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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

****ing Google just told my kids Father Christmas isn't real.

153 replies

KenDodd · 23/11/2019 18:16

At a friends house using their Google mini. Thankfully they're old enough to already know but still.
AIBU to be pissed off?

OP posts:
MindyStClaire · 23/11/2019 21:41

Father Christmas (Real) is not to be confused with Santa (made-up Coca Cola marketing gimmick)

Sure, and Halloween is a nasty American import, no one British calls their mother mom etc etc etc Hmm

ButDoYouAvocado · 23/11/2019 21:53

Mate.

runoutofideasnow · 23/11/2019 21:58

Father Christmas (Real) is not to be confused with Santa (made-up Coca Cola marketing gimmick

🙄 'Father Christmas' is a very English term. In Scotland it's either Santa or Santa Claus.

VanGoghsDog · 23/11/2019 22:07

@VanGoghsDog Yes, it’s most useful if you have an Android phone and already use Google products, like Gmail and Google calendar. Even if you don’t, it can be used to do things like make shopping lists verbally (you can add items whenever you think of them) and read you the news headlines. You may be able to make to-do lists now too, though I’m not sure. I can send you a link, if you like?

Oh, I do have an Android phone, and using Gmail is compulsory on it I think (it's not my main email but it does seem to collect them all within Gmail anyway). I don't use the calendar (I doubt use any calendar, I just remember dates and times in my head, I've never used one). I use Chrome on the laptop and PC.

But the reason she can't do anything is, I think, because I don't have anything for her to do. She doesn't seem to connect to the internet, so I can't ask her to convert grammes to ounces etc. She will set a timer which is handy and will play the radio.

The only reason she plays Terry Wogan's Floral Dance is because that's the only music I have in Google Play. All my music is in Amazon and Google doesn't seem to want to connect to that, and I can't even cast onto it from Amazon.

I don't really need shopping lists, I have never used one, I can remember what I need to buy.

I should probably looking into trying to get it to do more things though.

TooManyPaws · 23/11/2019 22:15

@StCharlotte

I once told Alexa that she was stupid and got the reply "that's not a very nice remark"! 😁

RolytheRhino · 23/11/2019 22:27

@MockersFactCheckMN

Well, I have had a Google. Apparently, Father Christmas was originally the personification of the spirit of Christmas, representing all the adult mirth and merriment, but he didn't have anything to do with kids. Santa was brought over from America 150 years ago and the two kind of merged and are now synonymous with one another, if you believe Wikipedia.

So, I suppose, if you take Father Christmas to be the personification of the spirit of Christmas then he is real.

runoutofideasnow · 23/11/2019 22:32

@RolytheRhino Santa Claus is based on St Nicholas. He wasn't brought over from America 150 years ago.

HerRoyalNotness · 23/11/2019 22:40

I’ve just asked Siri about Father Christmas and my 9yo said who’s Father Christmas? Grin

Then he did the zero/zero thing.

We’ve always just gone with Santa/FC is a wonderful story, how awesome it would be if it were true. Much easier than having to explain the lie later, and they can still enjoy the story of Santa

****ing Google just told my kids Father Christmas isn't real.
GoldfishGirl · 23/11/2019 22:53

It's a fair point. I mean it WOULD be in the power of Google to keep the magic alive. Come on scrooges.

hopelesssuitcase · 23/11/2019 22:54

Vangoghsdog - I think if your device manages to play radio then it is connected to the internet, how else could it do this?

Floofboopsnootandbork · 23/11/2019 22:59

Just typed the question in (don't have (voice assistance)

So it wasn’t a google mini like your op said?

VanGoghsDog · 23/11/2019 23:03

I think if your device manages to play radio then it is connected to the internet, how else could it do this?

Hadn't really thought about it to be honest, I suppose I thought it was connecting via the phone or something. But if I ask a basic question that could be found on the internet, apart from the weather, she just says "I'm sorry, I can't help with that". So many be it is connected to the internet but is just useless?

FlamingoAndJohn · 23/11/2019 23:10

@vangoghsdog is this a google home we are talking about? If it’s not connected to the internet then her response to any question will be that she can’t connect.

VanGoghsDog · 23/11/2019 23:12

Google Home Mini. She doesn't say she's not connected, she says "I'm sorry, I can't help with that", if, for example, I say "Hey Google, how many ounces in five hundred grammes".
She's never said she's not connected.

Fruitbatdancer · 23/11/2019 23:13

I believe the only thing Coke have to do with FC/ Santa is the fact he was always brown clothes fur trim. Come made him red and white in an ad and it stuck.
Also YABU. Old enough for unsupervised internet = old enough to be told by school friends/ google

Fruitbatdancer · 23/11/2019 23:13

*coke

Jenasaurus · 23/11/2019 23:16

that's a shame, out of curiosity I typed in the same question on Bing, and this is what came up

Father Christmas was real, his name was St Nicholas and he was a carpenter in a village that wasn’t the richest of villages…One year near the festive season, he decided he was going to make wooden toys to leave on the door steps of houses he knew children lived in and wouldn’t get muc h else for Christmas.

Jenasaurus · 23/11/2019 23:16

its a shame that didn't appear on google

FlamingoAndJohn · 23/11/2019 23:18

@VanGoghsDog, try asking her something like the time, or how far it is to London (assuming you aren’t in London). These are things she should be able to answer easily.

If she can’t answer stuff like that then it’s a cliched but try turning her off and on again.

VanGoghsDog · 23/11/2019 23:24

Thank you. I did turn her off and on again the other day when she was being even more rubbish than usual.

I guess the thing is, it's not often I need the sort of mundane information she can apparently help with. I have a clock on the wall so I can see the time quicker than she responds. I know a reasonable estimate of how far it is to most places I want to go. I don't need a diary or shopping list. She can't play the music player I use, I'm not likely to ever have such urgent emails that I need them read to me while I'm doing something else....it's just a good job she was free
The radio is quite fun to be able to turn on just by asking instead of having to find the station on the radio.

I quite like it, I just would not get an answer to "is father Christmas real" (not that I would ask that, obviously. I know he is).

FlamingoAndJohn · 23/11/2019 23:26

But if she can’t answer that question then she isn’t working properly.

VanGoghsDog · 23/11/2019 23:30

I'll ask her when I'm home!

Thurmanmurman · 23/11/2019 23:32

If they ask if he's real then they already know the answer

Dongdingdong · 23/11/2019 23:35

I accidentally selected YANBU.

@Butchyrestingface you can switch by just clicking the other button instead, you know.

ClaraThePigeon · 24/11/2019 00:02

I believe the only thing Coke have to do with FC/ Santa is the fact he was always brown clothes fur trim. Come made him red and white in an ad and it stuck.

That's also a myth. There are postcards and images depicting him in red before Coca Cola.