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

[harrie]

Yes, but it's a Bob Dylan song, which the Byrds did a great version of. Sorry,  authorship stuff is a pet peeve of mine.:) I'm a librarian.

 

I hear you - and I once created an office contretemps when I tried to convince some co-workers that Elvis Costello, not Linda Ronstadt, wrote Alison, so I get the authorship thing.  (And then I had to explain who Elvis Costello is, which broke my heart.)

 

Authorship aside, I understand thinking of My Back Pages as a Byrds song because they're the ones who made it popular. It's not their song in terms of ownership or authorship; but by virtue of their performance of it (which, as you note, is great), they have become identified with it in a totally non-legal, conversationally-talking-about-what's-playing-on-the-radio way.  

[Sun-Bun]

I'm right there with you. Especially when the nails get twisty or curved. I always wonder how someone wth such long nails does normal things - open a can of pop, use the touch control on microwave, apply makeup , type on a computer. Or - wipe yourself after using the toilet. Sorry, but they seem like the most impractical things in the world.

Not to mention completely unhygienic---if more humans really knew just how many germs are found/lodged under long nails, no matter how clean one's hands might be, they'd likely never want to grow long nails again.

Having worked in a retirement facility in my college years and having seen one too many old ladies with long witch-talons that had food((and god knows what else)) caked under them also pretty much put me off long nails for life. I also have taught in several special ed classrooms with severely low-functioning students, and let's just say the students with longer nails often had a gross tendency to somehow get fecal matter stuck under them...

[potatoradio]

I've worked service jobs and nothing drove me battier than people who forgot that even the little people appreciate basic manners. Instead of "May I please have..." or "I'd like..." I  regularly heard commands such as:

 

"Gimme..."

"I'll take..."

"Fetch me..."

"I want..."

"Make me a..."

"Get me a ..."

 

How's about you learn a thing or two about how to ask for something before we have to endure your rude arse in public? You're paying for this honey, you're not getting or taking a d*mn thing. I don't know what manners book you've read, but spending money does not make you lord of the manor, OK?

 

Also, while of course I will be polite and enter your order, etc., don't you dare walk up to the counter and act as if I'm your amusement for the next five minutes. "Huh...you don't look very happy to be working today." "A smile would make the order even better." "Hmmm...maybe you don't want my business?" Yeeaaahhh....you're not my manager. If h/she wants to try to force me to be super bubbly while "fetching" your ordered item, well, that's h/her problem.

 

On the other hand, I'd really like to know why it is that so many cash register workers are stuck with impossible systems that they have no power to override if a card swipe fails. My credit card, for some reason, has a lot of trouble with some swipe readers and you'd think it would be easy enough to manually enter my number, but nooooooo..."Could you swipe again?" "Hmmm. How about now?" "Nope...um, do you have another card?" "Oh, no, I'll have to get a manager..." Gah!! What kind of BS POS are you working with? Maybe you'd be better off going back to the clunk-clunk carbon copies?

 

[DeLurker]

Related to being rude to people in service jobs....is the compulsive flirter.  Most of the time you border on lecherous.  I don't think you lame attempts are that well received by the poor person who has to help you nor to your date/spouse/children who happen to be with you.  You are being rude and disrespectful to your date/spouse.  You are probably embarrassing your children and sending a clear message that they are not worth your time and attention.

[ABay]

As a state employee in a service position, I've occasionally heard the classic "I pay your salary."  I'm also a resident of this state and pay state taxes. Does that make me self-employed?

[potatoradio]

 

 

As a state employee in a service position, I've occasionally heard the classic "I pay your salary."  I'm also a resident of this state and pay state taxes. Does that make me self-employed?

 

This one makes me 100% mental. Especially because I've heard it from colleagues who, incidentally, make a crapload more than I do, so I always want to clarify that "yes, but a far greater amount of my paycheck is taken out to pay your salary than mine. I don't think you're an expense I can deem worthwhile. You're fired."

[jnymph]

Why am I hearing the word "literally" at least 50 times a day? When did that word become fashionable, not to mention misused?

[glowlights]

Why am I hearing the word "literally" at least 50 times a day? When did that word become fashionable, not to mention misused?

 

ARGH! I just suffered through a political candidate's statements about how she literally shared something important at a meeting and she literally is a full-time mom and she literally lives in the suburbs.... Even worse, she speaks with an uptick. She literally shared something? And she's literally a mom? And she's literally in the suburbs? And, like, you should literally vote for her?

 

Also, while of course I will be polite and enter your order, etc., don't you dare walk up to the counter and act as if I'm your amusement for the next five minutes. "Huh...you don't look very happy to be working today." "A smile would make the order even better." "Hmmm...maybe you don't want my business?"

 

Jesus. There is just something so BAD about ordering people to smile, whether they're taking an order at the counter or just walking down the street  (yes, I've had a random man stop me on the sidewalk to tell me I should smile - uh, please fuck off and die, sir). The funny thing is, I am usually a pretty upbeat, smiley person. But we are all entitled to have times when we don't feel like smiling. Sheesh.

[FormerMod-a1]

Death is not an option.  For the rest of your life you'll only ever hear 1) Uptalk, or 2) Vocal Fry.

[ZaldamoWilder]

ARGH! I just suffered through a political candidate's statements about how she literally shared something important at a meeting and she literally is a full-time mom and she literally lives in the suburbs.... Even worse, she speaks with an uptick. She literally shared something? And she's literally a mom? And she's literally in the suburbs? And, like, you should literally vote for her?

 

 

Jesus. There is just something so BAD about ordering people to smile, whether they're taking an order at the counter or just walking down the street  (yes, I've had a random man stop me on the sidewalk to tell me I should smile - uh, please fuck off and die, sir). The funny thing is, I am usually a pretty upbeat, smiley person. But we are all entitled to have times when we don't feel like smiling. Sheesh.

 

glowlights, like duh.  That literally makes her so much more relatable.  I thought you had to be over 13 to run for elected office.   

 

Jesus. There is just something so BAD about ordering people to smile, whether they're taking an order at the counter or just walking down the street  (yes, I've had a random man stop me on the sidewalk to tell me I should smile - uh, please fuck off and die, sir). The funny thing is, I am usually a pretty upbeat, smiley person. But we are all entitled to have times when we don't feel like smiling. Sheesh.

 

Feel free to borrow my favorite response if it will help, you too potatoradio:   yeah, it's on the inside. 

[Bastet]

Death is not an option.  For the rest of your life you'll only ever hear 1) Uptalk, or 2) Vocal Fry.

 

You had to take death off the table?

 

I guess I’ll go with uptalk, since it only happens at the end of the sentence while vocal fry plagues pretty much every word.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Bastet

[potatoradio]

 

I guess I’ll go with uptalk, since it only happens at the end of the sentence while vocal fry plagues pretty much every word.

 

Yeah, plus, you can kind of prepare yourself as the speaker reaches the end of a sentence. Uptick/end of sentence coming in 3...2...1...ear bleach! I wonder - if people started standing on their tiptoes when they heard the uptick, or cocked their heads to one side, or, I don't know, just started saying "are you asking me?" - would that bring attention to upticks and maybe make people think twice before continuing that horrible habit?

 

Not only am I hearing more people use literally, it's now apparently more effective to say it twice with emphasis on the second word. "And it was literally, LITERALLY, raining cats and dogs!" No, dear, repeating the word does not mean you are using it correctly. 

 

I am currently trying to break myself of the Midwestern habit of ending my sentences with "so." It's awful. "I went to the grocery store, so..." "I got up today, so..." I'm not trying to create a cliffhanger; my habit is just that bad and, after reading these boards, realize how awful it probably sounds. It's hard, though! So....

 

...like, Glowlights, like, can I literally, like literally, come vote in your district? Because I totes want to vote for this Valley Girl candidate? Like, literally want to vote for her?

 

Going back to smiling on the inside now! 

[ZaldamoWilder]

Death is not an option.  For the rest of your life you'll only ever hear 1) Uptalk, or 2) Vocal Fry.

 

Since you didn't exclude murder, I choose neither. 

 

Uptalk.  I might be able to smooth that out in my head.

[Bastet]

This goes beyond a peeve, but I'll put it here anyway.  I hate vocal fry and uptalk (and sentences in which "like" constitutes 40% of the words) as much as the next person, but I also hate that it's generally only the women who speak this way who are criticized for it.  As Robin Lakoff said, "With men, we listen for what they're saying, their point, their assertions.  With women, we tend to listen to how they're talking, the words they use, what they emphasize, whether they smile."

 

Ira Glass did a nice piece about how the show receives all kinds of complaints about the voices of its female reporters/producers, but none about their male counterparts, even though Glass himself has a vocal fry.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Bastet

[Maizie131]

You guys ALL made my day talking about "uptalk"!  I have a friend who uses uptalk just about every sentence, and it absolutely drives me up a frickin' wall!!!!  I had to google the word to figure out if "uptalk" (word I've never heard) was what I thought she was doing.  Yes, indeedy -- I watched a YouTube video, and that is IT!  So extremely irritating!   And the kicker is...she really IS an intelligent lady and her sentences are actually well-structured -- but when she ends every single fucking one in a question mark --- well....  (as some of you say...which CRACKS ME UP EVERY TIME!) -- it makes me STABBY!!!  hahahahaha!

 

And another thing potatoradio mentioned above -- using "so" at the end of a sentence!  YES, YES, YES!  I've even gone so far (as recently as 2 days ago), typing it into google to find out if this man has a problem in his brain due to all the prescription drugs he takes!  I'm serious!  And "this man" is my significant other of the past 21 years and is an extremely intelligent M.D.!!!  We talk to each other about 3x/day, and there are mornings he'll call me to update last night/how work is going, and believe me when I say I've counted 24 times in FIVE MINUTES he ended every single fucking sentence in "so...."  Drives me out of my MIND!  I never found an answer when I googled this speaking behavior, but I'm gonna chalk it up to the drugs he takes ever since he had a stent inserted 2 years ago for 100% blockage in an artery. 

 

Concerning my friend who uses "uptalk?"  The video I watched on YouTube said one of the indications is insecurity.  Yep -- that's the one. 

 

BTW, potatoradio - we're in Michigan. 

Edited October 13, 2015 by Maizie131

[janestclair]

This one makes me 100% mental. Especially because I've heard it from colleagues who, incidentally, make a crapload more than I do, so I always want to clarify that "yes, but a far greater amount of my paycheck is taken out to pay your salary than mine. I don't think you're an expense I can deem worthwhile. You're fired."

 

I love this.  I think I might steal it next time someone says that. 

 

My boss uses uptalk (although I didn't know what that was until this thread) and I frequently want to punch her in the face, so I choose vocal fry.  Being from NJ, the land of fast talkers, my peeve is people who talk too slow more than any of those other things.  I had to order pillbugs from a company in one of the Carolinas today.  The lady on the other end of the phone was lovely, but she talked soooo slow.   I'm on a schedule here.  The bell is about to ring and admit 30 students into my classroom.  Spit it out.  They might even be talking at normal speed, but I'm just so used to rapid fire speech that anything else sounds super slow. 

 

Also, people who tell me to smile can go fuck themselves.  I do not exist for your amusement.

Edited October 13, 2015 by janestclair

[ABay]

Death is not an option.  For the rest of your life you'll only ever hear 1) Uptalk, or 2) Vocal Fry.

My death or theirs?

[Quof]

I was in a meeting today with a colleague who said a point was mute.  I was looking right at her, I saw her lips form the word "mute".  I know I heard her correctly. 

I would have preferred she say the point was moo, like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter.

You may recall I'm a lawyer, as was the colleague.

[DeLurker]

my peeve is people who talk too slow more than any of those other things.  I had to order pillbugs from a company in one of the Carolinas today.  The lady on the other end of the phone was lovely, but she talked soooo slow.   I'm on a schedule here.  The bell is about to ring and admit 30 students into my classroom.  Spit it out.  They might even be talking at normal speed, but I'm just so used to rapid fire speech that anything else sounds super slow.

Slow talker here - at least comparatively.  It drives my cousins from NH nuts too.  They tell me I sound dumb as a result.  I tell them that means so much coming from people who don't have r's in their words (pahk the cah).

 

I was in a meeting today with a colleague who said a point was mute.  I was looking right at her, I saw her lips form the word "mute".  I know I heard her correctly. 

I would have preferred she say the point was moo, like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter.

You may recall I'm a lawyer, as was the colleague.

You make me sad. So very very sad.

[Quof]

Really?  Cuz my goal is to make you feel better about your own lives.

[DeLurker]

You're not doing a very good job.  I'd appreciate a bit more effort.

[Quof]

'kay.

 

My calendar shows that I have a doctor's appointment at 9 am on Wednesday and at 9 am on Thursday at 9 am.   Different doctors, each 30 minutes from my office, in opposite directions. I arrived home today to a message from the "Wednesday doctor" that I had missed my appointment.  1.  I KNOW that appointment is Wednesday, not Tuesday.  They had my cell number, why did they call my home, 4 hours after the appointment, to ask why I hadn't shown up?    2.   It's too late to return their call.   3.  Now I'm second guessing whether my Thursday appointment is actually Wednesday.  Again, too late to call that office to confirm (and they have strange policies about even answering the phone, and don't accept messages.  ????)

 

So what do I do tomorrow?  Go to the appointment that I "know" is Wednesday?  Go to the appointment that I think is Thursday?  Try, likely in vain, to get someone on the phone in either office by 8:30??

[annzeepark914]

I am currently trying to break myself of the Midwestern habit of ending my sentences with "so." It's awful. "I went to the grocery store, so..." "I got up today, so..." I'm not trying to create a cliffhanger; my habit is just that bad and, after reading these boards, realize how awful it probably sounds. It's hard, though! So....

 

What has to stop, and I mean stop this very instant, is starting every sentence with the word, "So".  Talking heads on TV are doing it and reporters too.  I can't stand it.  Comedians set up a joke with the word "so".  That doesn't mean everyone else should.  Ugh.

[Quof]

My dentist gives me a reminder call.  And my hairdresser.   Doctors, not so much (plus yesterday was a holiday).  I'm in Canada, it's not like they're worried about getting paid. 

 

My favourite tweet about the Harold Reynolds/Canadian baseball "controversy" (Did you hear this one?  The baseball announcer said Blue Jay fans/Canadians couldn't catch foul balls because they didn't grow up playing baseball.)   "When someone insults Canada, it hurts my feelings.  So I go to the hospital to get them checked. For free". 

[Bastet]

Why didn't they give you the usual day before reminder call? Don't all doctor and dentist offices do that anymore?

 

I get an automated call for my doctors appointments, but my dentist's office does them personally (after an email reminder about a week before).  I've been going to them pretty much since I had teeth, so I told them years ago to skip the call -- we've well-established that I'm going to show up, and they do their calls around 8:00 in the morning.  Unless I have to be in court or deposition, I am asleep at 8:00 in the morning.  I do not want to be woken up by a call about getting my teeth cleaned.

[bilgistic]

I had to order pillbugs from a company in one of the Carolinas today. The lady on the other end of the phone was lovely, but she talked soooo slow.

As an at-least-eighth-generation North Carolinian, I find it amusing and sad that people call North Carolina and South Carolina "the Carolinas" like it's an uncharted land mass. I first came across this way of thinking when I was 22 and long-distance dating a New Yorker. His mother's boyfriend called my homestate "Carolina". My then-boyfriend was from Melville, New York, which is on/in Long Island. He worked in Manhattan, which is part of New York City. See? Geography!

I'm a fairly fast talker when I can find my words. I take a migraine preventive that screws with whatever part of the brain controls that. Fun at parties.

Pillbugs??

[bmasters9]

Something that irritates me about some television DVDs: why they were designed such that each episode was one full chapter without chapter stops (which means that if you press the Skip button, it takes you out of the episode entirely). 

[harrie]

As an at-least-eighth-generation North Carolinian, I find it amusing and sad that people call North Carolina and South Carolina "the Carolinas" like it's an uncharted land mass. I first came across this way of thinking when I was 22 and long-distance dating a New Yorker. His mother's boyfriend called my homestate "Carolina". My then-boyfriend was from Melville, New York, which is on/in Long Island. He worked in Manhattan, which is part of New York City. See? Geography!

Pillbugs??

 

I can't help but wonder if we have James "Carolina in My Mind" Taylor to blame for some of that.  Just kidding, I'm sure the lumping together occurred before the song.  To be fair, I have met people for whom only New York City exists; there is no upstate New York, and I'm assuming no Long Island.

 

 

Yes, janestclair, please elaborate on ordering pillbugs. I have plenty I could send you for free. If they would stay put long enough for me to wrap them, that is -- ooh, if I could make them roll up, I could put a whole gob in a zippy bag. My sister and I used to race them when we were kids.

 

I'm also wondering about the pillbugs.  I know they aren't considered harmful in the garden, but is there something beneficial they do?  If so, instead of tolerating them I will roll out the red carpet for them..

[ZaldamoWilder]

Really?  Cuz my goal is to make you feel better about your own lives.

 

Wait, this?  BWAHAAAAAAAA

 

but this?

 

I would have preferred she say the point was moo, like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter.

 

LOL!  I'm on the floor!  Good morning Mr. Tribiani.

 

Just got off the phone with a representative from the City Parking Authority

 

Me:  Good morning.  I received a parking ticket which I lost and I'm trying to pay it online but I don't have all the inf....

She:  you can pay it online

Me:  I understand.  That's why I'm calling, I have to enter municipal info that was contained on the..

She:  your first name?

Me:  {{spells first name}}

She:  your last name?

Me:  {{wonders why these are 2 separate questions then spells last name}}

She:  it's not coming up in our system, what's the date on the ticket?

Me:  I'm not sure.  m'because:  I. lost. the. ticket.

She:  Why are you calling?

Me:  The rest of my first sentence would've been to request the City-specific info necessary in order to pay it online

She:  did you get it in the last year?

Me:  Yes, it was in the last 6 weeks

She:  Name?

Me:  {{spells name}}

She:  Do you own a jeep?

Me:  {{squints at phone receiver}} I do

She:  I see 2 other tickets in your name, in 2013 and 2014.  They both were paid

Me:  {{crickets}}

She:  The one you're calling about isn't here, it takes some time for our system to update

Me:  Can we try looking it up by my plate number?

She: Sure, do you know your plate number?

Me:  {{pinchesbridgeofnose}} yes ma'am

She:  Ok.  Found it.   What do you need to know?

 

I almost hung the phone up.    Today's and everyday's #1 peeve on Zaldamo's list is being cut off in the middle of a sentence. 

Edited October 14, 2015 by ZaldamoWilder

[Quof]

 

I would have preferred she say the point was moo, like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter.

LOL!  I'm on the floor!  Good morning Mr. Tribiani.

 

Colleagues/friends all claim to have used the word "moo" in court, but so far none of these occasions have been witnessed.  Now that I'm getting old, a number of my peers/classmates are being appointed to the bench and I may just find one of them in right mood to try it. 

[ZaldamoWilder]

Colleagues/friends all claim to have used the word "moo" in court, but so far none of these occasions have been witnessed.  Now that I'm getting old, a number of my peers/classmates are being appointed to the bench and I may just find one of them in right mood to try it. 

 

I'm dying!!  One could argue that the t is silent.  <--- I kid, I kid.  LOL!  I love semantics.  No less charming than Pesci's two "youds"

 

glowlights did you catch #demdebate last night?  In response to a question about climate control, Hillary said she and the President literally hunted down the Chinese representatives in Copenhagen.   I thought of you and giggled accordingly.

[DeLurker]

When I originally registered to vote (in Florida), I registered as NPA meaning No Party Affiliation which was a given option.

 

When I moved to California and registered there, under party I wrote No Party Affiliation.  My voter's registration came back as Declined to State under party which made me sound like some kind of subversive.

[ZaldamoWilder]

You're not doing a very good job.  I'd appreciate a bit more effort.

 

We need a "how droll" button around here.  It's hours later and I'm still laughing at this.

[glowlights]

When I originally registered to vote (in Florida), I registered as NPA meaning No Party Affiliation which was a given option.

When I moved to California and registered there, under party I wrote No Party Affiliation.  My voter's registration came back as Declined to State under party which made me sound like some kind of subversive.

 

YOU ARE WHAT'S WRONG WITH AMERICA! COMMIE!

 

 

My favourite tweet about the Harold Reynolds/Canadian baseball "controversy" (Did you hear this one?  The baseball announcer said Blue Jay fans/Canadians couldn't catch foul balls because they didn't grow up playing baseball.)   "When someone insults Canada, it hurts my feelings.  So I go to the hospital to get them checked. For free". 

 

To be fair, Canadians play the sport with beaver tails instead of bats and Timbits instead of balls.

 

A peeve of mine is that all in the southern states are thought of as having just a southern accent when there are so many regional accents within the southern states. I don't lump all the other states into one accent. I hear my cousin's Maryland accent, my aunt's Pennsylvania accent, my other cousin's Northern Virginia accent. I, as a southeastern North Carolinian can hear my Charlotte, NC cousin's accent, which is different from mine. 

 

So true, and also a pet peeve of mine. I especially hate it when actors are too lazy to do a little research into dialect. People from East Texas don't sound like people from Savannah, but that gets a pass, whereas a character who's supposed to be from Detroit but who sounds like they're from New England would be laughed out of the theatre.

 

Feel free to borrow my favorite response if it will help, you too potatoradio:   yeah, it's on the inside. 

 

Smiles on the inside don't count, because men can't see them, and the only reason we smile is to please men. Please remember that in future.

 

This goes beyond a peeve, but I'll put it here anyway.  I hate vocal fry and uptalk (and sentences in which "like" constitutes 40% of the words) as much as the next person, but I also hate that it's generally only the women who speak this way who are criticized for it.  As Robin Lakoff said, "With men, we listen for what they're saying, their point, their assertions.  With women, we tend to listen to how they're talking, the words they use, what they emphasize, whether they smile."

 

That is an important point. FWIW, I do my best to be an equal opportunity critic. The other candidate started out with telling us he was called by The Lord, and The Lord said... That's when I stopped listening. He obviously thought it was a writer's workshop for Bible fan fiction, and I'm not religious, so. <--- shout out to Midwesterners! :)

 

The uptalk and liberal use of literally would not have bothered me so much if the candidate had had proposals, and facts, or ideas, or... anything. Have you seen Parks and Rec? There's an ep where April Ludgate fills in for Leslie at a park planning session and says stuff like, "As Eleanor Roosevelt once said to Martha Washington, 'I like Hillary Clinton'." It's unfortunate because this candidate has tagged two issues that I think are important, but that's all she's done. She hasn't verbalized any ideas or convictions about what needs to be done, other than to say she would literally think about it if she was literally elected, and power to the people, and... stuff. But she held my attention longer than Lord Man, so. <--- I can't help myself!

 

A doctor's office that doesn't answer the phones and doesn't take messages? What the hell. They should have online messaging for patients if they're going to be that way with the phones.

 

ETA: TIL what a pillbug is! Thanks, PTV!

Edited October 14, 2015 by glowlights

[ZaldamoWilder]

Smiles on the inside don't count, because men can't see them, and the only reason we smile is to please men. Please remember that in future.

 

{{nodding}} of course, of course, dammit, what was I thinking.

 

The uptalk and liberal use of literally would not have bothered me so much if the candidate had had proposals, and facts, or ideas, or... anything. Have you seen Parks and Rec? There's an ep where April Ludgate fills in for Leslie at a park planning session and says stuff like, "As Eleanor Roosevelt once said to Martha Washington, 'I like Hillary Clinton'." It's unfortunate because this candidate has tagged two issues that I think are important, but that's all she's done. She hasn't verbalized any ideas or convictions about what needs to be done, other than to say she would literally think about it if she was literally elected, and power to the people, and... stuff. But she held my attention longer than Lord Man, so. <--- I can't help myself!

 

Did being lost in the literallies prevent you from snarking on that guy who answered the question about a senate floor vote as though he were a Temptation? 

 

Anderson:  You voted no on such and such bill Senator

Chafee:  Yeah, well it was the 3rd of September.  A day I'll always remember....see that was the day my daddy died.  

 

Bro. Did you just tell the American people that your judgment can be a little raggedy if you're making a decision on a day that's emotional?

 

[glowlights]

{{nodding}} of course, of course, dammit, what was I thinking.

 

 

Did being lost in the literallies prevent you from snarking on that guy who answered the question about a senate floor vote as though he were a Temptation? 

 

Anderson:  You voted no on such and such bill Senator

Chafee:  Yeah, well it was the 3rd of September.  A day I'll always remember....see that was the day my daddy died.  

 

BWAHAHAHA! So September 3rd was the night the lights went out in Georgia! I've always wondered....

 

I recorded last night's debate but haven't watched it yet. Sounds like it will require extra wine.

[ZaldamoWilder]

glow, I won't spoil the rest, but make the wine a good one.  You must drink at mention of any of the following words:

 

Email

Woman

Republican

Tripoli

[glowlights]

But... what's wrong with breaking up the two-party system? Uh-oh. Maybe we're radicals. Or HIPPIES!

 

Zaldamo, Drinking game! Will report back to you with the results. *hic*

 

p.s. I should probably mention that I thought The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia was about everyone turning their lights off and having a moment of silence for a great man who had passed. Do not ask me how I got that from the lyrics. I also had no idea it was sung by the same woman who played Mama on The Carol Burnett Show. In my defense, I was about five years old when I last heard it. Can that be my pet peeve?

[potatoradio]

 

so. <--- I can't help myself!

 

You're playing with fire. Once you start dropping that word into your speech, it becomes like a plantar wart, deep roots and impossible to remove. You will never, ever be able to begin a conversation normally and you can forget about ever ending one. I have had conversations drag on for an extra half hour simply because neither one of us would say "I need to get going." Instead, "So...."  It's a hex, I tell you. Do not mess with its power. 

 

 

 

 

Anderson:  You voted no on such and such bill Senator

Chafee:  Yeah, well it was the 3rd of September.  A day I'll always remember....see that was the day my daddy died.

BWAHAHAHA! So September 3rd was the night the lights went out in Georgia! I've always wondered....

 

 

I literally, literally always thought Sept. 3rd was the night Chicago died? Or was that they day that they went to the levy and the levy was dry and THIS will be the day that somebody dies? Did a socialist die? Or did email die? Like, these debates are really confusing? 

 

I have a new response for the next time someone tells me to smile (or mansplains that I should be smiling):

 

[presumed/assumed] annoying person: Smile, potato! You should be smiling!

Me: Oh my gawd! Mr. Roarke! I'm on Fantasy Island!? Wow! 

Person: *blinks*

Me: Oh, wait. You're not Mr. Roarke. Only Mr. Roarke can say "smiles, everyone, smiles!" Because, like, he has a reason to? Like, we'd all be there to live out our fantasies? You are SO not Ricardo Montalban. Be gone. 

 

Wish I'd thought to drink wine during the debates. Oh well, I'm laughing so hard at this board today I feel tipsy anyway.

 

SO....

 

 

 

 

 

[harrie]

February 3 is the day the music died. 

I thought the night Chicago died referred to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which would make it February 14.  I could be wrong.

June 3 was the day that Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge.

September 3 was the day that Poppa who was a rolling stone died.

April 4 was when the shots rang out in In the Name of Love (about MLK Jr.)

 

And that is about all I know about dates in music.

 

Unless you count Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July....

Edited October 14, 2015 by harrie

[Maizie131]

February 3 is the day the music died. 

I thought the night Chicago died referred to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which would make it February 14.  I could be wrong.

June 3 was the day that Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge.

September 3 was the day that Poppa who was a rolling stone died.

April 4 was when the shots rang out in In the Name of Love (about MLK Jr.)

 

And that is about all I know about dates in music.

 

Unless you count Saturday, in the park, I think it was the Fourth of July....

harrie - now this is genius!  And pretty damn funny, too!  Thanks!

[janestclair]

As an at-least-eighth-generation North Carolinian, I find it amusing and sad that people call North Carolina and South Carolina "the Carolinas" like it's an uncharted land mass. I first came across this way of thinking when I was 22 and long-distance dating a New Yorker. His mother's boyfriend called my homestate "Carolina". My then-boyfriend was from Melville, New York, which is on/in Long Island. He worked in Manhattan, which is part of New York City. See? Geography!

 

 

Haha, sorry. I didn't mean to lump them both together. The company is called Carolina, and i never remember which state is being referenced.  Super nice company, and very knowledgeable, but I am not a patient person. 

 

Yes, janestclair, please elaborate on ordering pillbugs. I have plenty I could send you for free. If they would stay put long enough for me to wrap them, that is -- ooh, if I could make them roll up, I could put a whole gob in a zippy bag. My sister and I used to race them when we were kids.

 

The pill bugs don't do anything special. We have them around here too, and used to make them roll up when we were kids and called them roly polies.  We use them in biology lab.  My kiddos have to design an animal behavior experiment, with the pillbugs as the subject.  So because I need a crap ton (official scientific measurement!) I order them. I think they're adorable, but I might be slightly cracked in the head.  Do not ever look up giant marine isopods; however, unless you want to have nightmares.  They're the pillbug's much larger aquatic cousins. Terrifying.

[ABay]

In my neck of the suburbs, we called those potato bugs.

[Bastet]

Roly polies here.

And that is about all I know about dates in music.

 

I guess you don’t "remember the 21st night of September."

 

And May 10th was the night they drove old Dixie down.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Bastet

[Maharincess]

In my neck of the suburbs, we called those potato bugs.

We call them rolly polies too.

Where I live potato bugs are these giant cricket looking beasts. I don't mind spiders, snakes or any of that but a potato bug will make me run in the other direction.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Maharincess

[Qoass]

Late December 1963 was a very special time for me.  (Oh, what a night!)

[harrie]

In my neck of the suburbs, we called those potato bugs.

 

We call them rolly polies too.

Where I live potato bugs are these giant cricket looking beasts. I don't mind spiders, snakes or any of that but a potato bug will make me run in the other direction.

 

I always think of potato beetles as potato bugs, and they're ugly enough.  But then I searched potato bug and GYAAHHHH - those are scary, ugly little buggers. I am happy to have not encountered any.

 

 

 

I guess you don’t "remember the 21st night of September."

 

And May 10th was the night they drove old Dixie down.

 

I was never strong with the EW&F music, but I'm heartbroken about forgetting possibly my favorite song by The Band.

[Maharincess]

Damn you guys! All I can think of is my sweet Billie Joe McAllister jumping off the Tallahassee bridge on the Third of June, but that's been used.

Speaking of...my little girl self loved that movie, Robbie Benson was my very first crush, it was the first movie to ever make me cry. Of course I didn't really know then why he jumped off the bridge. My parents told me he was embarrassed because he "danced" with another man.

I need to pull out my VHS tape and watch it today.

[Maharincess]

I always think of potato beetles as potato bugs, and they're ugly enough. But then I searched potato bug and GYAAHHHH - those are scary, ugly little buggers. I am happy to have not encountered any.

Being in the boonies I see them a lot, once I saw one crawling next to my arm when I was lying in my bed. I was once sorting laundry and felt something hard in my husband's shirt pocket, he always keeps mints in his pocket so I reached in and pulled it out and looked down at a huge potato bug in my hand. I shreiked and threw it, then I had to go hunt it down to put it outside.

I still shudder when I think of that creature in my hand.

[DeLurker]

We call them rolly polies too.

Where I live potato bugs are these giant cricket looking beasts. I don't mind spiders, snakes or any of that but a potato bug will make me run in the other direction.

Jeez...because of all the music references this got "I don't like spiders and snakes, and that ain't what it takes to love me, you fool you fool" rattling around the attic now.