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

[TattleTeeny]

The pronunciation of “carmel” for “caramel” confuses more than peeves me, but I have a question: do the people who say “carmel” also say “parlel” for “parallel”? 

Edited December 11, 2022 by TattleTeeny

[Blergh]

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

Gift cards are better then underwear.

Peeve: People who creepily purchase other kids underwear who they aren't very close to.

When I was in mid to upper single digits I had an uncle and his wife who for a couple years gave me fancier young girls panties which really creeped me out to make it worse the things made me itch too. They were always white waffle patterned with a flower on top of a leg hole edge on one side of each pair.

I've never liked white underwear for myself personally.  If those two were that intent on giving me underwear I would have been happier with a couple jewel toned packs of Hanes. The 2nd year I walked up to them and said "Barbies. Barbies. Please no more panties if you want to get me anything make it Barbie stuff.". Luckily the next year it was that. I don't think I've been made to feel that creeped out in regards to gifts since which is why it's something that's always stuck with me.

This reminds me of what happened to one of Mama's friends at the friend's birthday party(which I mentioned in another Subforum) that  Mama attended when they were about five. It was a rather formal affair with the honoree and guests all dressed in their Sunday best with the friend happily reaping the bounty of dolls and toys. However,  none of the other gifts proved as memorable as one fancily wrapped gift that a little boy guest presented to her- a pair of girl's panties! Needless to say, the birthday honoree was embarrassed while the boy guest was mortified since  he had had no idea what was inside that gift box until the unwrapping -which been selected and wrapped by his own mother! Anyway, recently Mama and her friend recounted it and over eighty years later with both of them  long since having had families of their own, they still were wondering what the boy guest's mother was thinking in selecting that for her young son to present to a little girl!

[Mindthinkr]

I was wrapping presents yesterday and came to my yearly peeve. The price stickers. They can be almost impossible to get them off in one piece. Or they come off and leave a sticky residue. One store offered to wrap my gift. They didn’t take the sticker off, but used a felt pen to try and cover the cost. I had to come home, unwrap it and remove the it. Certain stores have price tags that are easier to get off than others. 

[Mondrianyone]

Just now, Mindthinkr said:

The price stickers. They can be almost impossible to get them off in one piece. Or they come off and leave a sticky residue.

Try hitting them with a hair dryer. They usually come off in one piece and with no residue. If there is any sticky left behind, a single-edged razor blade will take care of it. (I have a scraper that the blade fits into--safer that way.)

[theredhead77]

As I start preparing for my annual holiday visit home I'm getting tense thinking about something that is a royal peeve of mine: learned helplessness, weaponized incompetence and the victim mentality.

I love my dad but as he's gotten older he is the walking embodiment of all three and I just have no patience for it. I actually called him out on his weaponized incompetence the last time I was home.

[kristen111]

9 hours ago, Blergh said:

This reminds me of what happened to one of Mama's friends at the friend's birthday party(which I mentioned in another Subforum) that  Mama attended when they were about five. It was a rather formal affair with the honoree and guests all dressed in their Sunday best with the friend happily reaping the bounty of dolls and toys. However,  none of the other gifts proved as memorable as one fancily wrapped gift that a little boy guest presented to her- a pair of girl's panties! Needless to say, the birthday honoree was embarrassed while the boy guest was mortified since  he had had no idea what was inside that gift box until the unwrapping -which been selected and wrapped by his own mother! Anyway, recently Mama and her friend recounted it and over eighty years later with both of them  long since having had families of their own, they still were wondering what the boy guest's mother was thinking in selecting that for her young son to present to a little girl!

I’ll never forget my 7th birthday party.  My best friend gave me three pairs of white cotton undies.  I was so disappointed as we hardly had birthday parties in those days.  I guess the Mother thought is was a very useful gift.  I would have loved to get Paper Dolls or a coloring book and crayons from Woolworths, as we never had much in those days.  My childhood was not the best.  No where near what kids today have.  I always gave my three kids seven toys they wanted for Christmas .. whatever they were.  The happiest day of my life was the day I got married, never before then.  I started to really live and be happy.

[PRgal]

I tend to look at things differently from other people, but it really bothers me when people tell me I'm "wrong" or that I can't think/look at things the way I do.  Maybe it's just a part of being a child of immigrants whose parents are more, how shall I put it, acculturated than others, despite coming as adults.  It's really causing anxiety.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

[SoMuchTV]

29 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

Well, I’ll never read an apostrophe in my head the same way again. 

[annzeepark914]

4 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

Where the hell is this mug? Every English teacher should have it on his/her desk 😉

[SuprSuprElevated]

5 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

Sharing this to the grammar thread.

[TattleTeeny]

The mug should have a footnote for the exceptions for affect and effect. Also, I personally would use double quotation marks in #9.

Edited December 12, 2022 by TattleTeeny

[Shelbie]

23 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

I was wrapping presents yesterday and came to my yearly peeve. The price stickers. They can be almost impossible to get them off in one piece. Or they come off and leave a sticky residue. One store offered to wrap my gift. They didn’t take the sticker off, but used a felt pen to try and cover the cost. I had to come home, unwrap it and remove the it. Certain stores have price tags that are easier to get off than others. 

I buy sheets of Christmas stickers from a dollar store. If I can’t get the price sticker off I just cover it up.

[Mindthinkr]

3 hours ago, Shelbie said:

I buy sheets of Christmas stickers from a dollar store. If I can’t get the price sticker off I just cover it up.

I like that smart solution. Thank you. 

[theredhead77]

3 hours ago, Shelbie said:

I buy sheets of Christmas stickers from a dollar store. If I can’t get the price sticker off I just cover it up.

That's brilliant and so simple! Thank you!

[Bethany]

Speaking of Christmas - today's peeve, people who buy stuff for themselves two weeks before Christmas that they had put on their Christmas list.  

Edited December 12, 2022 by Elizabeth Anne

[annzeepark914]

20 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

Maybe the other side could provide an example of when to use "I" and "me".

[Leeds]

22 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Maybe the other side could provide an example of when to use "I" and "me".

Between you and I (sic), that's a great idea.

[Katy M]

20 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

That is one angry mug.  I'm a little scared of it.

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

The mug should have a footnote for the exceptions for affect and effect.

Yeah, I remember that came up the first time the mug was posted.  For what fits on a mug, I'll allow it - and would absolutely buy one of these if I ever came across it.

47 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Maybe the other side could provide an example of when to use "I" and "me".

I like that.  That could be the top half of the other side, and the bottom half could give "less" vs. "fewer" examples.

Oh, I just changed my mind -- put * and ** on the "affect" and "effect" definitions, and put those footnotes on the other side.

[TattleTeeny]

* and †; double * usually comes after *, †, ‡, §, ‖, and ¶. We don't want to upset the profane mug any further! But maybe the mug would like the letters better?

Edited December 12, 2022 by TattleTeeny

[Leeds]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

That is one angry mug.  I'm a little scared of it.

I don't think I could enjoy drinking out of it so I'd just have to save it for the times I want to fuel my ire.

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Yeah, I remember that came up the first time the mug was posted.  For what fits on a mug, I'll allow it - and would absolutely buy one of these if I ever came across it.

I like that.  That could be the top half of the other side, and the bottom half could give "less" vs. "fewer" examples.

You're way more optimistic than I am about the likelihood of Joe Schmo wanting to change or understanding the issue.  I've long ago given up on less/fewer.

[Quof]

I had one of those mugs!! (Amazon).  It sat on my desk, and I was always mindful of whether a given visitor to my office might be offended, so moved it out of sight.

Warning, the letters will come off if you put it in the dishwasher.  😥

[SoMuchTV]

1 hour ago, Quof said:

I had one of those mugs!! (Amazon).  It sat on my desk, and I was always mindful of whether a given visitor to my office might be offended, so moved it out of sight.

Warning, the letters will come off if you put it in the dishwasher.  😥

Bummer.  Someone gave my daughter a mug with the constitution printed on it, and the print disappeared when you put hot liquid in it. (I'm sure there was some kind of political message intended there.)  It also lost its letters in the dishwasher.

So my peeve:  manufacturers who don't stamp a very clear indelible DO NOT DISHWASH message on the bottom of mugs that won't survive the dishwasher!

Edited December 12, 2022 by SoMuchTV
Typo. At least it wasn’t grammar.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, TattleTeeny said:

* and †; double * usually comes after *, †, ‡, §, ‖, and ¶. We don't want to upset the profane mug any further! But maybe the mug would like the letters better?

I’m sure I’m going to feel like a moron after, but I have no idea what this means.

[TattleTeeny]

Oh my goodness, don't feel that way-- it's just the little symbols used for footnotes. Usually, you would not use a double until after all of the singles are used. And who in their right mind even wants to deal with any reading material that has a list of footnotes so long that they start doubling up? NOT ME. Sometimes, though, the footnote symbols are little superscripted letters. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by TattleTeeny

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I’m sure I’m going to feel like a moron after, but I have no idea what this means.

If you're going to use symbols for footnotes (instead of a,b,c or 1,2,3), you use * for the first one, then † for the next, and so on down that posted list, and only after the list ends do you use ** (then ††, etc.).  But a lot of people are confused by anything other than the *, so if I'm just going to use two in informal writing - where that's the easiest superscript plus doesn't look academic - I use * and ** for them, but it's not technically correct.  Which is why, as the poster said, the angry mug might prefer using numbers (or letters) instead, but at least * and †.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Bastet

[TattleTeeny]

The angry mug might not like numbers because those are for references. I also hate reading things with a lot of reference numbers and reference lists. Unfortunately it is a big part of my job (and a big reason why I do not like my job, hahahhaaaa!).

I would do the same, @Bastet. I probably have here, if I ever used 2 footnotes. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by TattleTeeny

[annzeepark914]

On 12/11/2022 at 5:37 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

This came across my memory feed and I STILL haven’t found this mug! I TOTALLY NEED and WANT it!🤣🤣🤣🤣 it’s only missing one for would’ve!

I just looked up "grammar mugs" at Amazon. Lots of these, plus other funny ones. But darn... couldn't find one with an example of correctly using "me" (and not the beloved "I" 😉).

[GHScorpiosRule]

13 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Oh my goodness, don't feel that way-- it's just the little symbols used for footnotes. Usually, you would not use a double until after all of the singles are used. And who in their right mind even wants to deal with any reading material that has a list of footnotes so long that they start doubling up? NOT ME. Sometimes, though, the footnote symbols are little superscripted letters. 

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

If you're going to use symbols for footnotes (instead of a,b,c or 1,2,3), you use * for the first one, then † for the next, and so on down that posted list, and only after the list ends do you use ** (then ††, etc.).  But a lot of people are confused by anything other than the *, so if I'm just going to use two in informal writing - where that's the easiest superscript plus doesn't look academic - I use * and ** for them, but it's not technically correct.  Which is why, as the poster said, the angry mug might prefer using numbers (or letters) instead, but at least * and †.

Yep. Feel Like a MORON. I should've (that's should have) remembered that!

[TattleTeeny]

Oh, you shouldn't. I mean, who is really even regularly reading stuff with footnotes like that unless it's academic/technical for work or school? Not that there are not many people doing that, but it's not really a thing one needs to care about in everyday life outside of those examples. And again, if the footnote list is long enough to reach double asterisks, then ugh, bleccchhh.

My peeve is me -- either my appearance or my vanity! Or both. Let's just say that I hope that, in reality, I look more like what I see in the mirror than I do in photos! Oof, what the hell?!

Another is resumes. I am looking for a new job and am getting conflicting info about whether it should be super-detailed or succinct and brief. I culled mine down of extraneous (I thought) details, but a friend who does a lot of interviewing and hiring at his place tells me to puff it back up.

Edited December 13, 2022 by TattleTeeny

[Bethany]

34 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

My peeve is me -- either my appearance or my vanity! Or both. Let's just say that I hope that, in reality, I look more like what I see in the mirror than I do in photos! Oof, what the hell?!

For me it's the mirrors in my house!  To quote Billy Crystal, in my own mirrors I "Look mahvelous" mirrors in hair salons and in malls?  Oh dear god, no.

[RealHousewife]

It’s that fluorescent office lighting for me. Not saying I look perfect in other lighting, but I feel good enough and look younger than my age. I’ll look at myself in the mirror at work, and every little pore, flaw, scar shows. Ugh.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/11/2022 at 10:45 PM, SuprSuprElevated said:

Sharing this to the grammar thread.

Where is the grammar thread?  I think I may have known this once . . .

[SoMuchTV]

26 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Where is the grammar thread?  I think I may have known this once . . .

I think this will take you there...

[annzeepark914]

On 12/11/2022 at 1:51 AM, TattleTeeny said:

The pronunciation of “carmel” for “caramel” confuses more than peeves me, but I have a question: do the people who say “carmel” also say “parlel” for “parallel”? 

Good one! It has always bugged me to hear caramel pronounced "carmel". I wonder why these people omit the second "a". Do they say "carvan" for caravan? It seems to be just caramel that gets treated so badly. Now I'm hungry for a chocolate covered caramel 😋

[EtheltoTillie]

29 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I think this will take you there...

Thank you!!  So it's in the Everything Else TV thread, not the Everything Else thread . . .

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Thank you!!  So it's in the Everything Else TV thread, not the Everything Else thread . . .

Yeah, it was supposed to be about grammar fails on TV, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

[RealHousewife]

I say your all too sensitive about people’s grammar. They should of learned better in school, but I’m sure their doing they’re best. 

[Leeds]

23 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Bummer.  Someone gave my daughter a mug with the constitution printed on it, and the print disappeared when you put hot liquid in it. (I'm sure there was some kind of political message intended there.)  It also lost its letters in the dishwasher.

So my peeve:  manufacturers who don't stamp a very clear indelible DO NOT DISHWASH message on the bottom of mugs that won't survive the dishwasher!

My kid's best friend spent a long time decorating a mug as a present for them.  Unfortunately none of us knew that Sharpie washes off in the dishwasher.

7 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

My peeve is me -- either my appearance or my vanity! Or both. Let's just say that I hope that, in reality, I look more like what I see in the mirror than I do in photos! Oof, what the hell?!

I had the opposite problem -- when I was younger and people used to sit around looking through (actual physical) photo albums together, I would get a lot of surprised, "Wow, you look great!" comments.  As in, in real life you're not that attractive.  A true back-handed compliment!   😢

Edited December 13, 2022 by Leeds
Off and of are not interchangeable. Lazy editing, or lack of.

[theredhead77]

On the grammar topic - 

Language evolves. People don't have the same educational opportunities. People have learning disabilities. People speak English as a second language, or their cultural English dialect differs from "the gold standard". 

[annzeepark914]

53 minutes ago, Leeds said:

I had the opposite problem -- when I was younger and people used to sit around looking through (actual physical) photos albums together, I would get a lot of surprised, "Wow, you look great!" comments.  As in, in real life you're not that attractive.  A true back-handed compliment!  

Or, maybe they had the experience themselves of looking worse in photos & were amazed that you "take such a great picture". I rarely see a photo of myself that looks good to me so when I see good photos of others, I'm envious!💚

[SuprSuprElevated]

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

I say your all too sensitive about people’s grammar. They should of learned better in school, but I’m sure their doing they’re best. 

lurnt

[Leeds]

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

I say your all too sensitive about people’s grammar. They should of learned better in school, but I’m sure their doing they’re best. 

Shirley you mean grammer.

18 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Or, maybe they had the experience themselves of looking worse in photos & were amazed that you "take such a great picture". I rarely see a photo of myself that looks good to me so when I see good photos of others, I'm envious!💚

I think I need to borrow your outlook on life!

[RealHousewife]

My friend’s own mother tells her she’s “sooo photogenic” all the time. I don’t think she means it in a nice way either. Luckily my friend has a thick skin.

[Leeds]

People who buy/acquire pets they can't afford or properly provide for, and don't prepare for in advance.  This peeve prompted by the following NextDoor post:

"Hi, we just bought our first dog. Does anybody have a crate and/or gate that they are wanting to sell?"

Who on earth is so stupid, thoughtless, clueless, irresponsible, etc., etc., etc?

[GaT]

6 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

Or, maybe they had the experience themselves of looking worse in photos & were amazed that you "take such a great picture". I rarely see a photo of myself that looks good to me so when I see good photos of others, I'm envious!💚

Others aren't looking good in photos, others are photoshopping their photos until they don't even look like themselves anymore. Don't trust any photo you see, it's been edited into uncanny valley territory.

[JTMacc99]

11 hours ago, Leeds said:

People who buy/acquire pets they can't afford or properly provide for, and don't prepare for in advance.  This peeve prompted by the following NextDoor post:

"Hi, we just bought our first dog. Does anybody have a crate and/or gate that they are wanting to sell?"

Who on earth is so stupid, thoughtless, clueless, irresponsible, etc., etc., etc?

Many people are unaware of just how big a responsibility owning a pet is. 

I'll tack on, people giving a pet as a surprise GIFT. Almost always a horrible, horrible decision. 

[oliviabenson]

People who use the word

TOOKEN . as in my mom tooken my kid to the zoo. 

Aaaaa screaming in sadness

Edited December 14, 2022 by oliviabenson

[Wiendish Fitch]

My husband and I don't have pets, and I've had more than one person imply that we're selfish.

No, "selfish "is getting an animal-a living thing- without realizing the expense and responsibility that goes into it. "Selfish" is resenting said animal-a living thing-, ignoring it, and doing the barest minimum in regards to taking care of it. "Selfish" is treating your pet-a living godddamned thing!- like background noise until it dies.

We're not perfect, but we know our limitations, and at least no animal is suffering on our watch. 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Wiendish Fitch