Creating an Alternative Identity for Yourself

Perhaps you’ve heard the joke. You tell Siri, “Call me an ambulance,” and Siri responds, “From now on, I’ll call you, ‘An Ambulance,’ Okay?” Leanna Lofte pointed out in a great write-up over at iMore (http://imore.com) that this joke is actually of practical use.

It’s possible to create a more friendly identity for yourself by telling Siri to call you by your nickname or simply indulge your monomaniacal streak by instructing it to call you “master” or “emperor” or similar (see Figure 3-5).

Figure 3-5. Siri can assign your nickname on demand.

Siri does this by checking out two fields in your primary Contacts entry. The Nickname field takes priority. When you say, “Call me [followed by some name],” Siri updates your Nickname field. Another way to achieve the same result, without adding a nickname to your entry, is to use the phonetic guides.