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No kidding. when I worked for Adobe up here, I got the weirdest calls. That situation, and some guy who was calling us way early (I had the 6am shift) and in the middle of the call, his gf (I hope?) asks him if he could find the condom from last night. :eek: I mean... geez.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trek420
Anyone working in a callcenter gets weird stuff-enough for a few good comic strips, anyway. I don't even wanna go into the calls DGF's fielded for GM.
Ok so I feel compelled to chime in here, now that it is getting really gritty! :D
When I was in college, I had a job at a call center, for a cell phone company no less. I worked in tech support.
Moaning? Heard it. Chewing in my ear? Constantly. Arguing and fighting? Every day.
It amazed me what people did on the phone and even more so, what they expected you to put up with. No dude, I will not sit and try to explain what you need to do to fix this problem while you are inhaling a bag of potato chips!
Nowadays as has been pointed out, you have people using cell phones in bath rooms. While some of us have jobs that require that kind of behavior, my job clearly is not one of them. Yet there you are, in a little moment of privacy in the stall at the far end.....when suddenly you hear Bambi from accounting talk about her romp with Joey from Sales this past weekend....oh yes, she's 2 stalls down didn't you know?! :eek:
Sorry but I find it all incredibly creepy and very invasive. I like those European style water closets infinitely more! :cool:
K, ladies one more related to the whole bathroom and phone issues, which I think is disgusting that people talk on the phone in the bathroom. Anyway.
One more pet peeve-people who walk into the bathroom, lean down to see the feet in the stall to look for me to ask me some stupid question. Geez can't I have 5 minutes of peace! BTW My standard reply is "Is someone dying? If not, please go away!"
Anyway
otherwise nice, friendly people who can't tolerate children being children.
Followed closely by people who throw trash out of their cars, wait in their idling cars in the fire lane of any store, and tailgaters.
Karen
Yea! It's those people who use weird misspellings for LIGHT (as in li10up) who get to me!!! MIght will become MITE... (spight will become spite?)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluetree
I don't want to be a smart a**, but I had this same conversation with my husband one night (long before reading this forum), which has left me confused.Quote:
Originally Posted by mimitabby
I worked with a lady who constantly said, "irregardless", which I found very annoying. Being the English expert, my husband said it wasn't a word. The Historian in me, who tends to look things up before making a comment, I found the word in the dictionary. It quotes: "[prob. blend of irrespective and regardless] nonstand: REGARDLESS."
Can someone explain to me why it isn't a word?
"nonstandard" - means people use it, but it's not "good english."
You'll find swear words in there, too... doesn't mean you should use them.
Irregardless bugs me because it ends up being a double negative, so it should logically mean regardful. Irr consistently means "not," as opposed to "in," which sometimes means "not," but can also mean "in" or the same thing as "en"... which is why "inflammable" isn't really such a double negative. Those things are able to be inflamed. However, flammable would more obviously connect with flames as opposed to athlete's foot :rolleyes:
It *is* harder to communicate clearly with people when the consistent, standard patterns of our language have been eroded by disuse. However, it is in too many folks' best interest (as in financial) to be able to sell us ideas and products via verbal appeals to our emotions, and thus, analytical thinking has gone out of fashion. Our current educational system doesn't encourage it, either.
Geonz,
Thanks for clarifying. I wish my husband explained it that easy.
Just remembered a couple...
"I could care less."
and...
"He takes me for granite."
Granite? He thinks you're a rock?
Well, there goes the language! It has evolved once more; that word is NOW in the dictionary. I stand corrected. But i still don't like it...Quote:
Originally Posted by hsmpcycle
:mad:
Do people really say that?!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluetree
It's a good thing I can't correct other people's posts, I would be fixing typos all day.
What was it like before spelling was standardized?
And another one: OTHER people's kids. I confess, I don't really like kids too much, they're noisy, inconsiderate, irrational, uncontrollable.
I used to sit and complain about children with a friend of mine. Then one day; I had kids... (2 boys) and they were nothing like what I remembered from my own childhood. They were.. Noisy, Inconsiderate, messy, irrational, uncontrollable.. and ALL MINE!!!! talk about a rude awakening! Suddenly I understood... all of it... suddenly it was me at the table in the restaurant
red as a beet because MY kid knocked over a table... or told me in a loud clear voice (age 2) that the man on the bench was ugly... or would i please take my kid home because he'd messed his pants (age 6) AGAIN...
then
I narrowed my pet peeves to people with annoying kids who did absolutely nothing to try and control them... rather than just being peeved about the kids.
Now my sons are men, gentlemen, and I can go back to not liking kids in general...:cool:
but... I don't expect children to act like adults...
People who invent words, like
Just joking, Kit. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Kitsune06
People who confuse "formerly" and "formally".
People who whine about things they could fix. Eg. My son at 12 on winter hike, wants to rest, sits on rock, complains that he's cold. Me: "Get your butt off that rock!".
Folks, there's a logical explanation for a lot of the errors that are pet peeves. Many of them are similar sounding words with similar sounding meanings.
Some years back, there was a very effective movement in education called "whole language." Well, it was effective at being adopted; it wasn't quite as effective when it came to educating.
The premise of whole language is that learning to read is all about making meaning from text - and it doesn't matter whether you get *exactly* the right word, as long as you basically get the meaning from the text... and, well, maybe it's not the *author's* meaning but as long as it means something to you, that's "right."
All that old-fashioned inane stuff about pronouncing words correctly and knowing how to break a word into syllables... oh, that is horrible torture and will make our children hate reading and never know the joy of literature.
It works fine through grade 3 or 4... and then we get words like granite and granted, vaccination and vacation, malevolence and male violence.
The educational journals even have this stuff - one highly respected book about teaching to underprepared college students begins with saying that whether you are "reading from the cannon" ... YIKES!!! and there's another homophonic blunder on the same page! (I'm glad to say that the actual articles in the book don't have such errors, so I suspect editing was not as rigorous there.) I wish I could say this were uncommon.
For me, it's a deep peeve, especially since the more I read of inexact English, the more likely errors are to invade *my* communication. I like communicating clearly. I treasure it.
Some of my students have specific difficulties with actually *hearing* the differences in the sounds of words; too many of them, however, simply haven't been taught to even care.
(I don't run around correcting every utterance - it would not be effective and it would be annoying and negative. It does, however, make my job and their learnign much more difficult.)
It's funny but I actually like invented words. I have a very good friend who is incredibly funny and part of what makes him so funny is his ability to combine words to really express what he wants to say. Wish I could think of an example but my mind is blank right now but you understand. He's very clever.
Back to kids: I really do like kids and have no problem with kids being kids. What makes them so delightful and fun is all their noise making. What I don't like is when kids are being brats. You know what I mean. The kid that screams at his mom in front of everyone that she's a ***** because she wouldn't buy him candy or the kids that are running around in a restaurant while waiters are trying to serve food and I'm trying to enjoy my meal and the parents are just ignoring everything. The behavior I dislike is not the childrens but the parents. I dislike parents who let their kids run amok. A major peeve of mine.
Back to cell phones: Today I was in the elevator. Another woman's phone rang (BTW the ringtone was as obnoxious as her call). She answered and immediately starts screaming at the caller about being stood up the night before etc. Geez Louise... we are not alone here! I don't need to know you and your BF are fighting! Have the good sense and graciousness to let the phone take a message and then call the idiot back, in private.
Word play: The English language is abuse everyday and I'm as much an offender as the next person. But unless the offense is especially horrific, I don't get crazy. I mean, I hate it when someone says "Me and my friend.." but oh well, at least I understood what was meant. Let's save our ire for something really bad - like using a cell phone while going tinkle!!! ;)
Reminds me of a time a few years ago, at an cafe in Beverly Hills. A friend and I were enjoying Sunday brunch, sitting near a large party of adults + one 2-3 year old. The adults were busy talking so the bored boy left them and wandered from table to table. He came over to our table, stared at us and then grabbed my food! The parents and their friends looked over and instead of retrieving him, burst out laughing. The boy was delighted to get attention so he started laughing and throwing the food in the air, which caused the adults to laugh even harder. The mother finally got the boy and lamely apologized, saying, "At least it's a buffet, you can always get another plate."Quote:
Originally Posted by bcipam
That's alright. I never really used such words until my ex and his friends got me into it. I argued that it was totally incorrect, and a way to 'cheat' in the English language- to screw with other words so you don't have to stretch your vocabulary to encompass the *correct* words to convey your thoughts... until one of his friends (physics major- go figure) told me that it was only as much of an insult to English as the way English takes/borrows words from other languages or 'verbs nouns' (i.e. to 'google' something or to 'xerox' a page). We bickered over it for awhile, but here I am... doing the same thing. Logical people. Gruh! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by DebW
One other peeve of mine is when I'm with friends and we have inside jokes or a little 'language' between ourselves (bizarre words that have no meaning for anyone else, but make perfect sense within our group) and I start noticing the words working themselves into my normal vocabulary.
Oh lord, what is our society coming too! I wonder what those same parents would have done after the little brat grabbed something off my plate and I grabbed his arm and walked him back and sat his little rude booty back down with this parents and told them "barbarian behavior is just rude and crude and very sad, not funny" And don't think I wouldn't have done that either cause I would! Told you am old and cranky! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Bluetree
I don't think of it so much as not letting kids act like "kids"- I see it more like teaching kids how to act considerately of others around them. I was taught gently from an early age, and taught my daughters as well, about stuff like:
-- sitting patiently in a restaurant rather than running about from table to table.
-- not using a loud shouting "outside" voice when inside.
-- not interrupting people when they are talking (wait for them to finish a sentence and say excuse me first).
-- not insulting people because of how they look, etc.
-- not screaming in a tantrum fit when my mother didn't buy me something I wanted in a store.
-- not PUSHING ahead in front of old people when going through doors (i see this all the time), but holding the door for them instead and giving up seats on the bus for people who are not as strong as me.
-- eating with my mouth closed, and not talking with a mouth full of food.
-- saying please and thank you and excuse me.
I had no trouble learning these things from the time I was 4 or 5. They were repeatedly explained simply and kindly but firmly. I don't think learning to be kind and polite "ruined" my enjoyment of childhood or stifled me emotionally. :rolleyes: I had a pretty unrestricted childhood.
ah, DAUGHTERS..Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.
my sons were not insulting (well, at age 2 they didn't quite get it yet) or disrespectful but they were noisy, hyper, annoying. They could sit still for a minute or two. . . and they didn't run through restaurants, but we did WALK a lot through restaurants and outside taking turns with the boys... because
it really was hard for them to sit down.
they really are a different animal...those snips and snails go a long way.
You should hide a pair of slip on shoes in your desk and only wear them in the bathroom...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ACG
It's called a play on words...lighten up. My username gets to you?:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Geonz
OK another Pet Peeve....
So I live in an apartment which means I have to use the dreaded laundry room. Put my clothes in at 5:30 am and went out at 6:10. Some lady was pulling my stuff out and putting it on the counter. I was 5 minutes late for gosh sakes. DON'T TOUCH MY UNDIES! EEEEEEeeee, now I have to wash everything all over (not really - but I like to whine). I don't understand her haste. She now has to wait for my stuff to come ut of the dryer so she could have been patient. She does better not touch the dryer with my stuff in it!!!! Gotta go... gotta get out to the dryer before she does.....!!!!!
People who say NUCULAR instead of NUCLEAR - dangit - it's not that friggin hard!!!! Practice it a few times, for cripes sake...
(Oh, wait, I just described the leader of a large powerful country who has his finger on the button....)
and his popularization of ignorance is one of the biggest disservices he's done to our country. :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pascale
Preferably snorkling flippers...Quote:
Originally Posted by kelownagirl
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pascale
TV series "Third Rock from the Sun" did a spoof on that word once. John Lithgow's character said NUCULAR, and his housemates jumped all over him. He said something to the effect of, "we're TRYING to fit in on this planet," and made them all practice! (for those who didn't watch, the premise was aliens posing as a human family of sorts, researching humans and earth for some reason)
BTW, good to see you again Pascale!
Karen in Boise
I'm afraid I would do the same thing- remove your stuff from the machine so I could do my laundry. (I assume there were no other empty machines for her to use) When you leave your clothes in a public laundrymat and go away, you forfeit your right to hold the machine after it is done washing or drying your clothes. Other people need to do their laundry, and their time is valuable too. How would she have ANY idea how long you were going to take to come back? Sometimes people take an hour or longer to come back. Should she just sit there waiting while your clothes lie in an unused machine in front of her? Not meaning to be insensitive to you, but if you really don't want people touching your undies in a laundrymat, then don't walk away and leave them! :confused: ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by bcipam
You have to know I do my laundry at 5 - 5:30a when no one else is generally doing their laundry. Since this is my apartment complex, not a public laundry, everyone leaves and comes back. I very concerned about time and never leave my laundry - another pet peeve is people who do - this same lady, BTW, often does her wash late at night and leaves her stuff in the dryer overnight. I come in at 5 and the dryers are full. I don't take her stuff out although I'm upset I have to come back some other time. This morning I ws only 5 miniutes late so its not like she had to wait and keep in mind she'd have to wait for the dryers anyway - and yes they are 4 other laundry rooms for her to use - none occupied.
Geez, I'm still upset about it... I need to calm down... sorry!
Here's a really irrational one of mine, from the ever merging border between Spanish and English in this country: In English we say take a pill, take my medicine. In Spanish, the verb "tomar" can mean both take and drink. So people who grew up speaking Spanish at home and English everywhere else almost invariably say, "I drank my medicine", "I drank my pills", "How many times a day should I drink it?", etc. It drives me nuts. It's futile to try to correct it, "In English you can only drink a liquid. You cannot drink a pill. Say 'take', not 'drink'." They look at me as if I were a cranky, control freak, middle aged white woman in a lab coat. Which I am, of course! But still.
The latest from the Spanglish files: A dad yells to his little boy, "Watchale!" as he runs down the aisle at Target. ie: Watch it!, but in Spanglish. :rolleyes:
has anyone mentioned "more importantly" yet?
more imortant, importantly is not a word or not a good one anyway....yet. Used to drive my Dad right up the wall, I'm sure its use contributed to his demise. :o
She strutted about, importantly, as her minions greased her bicycle. However, Philippa knew that her grease was no more important than others'.
Personally, I prefer changing to adverb form if, in fact, you are modifying an action. So, "More importantly, you must remember to inflate your tires!" woudl not pique my peevedness.
I hope you will reach closure on it soon! Have some tea! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by bcipam
My pet peeve: People that leave their shopping carts in the parking lot, free to CRASH into my car! Walk a few yards and put them up!
How about a funny story?Quote:
Originally Posted by bcipam
The scene: basement of a 10-storey (excuse my British spelling) apartment building with three washers, three dryers.
The players: me, another tenant.
We've both been loading and reloading our "own" machine, because the middle washer is in use but not running. As I'm loading my second or third load, I realize the third machine has been abandoned, and, darnit, I'm going to use it, because I'm cranky that way.
Open it up, look inside, and realize IT'S MY LAUNDRY. :( Left by my husband DAYS ago. No one -- least of all him -- had taken it out. Ew. Ran that load again with bleach!
And there's a pet peeve -- forgetting the laundry for days and having to re-run the load. Or forgetting to dump out the toddler's bagged, wet clothes/bibs from daycare, and then, well, I'm buying more clothes/bibs for him.
laundry is where my sons both became self-sufficient early in life. After more than one of DH's work shirts got designed with really neat crayon squiggles from the crayons left in my 8 year old's pockets, everyone got to do their own laundry.
I did all the sheets/towels but each young (and old) male got to deal with his own clothing. really lightened MY load.
oh. they had to make their own lunches too. After witnessing children throwing away the lovely stuff their moms packed for them too many times; I just took mine to the store and told them to pick out the fruit,cookies, bread, sandwich filling... and then they made their own lunch every night before they went to bed all the way through highschool.
Yeah, my husband and three sons always did their own laundry.
But only because I didn't want them to grow up thinking women were their slaves.
Karen
My husband and I each do our own laundry. Hey, we have clothes that really require different settings! And we change the sheets together- much faster, and more fun.
Brava, Lisa! DH and I each do our own laundry also. He throws all his stuff in together, no concern for color, cycle, water temp, or dryer temp, and I...don't. When we got married, he started out doing laundry for both of us (what a guy!), but after he shrunk three of my best shirts, that was the end of that. Hey, you don't think he planned it that way, do you? :confused: But he does still do towels and sometimes bed linens. I guess he's a keeper after all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.
i think i better start using spell check on this forum. sorry i'm REALLY bad at spelling. i'm more of a numbers sort of girl.
and you mean zoomability isn't really a word? its my favorite made up word.
(sorry, i'm sure i have at least one word that is spelled wrong in this post.)
Today I caught myself calling something "gi-normous." Kill me now! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by chickwhorips