Pet Peeves: Aka Things That Make You Go "Gah!"

[Suzn]

26 minutes ago, PRgal said:

I think the reason why some people say "vegetarian" for seafood is because of religion.  Like, you might say you're not eating meat for Lent, but you will eat fish.  Or why you can mix fish and dairy if you're kosher but not chicken and dairy.

I don't feel the need to explain myself in general.

[PRgal]

2 minutes ago, Suzn said:

I don't feel the need to explain myself in general.

I don't either, but when people press and press...you feel like you have to answer.

[Ancaster]

"Pivot" on competitive TV shows.  As in, "I failed at this challenge so I'm going to have to pivot."  Yes, I need a life.

[annzeepark914]

4 hours ago, nokat said:

I put my winter clothes in storage, and then had to drag out sweaters again. I do prefer it chilly to hot and humid, but I don't have enough room for hot and cold clothing at once.

I'm loving this weather!  I purposely kept out my leggings and some long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, warm socks, etc. It will be gruesomely hot & humid soon enough.

[Ancaster]

And while I'm about it, "welp" needs to go away.

[PRgal]

3 hours ago, Ancaster said:

"Pivot" on competitive TV shows.  As in, "I failed at this challenge so I'm going to have to pivot."  Yes, I need a life.

Does this involve a mattress? 

[Salacious Kitty]

27 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Does this involve a mattress? 

Probably Top Chef. That or any competition on Food Network. Lots of pivoting to go around.

Edited May 26 by Salacious Kitty

[Dimity]

Went to granddaughter #1's dance recital last night and ended up sitting in front of Chatty Cathy.  She talked and talked and talked.  

I don't know if she behaves that way in other venues but what on earth would make her think this was appropriate at a dance recital?  She could even be heard when the dancers were doing a tribute to Queen thing (which was very good BTW  - and loud!).  Luckily there was an intermission and after it we were able to move as, inevitably at these events, people left after their own  little darling had had her moment on stage.

Anyway, today's peeve - rudeness.

Edited May 26 by Dimity

[nokat]

5 hours ago, Ancaster said:

And while I'm about it, "welp" needs to go away.

You're not from the mid-west. You slap your thighs, say "welp, gotta go" and then spend ten minutes trying to leave. I would never put that on paper.

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, nokat said:

You're not from the mid-west. You slap your thighs, say "welp, gotta go" and then spend ten minutes trying to leave. I would never put that on paper.

Fellow Midwesterner here, can confirm :D. 

[fairffaxx]

I bite my tongue whenever someone refers to children as "the littles", because I don't want to berate a fond mother or grandma for brutalizing the English language (however much they deserve it). 

But I was just watching a wildlife camera at a waterhole in Africa being visited by a herd of elephants, when a comment suddenly appeared on screen about how cute "the littles" are!  I suppressed the urge to add my own comment, but felt free to rant about it in the privacy of my own room:  Hey, idiot commenter!  Elephants are the epitome of dignity, even the baby ones, & deserve to be respected (as does the language).  🐘

[Dimity]

2 minutes ago, fairffaxx said:

I bite my tongue whenever someone refers to children as "the littles", because I don't want to berate a fond mother or grandma for brutalizing the English language (however much they deserve it). 

For me it's grandbaby and furbaby.  Both annoy me.  But like you I would never dream of saying that to someone using those terms!

[oliviabenson]

20 hours ago, Ancaster said:

"Pivot" on competitive TV shows.  As in, "I failed at this challenge so I'm going to have to pivot."  Yes, I need a life.

next level chef uses pivot too much. if I took a shot I'd be dead.

[PRgal]

Referring to kids as "the spawn."  Seriously?  Oh, and older children as "Baby."  I have a cousin who was called "Baby" into his 20s.  He's 37 now.  Last I heard, he was not in a relationship.  Gee, I wonder why...

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, PRgal said:

Referring to kids as "the spawn."  Seriously? 

Hate that one.  Also loathe it when people are referred to as 'breeders'.  The one advantage to that is if someone uses that term I know that I will not be interested in anything they have to say.

[StatisticalOutlier]

17 hours ago, Dimity said:

I don't know if she behaves that way in other venues but what on earth would make her think this was appropriate at a dance recital? 

I'm guessing you didn't tell her to be quiet.  She might not know it bothers anybody.

Edited May 26 by StatisticalOutlier

[Dimity]

Just now, StatisticalOutlier said:

I'm guessing you didn't tell her to be quiet.  She might not know it bothers anybody.

An adult woman in her 40s should not need to be told that talking in a darkened theatre or auditorium while watching a live performance (or a filmed one too for that matter) is inappropriate.  

And no we chose not to tell her to be quiet as even the usher was unsuccessful when she asked her to pipe down.  She stopped talking for about 2 whole minutes and then she was off again. 

[ABay]

Talkers and people on their phones are the reasons I haven't been to a movie theater since 2004.

[annzeepark914]

We go during the week, first showing & almost have the theater to ourselves. It's great!!

[Dimity]

21 minutes ago, ABay said:

Talkers and people on their phones are the reasons I haven't been to a movie theater since 2004.

I stopped going to see movies because of people always putting their feet up on the back of my seat!  Then a few years ago I took my grandson to see Peter Rabbit and saw how much theatres had changed!  Comfy seats and spaciously laid out.  So much room that he could get up and dance during some of the songs and he wasn't disturbing anyone.  Anyway I'll never be a 'go to a movie every week' type but I will take the grandkids now and sit back and enjoy the show.

[annzeepark914]

We've been to two movies this year: A Complete Unknown and Black Bag. I'm always on the lookout for a movie but it's rare to find something interesting (to us). 

 

[PRgal]

I haven't been to the movies since before the pandemic!  

[fairffaxx]

The last time I saw a movie in a theater (rather than on TV), it was the Indiana Jones movie with Sean Connery as Jones' father.  I just looked it up for the date & have forgotten the title in the time it took to come back to this site, but apparently that movie was released in 1989.  I remember it was pretty good, as I thought it would be with that cast & all those snakes, but nothing since has attracted my attention.  Instead, I watch TCM comfortably in my bathrobe & am more than satisfied with Cary Grant.  

[JustHereForFood]

43 minutes ago, PRgal said:

I haven't been to the movies since before the pandemic!  

Same. I just wait for it to be on streaming or in a rare cases buy the DVD. Even before the pandemic, I started to buy DVDs instead for some movies that I knew I will probably want to rewatch. I mean, the prices of the tickets got so high, it's cheaper to buy the DVD than 2 tickets in most cases...

Back to word peeves: intentional misspellings like boi, snek, smol. Censorship like unalive. Babygirl, especially if people use it to refer to men. Yummy. Probably some others.

[StatisticalOutlier]

5 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

We go during the week, first showing & almost have the theater to ourselves. It's great!!

I've found that in some areas the second showing tends to be less populated than the first, depending on the crowd the theater caters to.  I see mostly foreign movies and art films, and my fellow geezers like that first weekday showing. 

In August of 2020, when some movie theaters were opening back up, I started keeping track of how many other people there are in the theater at every movie I see.  Since then, I've had 67 private screenings.  And 42 where there was only one other person in the theater. 

To me, there's just no substitute for the immersion of seeing a movie on the big screen. 

[annzeepark914]

12 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

To me, there's just no substitute for the immersion of seeing a movie on the big screen. 

Yes indeed. If it's a *really* good movie, a viewer can become so totally absorbed that The End comes as a bit of a shock (I've only experienced this a few times 🤓).

[StatisticalOutlier]

Also, I was at a theater on the north side of Chicago a few years ago, and the guy at the box office said I was the only one who'd bought a ticket for the show I was going to.  I probably said something like, "Works for me!" and he said he once had a woman get a refund because when the movie started, she was the only one in the theater.  I appreciated his disapproving tone.

The thing is, she can obviously handle the mean streets of Chicago, but is apparently too scared to be the only person in a theater.  If I were a scaredy-cat, I think I might prefer to be in there alone than to have someone hanging out behind me. 

[EtheltoTillie]

My friend and I used to go to a multiplex in New Haven CT for afternoon showings. With time we noticed business dropping off until we were usually the only patrons for our movie then later on in the entire theater. I don’t imagine they did better business at night because last year they closed for good. 

[BetyBee]

I went to a graduation party a couple of weeks ago. It was casual, but not a large venue, so it was hard to get away from a woman who talked endlessly about her foot surgery. She talked to the room in general and went on and on. I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode. Some people have no idea what is and isn't appropriate conduct for any occasion.

[Bastet]

19 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

To me, there's just no substitute for the immersion of seeing a movie on the big screen. 

There isn't, but I'm satisfied with the lesser experience at home (this was not the case until the days of big screen TVs and surround sound).  I'm sitting here trying to remember the last movie I saw in a theater and am not sure.  I think it was the 2018 version of Halloween.  I have a friend I watch (and re-watch) a lot of horror movies with, and the original Halloween is one of our favorites, so we weren't going to wait for a rental in 2018, we were there opening night.  I can't think of anything else I saw in the theater between then and 2020, and I definitely haven't been back since, so I think Halloween was the last.  (The rest of the Halloween trilogy was simultaneously available on Peacock on opening days, so we watched those at home [and thank goodness, because neither one of them would have been worth the price of tickets]). 

Edited May 27 by Bastet

[Mountainair]

Since I have kids I find myself attending at least two movies a year. The latest one was Lilo and Stitch. I found it cute and not too long. I much prefer watching movies at home where I can pause as I please and turn on the closed captions. 

[fastiller]

My last film in the theatre was in '22: An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl).  A gorgeous film.  If you're ok w/ subtitles, I strongly recommend it.  I'm sure it's available somewhere streaming.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, fastiller said:

My last film in the theatre was in '22: An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl).  A gorgeous film.  If you're ok w/ subtitles, I strongly recommend it.  I'm sure it's available somewhere streaming.

 

I read the story this is based on quite a while ago. It's very good.  Have not seen the film. 

[roseha]

I haven't been to a theater in ages - the last film I saw was Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams - in 3D!  Quite a film though I find I struggle with the color tints in the 3D glasses.

I agree that large TVs are a help though of course the big screen is the best way to see any film.  I do wish I could get a bigger TV someday - my 49 inch Sony works fine and isn't tiny but there are times that I struggle with small print on some shows.

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, Mountainair said:

Since I have kids I find myself attending at least two movies a year.

Oh, how times have changed since the olden (and dare I say golden) days when parents dropped their kids off at the show, and left them there all day Saturday, in a theater jam packed with nothing but kids. 

 

[meep.meep]

These days I see more plays than I do movies in theaters but there are a few that are really going to be better on a huge screen - like Wicked and In the Heights.  I'm sad that I only got to see Nomadland on TV - the kinds of landscapes she was showing really needed the large screen.

Plus, watching in the theater I tend to concentrate - at home I'm pausing and getting snacks, etc. and miss half of what's going on.

[EtheltoTillie]

Peeve:  my 20-year-old under-counter front-loading washing machine is out of commission.  Of course, they don't make that size any more.  Only giant washers or tiny washers.  My machine has a 3.1 cubic foot capacity.  The new compact machines have only 2.1 to 2.4 cubic feet. The giant washers have 4.5 cubic feet or more.  

I actually took a bag of (clean) laundry to the appliance store today to see what would fit in the small machine.  I think it could work, but it's such a shame!  I'm trying to see if we can repair the machine.  We have to get new springs for the thingy that holds up the drum inside.  They literally broke and just dropped the drum to the bottom.  But there may be an additional problem with the water valve, and the gasket, which they don't make anymore!

Meanwhile, I am washing my clothes in my building's basement laundry.  My dryer still works so I can at least use that.

[EtheltoTillie]

The basement laundry now works through an app or a key fob. You load money on an account instead of hoarding quarters, as we did in my old building. The machine signals you when it's almost done!  You know those Reddit stories about neighbors fighting over laundry (in AskNYC:  how many minutes is it necessary to wait before you remove clothes--is there a standard?  My neighbor didn't even wait five minutes.  How dare she!).

Our building is relatively small and a lot of people have their own machines, so fortunately this hasn't been going on in our building.

[EtheltoTillie]

 

 

Here's a picture of my poor washing machine about to take off!  It was vibrating so much it worked its way out from under the counter. 

(TIL I had to post this on YouTube before sharing because it was too large a file for Primetimer)

 

 

Edited Yest. at 12:38 AM by EtheltoTillie

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I actually took a bag of (clean) laundry to the appliance store today to see what would fit in the small machine.

My machine is 1.92 cubic feet.  I can wash a queen fitted and flat sheet and 3-1/2 pillowcases, but it never seems like it has enough water in it so I add about a gallon more.  When I do just one sheet, you can see the water splashing as the sheet lands in the bottom of the drum each rotation, which is what I think it's supposed to do.  With the entire set in there, there's no splashing but they seem to get clean.

I've been known to add two small thin bath towels to that load, but it doesn't really sound happy.  Definitely happier than your machine, though!

This is typical--I did a quick internet search for my machine's capacity, and the #3 result on DuckDuckGo was a post in an RV forum, and I was the one who posted the capacity.  I can't tell you how many times that's happened.  And even better (or worse), I'll sometimes be reading a post and thinking it's a pretty clear explanation, only to find out I'm the one who wrote it.

And...quarters.  I hate the machines that don't take quarters.  There are some where you have to buy a non-refundable card to load, which is really annoying if you're going to be there only once.

 

 

[roseha]

@EtheltoTillie I hope you are able to have your washing machine fixed.  I have a GE under the sink dishwasher that cost twice what a normal dishwasher does, and they no longer make it.  I'm on my second one and I'm afraid that when it goes, it goes and I won't have space for another dishwasher.  On time I got by with having the motor replaced on the first unit, maybe there will be some solution for you.

My laundry room machines work on cards that you refill with cash.  There was a website that allowed you to use a credit card but it's no longer secure so I have to go the cash route.  Yes the "how long do you wait on people to get their laundry" is almost as popular on AskNYC reddit as "why don't people leash their dogs?"

[Mondrianyone]

18 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

But there may be an additional problem with the water valve, and the gasket, which they don't make anymore!

Sometimes you can get parts from sources other than the mfr. Not a washing machine, but we had a car that we kept for an insanely long time for sentimental reasons, and when it needed a part, I could often find it on eBay, listed as NOS (new old stock), and I never got anything that didn't fit or didn't work. So there's that as a possibility.

That video is crazy! Do your downstairs neighbors, if you have any, bang on your door with flaming torches? If you can get the mechanical problem fixed, you might want to look into anti-vibration feet to put under the washer. A few years ago, we had a flood and had to put in a new floor in our laundry area. The new floor was apparently slidier than the old one, and the washer was walking all over the place, not to mention vibrating a lot (not like yours, but still . . .). I had to try a couple different styles, but the feet solved both the walking and the vibrating, so that's another thought.

But lucky you for being able to have one in your apartment. In our old place, there was only one unit that was grandfathered in. We all hated them.

[EtheltoTillie]

21 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

Sometimes you can get parts from sources other than the mfr. Not a washing machine, but we had a car that we kept for an insanely long time for sentimental reasons, and when it needed a part, I could often find it on eBay, listed as NOS (new old stock), and I never got anything that didn't fit or didn't work. So there's that as a possibility.

That video is crazy! Do your downstairs neighbors, if you have any, bang on your door with flaming torches? If you can get the mechanical problem fixed, you might want to look into anti-vibration feet to put under the washer. A few years ago, we had a flood and had to put in a new floor in our laundry area. The new floor was apparently slidier than the old one, and the washer was walking all over the place, not to mention vibrating a lot (not like yours, but still . . .). I had to try a couple different styles, but the feet solved both the walking and the vibrating, so that's another thought.

But lucky you for being able to have one in your apartment. In our old place, there was only one unit that was grandfathered in. We all hated them.

1)  parts sources:  Yes we are looking with our repairman at after-market sources that are not the manufacturer.  But it seems like no one is making the rubber gasket.

2)  No worry about the downstairs neighbor--why?  first, he's never home--he travels the world as an opera singer, and second, the machine only started to do that because of the broken springs making the whole thing haywire, so it was just this one time. 

3) washer in the apartment:  yes, we are lucky they are allowed in our building.  We looked at a building that did not allow in-unit washers (the board was just too scared about flooding or wear and tear on the old pre-war pipes) and we wouldn't buy there. I figure if you allow dishwashers, why not washing machines? 

Edited 7 hours ago by EtheltoTillie