I have many pet peeves. I’ve come to the conclusion that most people I interact with are socially inept morons. However, I do have a few specific ones:
People not being able to make a decision. If I ask “what do you want to do, where do you want to eat, what do you think” it means I really want your opinion. i hate it when people say, “Oh whatever you want to do” or “i don’t care”
teenagers at the movie theater, especially in groups, who are texting, getting up and down, talking and just generally being annoying. I didn’t pay 8 bucks to have my experience ruined by some brat kids who can’t shut the hell up for 2 hours.
People cruising in the passing lane.
People with tiny dogs in rhinestones and bows in a puppy purse. Hello, no one in the world cares about how cute (you think) your dog is.
ETA: i just thought of another one. People who say “spitting image” instead of “spit and image”
This is something I so identify with! I hate having to spend major $$ for pants to fit properly! Don’t clothes manufacturers realize that there are a few small people out there? :wall:
I’ve never heard anyone say “spit and image” - I honestly don’t understand that one.
One of my pet peeves is when people try to make you feel bad about venting :D. Venting helps people - being able to get it out makes it less likely to come out in the heat of the moment :D.
Bagpipes at funerals (I know it can be a heritage thing, but I just can’t stand them!)
People who have no regard for other people, whether it be neighbors playing music too loud, driving the grocery buggy reckless, judging others for things they can’t help. . . I could go on forever, I think you get my drift.
When DH leaves the lights on all over the house and then complains our electric bill is too high!
Cruelty to animals. I don’t believe there is any excuse for this.
I also agree with what someone said earlier - the way teenagers dress improperly. Some of the clothes are really cute, but GEEZ! is it really necessary to wear that to the mall??
A quick google search on this brought up the following from [B][COLOR=Red]this[/COLOR][/B] website (sorry, but I’m so used to doing research and citing my sources for my college classes):
[FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]These phrases mean “exact likeness”. “Spitting image” is first
recorded in 1901; “spit and image” is a bit older (from the late
19th century), which seems to refute the explanation “splitting
image” (two split halves of the same tree). An older British
expression is “He’s the very spit of his father”, which Eric
Partridge, in his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
(Routledge, 1950) traces back to 1400: “He’s … as like these as
th’hads’t spit him.” Other languages have similar expressions;
e.g., the French say C’est son pere tout crache = “He is his
father completely spat.” Alternative explanations are “so alike
that even the spit out of their mouths is the same”; “speaking
likeness”; and a corruption of “spirit”.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
Whereas linguist Larry Horn thinks it was originally “spitten image.”. I immediately headed over to the Language Log after reading that, because it sounded like an eggcorn to me, but they only have two hits for “spitting image” and don’t discuss it in either. :shrug:
People who think their turn signals are optional. They come standard on your vehicle for a reason!
People who complain about the kids in the library. The kids have every right to be in there, and often the older people are just as loud–they shout b/c they can’t hear well.
Yup, I would agree, though they would need to drop the contraction and the preposition to make it semantically correct. But they way I figure it is, if the person is able to make him or herself understood, then why the quiddity?
I’m afraid that I would say something completely inappropriate and embarassing like, “Well, my dh and I got rid of the TV in our bedroom , so we are making it like monkeys every day now.” Or I might lean over, grab dh’s cute little bum and say “Can you blame me?” with a big wink.
I bet they wouldn’t ask anyone else that every again!
My pet peeve:
-On the airplane, when I am sitting in coach and the person in front of my reclines their seat back, diminishing my already lacking leg room. If I was flying at night, or a long flight, I could understand. But my flights are in the 2 hours or less time range.
-When people make racial jokes. Yes, I got it. No, it’s not funny.
-People driving in the fast or pass lane on the highway. If you aren’t passing traffic, get over. Someone else might be trying to come through. Double points for the idiots who pull up next to someone in the other lane and then go the SAME speed as them, so you are stuck behind these cars and can’t get around them.
-People who do not pull over for ambulances or stop for buses.
Bagpipes at funerals (I know it can be a heritage thing, but I just can’t stand them!)
I don’t like bagpipes either. But what I REALLY hate at funerals? Cell phones ringing in the middle of the eulogy. At the last funeral I attended, three cell phones rang during the Pastor’s very moving tribute. It was disgraceful and the Pastor was obviously annoyed.
Ugh, that is horrible. It happened at my grandfather’s funeral, my cousin’s mom’s (she’s divorced from my uncle) phone rang. I was so pissed but my cousin who was sitting next to me was even more mad. He turned around and glared at her. She then proceded to turn off the phone which makes a very loud sound. People who have zero cell phone etiquette really irk me, I mean seriously you can’t turn off your phone for an hour when you’re at an important event?
The same goes for church. I used to attend a large, weekly women’s Bible study. After small groups, everyone would gather in the sanctuary for the main lesson. Despite the announcement each week, someone’s phone would ALWAYS go off. That is very distracting! :wall:
Absolutely. And I get po’d when people ignore the reminders they play at the beginning of movies (in the theater) or the announcements they make before a performance starts. I didn’t shell out $$$ to hear cell phones ringing–or people talking on them.
I’ve also got issues with people who don’t get sitters. Before those of you with kids gang up on me, please hear me out! I’m not talking about people taking their kids out to restaurants or shopping, etc. I’m talking about places where kids aren’t on the guest list (so to speak). Say, “adult” parties. People are there to have a good time (with adult beverages), not to amuse a 5 yr old. Or board meetings. How much attention can you pay to what’s going on in the meeting if you’re chasing your child around the room? Not to mention the distraction to everyone else. (I’ve experienced both of these situations.)
Not read all replies but things that drive me mad…
Sniffling near me that does NOT stop and that clearly needs a blow of the nose. arrggghhhh
Loud chewing. I also dislike loud gum chewers. arrgggghhh
Ticking clocks.
Actually, any noise that is repetitive and that once I hear I cannot get away from really can unnerve me after a while. I cannot sleep in a room with a ticking clock. I’ve even hauled out of bed in a hospital room and taken a clock off a wall, wrapped a blanket around it and shoved it in a cupboard
I dislike people leaving their shopping trolley in front of me at a checkout like [B]I[/B] am beholden to move it for them.
People with hands free mobiles who talk loudly next to you and make you wonder for a moment whether they are talking to you or not. I also dislike mobile phone users assuming everyone in the vicinity needs to or wants to listen to their half of the conversation. I’ll add also people talking in doctors rooms on their phones when they clearly know the phone being on can affect certain monitoring equipment. That is plain ignorant.
Has anyone ever wondered why, unless of course someone is waiting for a really important call, someone you ring simply HAS to take a second call coming in and make you wait even though you were half way responding to a question of theirs? As I said, I can understand something urgent but then to my mind good manners dictates that you flag this possibility with your first caller. Don’t just dump someone for a minute just because you can’t stand not being available!
Heh… I read back. I like bagpipes and particularly in a high vaulted church. The cranking up of the sound can be horrid for a moment but once they are in flight I love it.
In Australia we say the “spitting image of” meaning of course that the person being referred to could ‘almost’ be a twin of another.
One phrase you say opposite to us in England/Australia is:
“I couldn’t care less”. This is what we say.
US folk tend to say "I could care less"
That’s never quite made sense to me but perhaps it’s context based. Our phrase means “I don’t care at all”. Your phrase seems to me to say “I care but I could care a little less than I do” Interesting how these differences come about.
Then again I sometimes hear phrase changes simply because a person has never quite heard what the original phrase was and so has adapted it. Can’t think of an example offhand.
This is one of those times, actually. It IS supposed to be “couldn’t care less.” :shrug: I’m guilty of saying “could care less,” but that’s because I talk way too fast. (I talk fast compared to most other East Coasters, so that’s saying something. :teehee:)
Something that bugs me: “Irregardless.” No, it’s not irregardless. That’s a double negative, and means the exact opposite of what you think it means. (“Inconceivable!” “You keep using that word. I do no think it means what you think it means.”) You mean “Regardless.”
Stiney… Some words come into such popular usage the reality of what those words mean (the double negative) falls away. Unravel is a classic example and debone. I’m guess if we thought the matter through we’d find loads of examples. I say unravel all the time If I said “ravel” everyone I know would naturally question the usage.
Thank you for the link! It’s been too long since I’ve surfed grammar blogs.
