Siri Goes Rogue, Tells A 12-Year-Old Boy To 'Shut The Fuck Up'

British tween Charlie Le Quesne and his mom were shopping at a store in England when he picked up an iPhone 4S on display and innocently asked Siri, “How many people are there in the world?” The 12-year-old, expecting the phone’s automated assistant to give him a number, got a real shock when instead Siri answered, “Shut the fuck up, you ugly twat.” Whoa, girl, watch your mouth!!! Charlie’s mother, Kim, couldn’t believe what she’d heard, so they asked the same question, thinking it must have been an error. But crabby Siri fired back with the very same expletive-laden rant.

As you might imagine, Kim wasn’t too pleased, and complained to store managers. They apologized and pulled the phone from the display, which was on a low shelf in full reach of children. The store thinks that some potty-mouthed prankster had their way with Siri and got her all confused, programming the filthy phrase in as the user name for the phone. Since Siri is sometimes in the habit of responding to people by their names, she might have simply said the phrase thinking it was the boy’s name. You can see how somebody would think that was an awesome trick (though there are a lot more clever ways to do it than just putting in a bunch of four-letter words), but Charlie’s mom says didn’t appreciate the joke: “I couldn’t see the funny side.” As for the foul-mouthed iPhone, it’s being sent back to Apple for “diagnostic tests.”

This prank must pale in comparison to the humorous things Apple programmers have probably tricked Siri into saying while developing her, but, of course, that was all between consenting adults. While you might not want to program your own personal Siri to swear at you, you could take a page from this prankster’s e-book, and make Siri call you “Your Royal Highnesss” for a little self-esteem boost or have her respond to you with “Are you kidding me right now with that outfit?” if you need a sassy best friend in your life. Worst case scenario, if your Siri ever goes off the rails and starts swearing at you, you can always drop your phone in the toilet and drown her. That’ll shut her up right quick.