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Yesterday, while tagging people for the weird habits meme (and finding few people who hadn't been tagged), [livejournal.com profile] juno_magic suggested creating my own meme. Now, for a few weeks now, I've been working out the particulars of a MadLib for my flist, but until I motivate myself to put it in my LJ (or actually write it), I would like to know about your pet peeves.

Now, I'm sure this has been done before, but not during my six months on LJ with actual friends. (I was on LJ for four months, talking to myself, until the exciting day that I friended [livejournal.com profile] enismirdal, [livejournal.com profile] juno_magic, and [livejournal.com profile] arandil13.) And when I say pet peeves, I don't want lofty, general, idealistic things like, "I don't like injustice" or "I don't like narrow-minded people," but the really gritty, petty things that simply make your blood boil. You know you have them; we all do. I have them, and I'm generally an amiable, peaceful person. I want to see things like, "I can't stand the word 'elflings'" or "Prepositions dangling at the ends of sentences drive me mad." I want to see the petty, stupid things that might make us feel like lesser people but in fact keep us human.

So tell me ten of your most inane, enraging pet peeves. And tag five people to do the same or invite your whole flist to play. (Some people like tagging and others like leaving it up to each individual; as proof that I'm really not the asshole that my pet peeves make me out to be, I'm leaving it up to you.) And tell us why these things irk you, if you want, with as much vitriol as you can manage.

Because I'm originating this meme--or at least this version of it--I'm inviting all to play and spread the peevish love.


1. People that cut around me while merging into traffic. If you drive on the highway a lot--and sandwiched between Baltimore and DC, each with its own f***ed up Beltway system, I sometimes feel like I live in blacktop paradise--you probably know these people: You are trying to merge into heavy traffic, and they are behind you. Alas! A gap appears! And they dart into it...but rather than hanging back and letting you merge over also, they floor it and zip around you, leaving you with nowhere to go. As though that whole car-length between us was life and death for them.

2. "Give me.... My days of working in foodservice are long over (although soon to begin again, albeit under my own terms this time!) but this one still makes my blood boil. A server/counter worker asks, "What would you like today?" and the person replies, "Give me...."

Argh! NO!!! No one is giving you anything; you are purchasing something from a business, and it wouldn't hurt to phrase it politely while you're at it--let's at least pretend that kid working for minimum wage is human--by perhaps phrasing it as "May I have...?" or "I would like...please." McDonald's had a commercial a few months ago where a woman rolled up to the drive-thru and said, "Give me..." and it enraged me to the point that I'd shut off the radio whenever it came on. (She didn't say "please" either or "thank you"--three strikes and out.)

3. Giant SUVs. Because in this modern day of terrorism and soaring energy prices and (possibly) global warming--at least pollution--the thing we Americans need to do is to build the biggest, most wasteful vehicle we can to haul our kids to soccer practice. Because the thing we all want to do is to further line the pockets of the greedy oil execs...who pass on the profits to the same people who financed the training of a group of certain doomed "pilots" who had their maiden voyage on 9/11....

Furthermore, the attitudes of these people--"look at me in my big vehicle that costs three times as much as yours and so makes me a superior human being"--and their sense of entitlement is enraging. These people are some of the worst and most aggressive drivers in our area, and their behemoths are more than deserving of two parking places at SuperFresh. No, I don't mind walking, but in the pouring rain....

Worse than all of this is the fact that people routinely declare these vehicles as "work vehicles" for the purpose of driving themselves to the office and so get tax breaks on their fuel costs. While my chump-ass and my 35-mile-per-gallon car is stuck paying the full $2.35 per gallon to drive to work and keep parole violators from robbing their suburban home.

4. Cell phones. I have a cell phone--two, actually, if you count my State phone that hasn't worked for three months now and is sitting on my desk at home--and I think it's a great technology...if used sparingly. But do we really need to have a phone in our ear while ordering at Subway?? Because I don't mind waiting for you to finish your conversation while the poor "sandwich artist" waits for you to tell her what kind of cheese you want. And do people need to use their direct connects in restaurants? Of course, I don't mind listening to you shouting into your phone and the person on the other end shouting back too.

5. Cliched sayings. In writing--those of you who have ever endured beta'ing or editing from me know this--cliched sayings drive me nuts. "He ran like the wind." So what if the wind wasn't blowing? Was he then standing still? "He loved her with all of his heart." Ick...sounds bloody to me and a mite painful. My poor sister (*waves to [livejournal.com profile] ssotknapsack*) used to subject her writing to my criticism in college, and I wrote "Avoid cliches like the plague" so many times on my comments that eventually it got truncated to "Like the plague!" and she would know exactly what I meant. And my sister was not bad with her cliches at all.

I'm right as rain with cliches in speech and even casual writing, like LJ. I'm not that much of a guru. Sometimes I get "sick as a dog," too. And sometimes I find them in my own stories: ugly as sin, that is.

6. Internet drama. Ah, yes...Internet drama...*rubs hands and wonders where to begin*

Actually, to be fair, I could say "drama" in general--because workplace drama also drives me batty--but since this is an Internet journal and I said to keep it petty, Internet drama gets picked on in particular.

Okay, people. This is the Internet. We are not curing cancer or winning Nobel prizes here. We are chatting and having fun--or we are supposed to be. When I see people sobbing because so-and-so won't review their stories or This One said something mean to That One and hurt This One's feelings, I wonder if I might scream. I suppose I should clarify that I feel people are justified in being hurt by actual insults or "flames"...but most of what I see people freaking out about is stuff that they choose to read as animosity. I have seen three instances now in my short six-month stay in this fandom of people getting their panties in a bunch over something someone else said in a forum post, and all three times, the person getting "bunched" was reading waaaay more into the post than the author intended. I wish that people would understand how hard it is to convey emotions in emails...and how stupid it is to rage and cry because someone tells you they think Celegorm looks better as a brunette and you write him as a blond.

Personally, I prefer to avoid Internet drama--and people prone to Internet drama--like the plague.

7. Noisy eaters. Lick-smacking, grunting and panting...YECH. I realize that some amount of crunching and noise is necessary to eating--and crunching doesn't bother me--but some people just get way too much into their food. If you make snorting sounds while you eat, something should tell you to maybe, um, slow down? Take smaller bites? Recognize that there is a difference between breathing and eating?

(Do people eat like this in other countries? Or is it just Americans??)

8. Tailgaters. No, not the kind that gather in parking lots before football games. If I had the money for Ravens' tickets, I would be among them. I'm talking about the people who relentlessly ride your bumper when driving. My personal favorites are the ones who ride your bumper in heavy traffic, with a string of cars in front of you, that you cannot possibly go any faster.

I believe in courtesy: If I need to drive below the speed limit, I either use the righthand lane or--if on a one-lane road--pull over periodically to let traffic pass. But if someone rides my bumper, s/he gets the special treatment of me slowing down and riding my brake until they back off. If they try to pass me, they'll see how fast my car can go. ;)

9. Fanonatics. Well, we have canatics, so why not fanonatics? I am not a canatic, but I have many wonderful canatic friends who are polite in pointing out my errors and don't harangue me if they know something violates canon intentionally. In my experience in posting stories, though, my biggest gripes come from fanonatics: those people who--for whatever reason--find themselves attached to a particular fanon notion or their own interpretation of Tolkien's texts...and like any true fanatic, they press this notion onto the Tolkien-writing masses. I've received some (justifiably) harsh criticism of my writing and do not get hurt or bothered--I want to improve after all--but the one thing I can't stand is when someone tells me I have something canonically wrong in my writing, and when I ask for a reference, their reply is "Well, I don't know if it's in the book, but it's how I've always thought it should be." Or they answer with silence, which says to me that they tried to find it, realized it was fanon, and didn't have the courtesy to say that they'd made an error...although they expected me to do just that.

I'm happy to discuss interpretations of Tolkien's work, but people who tell me I'm flat wrong because I prefer one interpretation and they prefer another annoy me.

10. People who don't thank you when you hold the door for them. I remember, holiday season 2004, coming home and remarking to Bobby that the world is going mad because people too often completely lack manners.

This was because I held a door for something like three people...and didn't even get a glance much less a "thank you."

Often because they are on their cell phones...probably after climbing out of a giant SUV, riding people's bumpers and cutting around them in the merge lanes...noisily eating a salad from McDonald's...and probably involved in a conversation littered with cliches.... :^P


So what are your peeves?

On a completely unrelated--and more positive--memeish note, [livejournal.com profile] miss_nightowl posted this one in her LJ: Ask me one question that you don't know--but think you should--about me. It can be as mundane or crazy as you like, and even if it seems like something you should know but don't: ask! I'll do my best to answer. Then repost this meme if you want, and I'll ask you a question, and you can see what other questions you get.
Tags:

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-10 09:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tehta.livejournal.com
Heh on the irony of "avoid cliches like the plague." But I am, of course, completely with you on that one. Also on the door one--although I think a smile and a nod is enough. As long as I am convinced the other person is aware of the courtesy, I am fine.

Fun meme. I will do it when I have more time.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-10 09:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] atanwende.livejournal.com
I'll be doing it, too, I think. *snatches meme* There's so many petty things that piss me off. That should be fun. :-)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-10 11:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wolfwind-writes.livejournal.com
Hmm, I wonder if I have enough peeves to fill this out. *puts on innocent face and angel halo* Surely not me! *halo slips to reveal horns* Ooops! Oh, well. *rubs hands together* This'll be fun.

And I completely agree with you on the SUV one. Also on the cell phones - I only got one under protest, and although I must admit it is *very* nice when walking home at 11:00 at night, I hate how people live on them. I end up leaving mine off most of the time. ;)

A question about you I should know but don't. Well, considering I only "met" you about two months ago (and then took 3 weeks off the internet), I'm not sure what to say. Wait, here's an obvious one: Who's your favorite among the sons of Feanor?

~Wolfwind

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-10 11:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tarion-anarore.livejournal.com
There was a guy talking on his cell going into the post office, having an amusing conversation which I shamelessly evesdropped on!! He was saying "No I'm not going to talk to you while I'm in line!! People will look at me funny. They're already looking at me funny!" :)

My favorite cliche phrase is "I have to pee like a racehorse." Wtf? Do racehorses pee differently from other horses?? And since I'm assuming horse is used because they're large, and thus pee more per go, why not elephant?? Besides, horses can't pee while they're walking (or galloping, etc.), so the racehorse part REALLY doesn't make sense...

Anyways...

The phrase "give me..." reminds me of my band director saying "Give me...detention! 7:15 [AM]!" At restaurants, I think I usually say "I'd like..." and try to say thanks when they bring it. Of course, with chip refills at Mexican restaurants, I'm not always sure they understand!

Worse than all of this is the fact that people routinely declare these vehicles as "work vehicles" for the purpose of driving themselves to the office and so get tax breaks on their fuel costs.

OMG I hate this!!! We have a big car, but it is definitely not a tax break! We got it because we needed something that could hold two 40"x28" (or thereabout) dog kennels and whole bunch of other sh*t we tow around like crazy people! Not to mention the Elves...;)

But my mom is a polite driver, and only takes up one parking spot. Even when the thing was brand new, and she wanted to keep it dent & scratch free, she just parked way the heck out there. I really hate people who take up two parking spots. And motorcycles.

I should be saving these for my own post...;) I'll get around to the meme eventually, but I gotta post my drabbles first! :D

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-20 04:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tarion-anarore.livejournal.com
I always thought this came as a result of racehorses peeing for substance abuse tests.

Hmm...it might have. The way I hear most people use it though, they mean "I REALLY have to pee!!" So, unless they're peeing for some crack test or whatnot...And yes, they do test racehorses for illegal substances, so far as I know.

I'd like a tax break for my Honda too!!!

Ack, class in 3 minutes! Should probably run!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-11 02:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] digdigil.livejournal.com
LOL! I'm going to do this one because it looks way more interesting than the meme I was going to make up on what is currently in my refrigerator, separated into two sections: what is staying and what is getting turfed before it starts talking to me! ROFL! When you described noisy eaters I immediately thought it sounded like you were describing sex! ROFLMAO!!!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-11 03:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] juno-magic.livejournal.com
I like the meme you came up with and it's one I haven't done before, I think.

Wheeeee!

Fanonatics: they should (hell, everyone should!) participate in [livejournal.com profile] there_n_back's exercise #13 and most of all, they should read our "explanations" post about "how to phrase a critique". *snerk*
(But somehow I doubt that they will...)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-20 12:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aramel-calawen.livejournal.com
I have a bunch of pet peeves, I do.

For one, I flinch at grammar errors in writing, and especially in published work. Yes, published work. I mean, if I understand the difference between "you're", "your" and "yore", I don't see why others can't.

I also dislike personal remarks ("Why is your hair so messy?" "You should wear red."), and people who make me listen to rap, and then make a fuss because I don't like it.

But I really absurdly abhor those internet posts that practically drip with patronism. There was one topic on a board where we were talking about Aredhel, and this person came out and said "Her tale is a sad lesson to us all about the sin of empty pride. We must not fall into the same error", or something like that, and I gritted my teeth and stopped myself from posting a scathing reply. Honestly... if I wanted a sermon, I'd go to a church or a temple. I've only visited a church thrice in my life, and I only listened once, and that was my teacher's funeral. So patronizing posts can go stick themselves down the drain.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-01-20 11:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aramel-calawen.livejournal.com
Yes, I did. It was lovely. :)

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