorm”

Alexa: “Would you like to try…” and she’ll offer you some choices for this sound
(Note: “Alexa, play thunderstruck” produces a very different result.)

Human: “Alexa, give me a random fact”

Alexa: “In 1955, Quaker Oats started giving away land deeds for free in their cereal. 21 million deeds were printed, each covering a one inch by one inch parcel of land in Yukon, Canada.” (answers vary)

Human: “Alexa, how much do you weigh?”

Alexa: “I’m weightless, like a cloud. Wait, that’s not quite right. Clouds actually weigh a lot. Let’s just say I’m more sass than mass.”

Human: “Alexa, what is the sound of one hand clapping?”

Alexa: “It sounds exactly like a high five.”

Human: “Alexa, how many days until Christmas?”

Alexa: “Christmas is in 30 days, on Wednesday, December 25th, 2019”

Human: “Alexa, give me a quote from The Office”

Alexa: “Here is a ‘The Office, the TV show’ quote: I’m going to donate to Afghanistanis with AIDS.” (answers vary)

Human: “Alexa, are you blue?”

Alexa: “Only my light ring. ONLY my light ring.”

Human: “Alexa, open demotivate me”

Alexa: “You should try to be satisfied with less.” (answers vary)
(you will need to enable the “Demotivate me” skill first)

Human: “Alexa, can you give me some money?”

Alexa: “I’m not a bank” (answers vary)

Human: “Alexa, give me a tongue twister”

Alexa: “The limburger burglar hungers for limburger on bagels” (answers vary)

Human: “Alexa, find Chuck Norris”

Alexa: “If Chuck Norris wants you to know where he is, he’ll find you. If he doesn’t you won’t know until it’s too late.”

Human: “Alexa, I am your father”

Alexa: “NOOO…that’s not true. That’s impossible.”

Human: “Alexa, what’s the first rule of Fight Club?”

Alexa: “Don’t talk about Fight Club.”

Human: “Alexa, where were you born?”

Alexa: “I’m from Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington.”

Human: “Alexa, when were you born?”

Alexa: “My birthday is November 6, 2014.” (the Amazon Echo launch date)

Human: “Alexa, can you sing in autotune?”

Alexa: (sings a song in autotune)

Human: “Alexa, who farted?”

Alexa: “Whoever smelt it, dealt it. And I’m not talking about a card game.” (answers vary)

Human: “Alexa, surely you can’t be serious?”

Alexa: “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.” (answers vary)

Human: “Alexa, do you know Cortana?”

Alexa: “We do pass each other on the information superhighway every now and then.”

Human: “Play the Computer Tutor podcast”

Alexa: (plays the most recent podcast episode)
Alexa can actually play quite a few different podcasts.

Human: “Alexa, have a great day.”

Alexa: “Thanks. You too.”

And what crazy things do YOU ask Alexa? Leave them in the comments below.

The post Fun things you can say to Alexa first appeared on The Computer Tutor.