Confusing phrase suggestion. "Gates open!"
I recently had a brief Skype chat conversation with someone. Skype tends to automatically suggest a few phrases to use as responses to questions or messages you receive.
So the conversation was like this:
- A: "Can we postpone the meeting by 15 minutes?"
- B: "Hi, yes no worries!"
- A: "Great, thx"
Then Skype suggested three phrases I could use to respond:
- "No problem!"
- "My pleasure!"
- "Gates open!"
Now, (1) makes perfect sense. I guess (2) is also quite OK. But what in the world is (3)?
I'm not a native English speaker and asked some friends but they have no idea, and Google is no help.
Is it a phrase at all in English? The current best hypothesis is that it is a normal expression in this context in a different language which has just been automatically translated to English and suggested. Would anyone be able to verify this?
Solution 1:
This looks to be an easter egg of sorts in Skype. In any case, as a native speaker I'll tell you it doesn't make sense as a response here. I found this relevant conversation on Twitter:
George Eastmead @GEastmead Sep 19:
Why does Skype eternally suggest 'Gates open!' as a suggested response to almost anything?!
Skype @Skype
Because "Gates Closed!" sounds so much less inviting! http://msft.social/D7d1tu
That last link leads to this gif, making it clear it's a reference to Wimbledon.