My top 5 pet peeves of the moment (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

Karen Allen: "I thought you said you knew how to drive! You could have killed us!"

Jeff Bridges: "I do know how to drive. I watched you. Red: stop. Green: go. Yellow: go very, very fast."

Starman

 

[Elizabeth S]

Wow, Joseph quoted the exact scene which came to my mind as I read Malcolm's post. I guess we all ARE movie fanatics. . .

 

[Yee-Ming]

Gah, I hate that too.

Seems like a whole lot of peeves are to do with driving, cellphones or kids (other people's).

Just a few observations: in this city-state, right turn on red (left for us, actually, since we drive on the left side of the road) is quite rare, allowed only when the sign specifically allows it. So it isn't much of an issue here, and so-called "long" traffic lights are rarely more than 3 minutes. I am amazed that you guys have red lights that literally last for 10 minutes -- I thought it was hyperbole or exaggeration, but someone noted that 3 songs played on the radio during a red light (which would be more like 12-15 mins). Most peculiar IMHO.

And I thought "roundabouts" was the correct term anyway, at least that's what the Brits have always called them.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

1. Movie Commercial programs - the Tw20enty or however the hell it is spelled, and AMC's similar program. Not only are you being assailed with trivia about movies you might not be interested in seeing, you are also being assailed with COMMERCIALS about TV shows. Give it a rest! Then, to add insult to injury, at the ends of these damned things is a smarmy female voice chiding the patrons to arrive at the theater 20 minutes earlier to see this tripe on time!

2. Auditorium style movie theaters - this is a HUGE pain in the ass to those of us in wheelchairs, because we get ONLY the VERY front row, meaning that not only are we risking neck and back pain, but:
a) Everyone and his grandmother has to stop in front of you, even in the middle of the movie, and discuss loudly where the rest of their group is
b) Getting my feet tripped over or stomped by some klutz who isn't even looking where they are going and getting dirty looks from them rather than an apology
c) Having to sit front and center while innumerable snack or potty runs are being made
d) Being front and center where someone is trying to calm a crying baby or toddler. Resisting the urge to relieve that poor child of an obviously unfit parent is VERY stressful.

I miss the days of the "regular" movie theaters, because I could sit in the back, which was my preferred viewing area well before the advent of the chair.

3. Seeing bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, athletic, obviously NON-HANDICAPPED 20 somethings putting up a handicapped placard in their cars and skipping merrily into a public establishment. I had to talk my way out of a ticket once because I forgot to put up my placard. Fortunately, the cop was really cool about it, but I think it is because I rolled up to him in my chair, and had all my ID with me. Even more annoying is seeing folks who do not even HAVE a handicapped placard or licence plate on their cars parked in a handicapped space and no tickets on their front windshields.

4. One or two handicapped places near a VERY busy public place. I usually make catty remarks about how every cripple in town is out today. I have a handicapped sign on the parking space we were allotted when we moved in, and I have lost count of how many times I have had to call the apartment manager to have some idiot towed. Not one single idiot in question had a handicapped plate or placard, and there was ample parking in the guest lot which is less than ten feet away from my spot.

5. Inconsiderate people and their screaming spawn in public places. What is wrong with sitting their devil-children down and telling them quietly that their behavior is NOT acceptable? My brothers and I speculate loudly as to what mom would have done to us if we performed even five seconds of ANY bad behavior.

 

[WillG]

If people start referring to this new year as "007" as in James Bond, you can add that to my list.

 

[Colton]

"The light wasn't red, officer. It was pink!"

- Colton

 

[Cees Alons]

Period and Amen.
Basically, that's what all those pet-peeves really are about. Do onto others.


Cees

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Not quite. There is no such general rule, and the usage that does exist has nothing to do with "shop" or "place" being left out. All of the instances you've mentioned (with the possible exception of ColinHaan, a name unfamiliar to me) are stores named after actual individuals who were their founders and proprietors. So it makes just as much sense to refer to the store owned by R. H. Macy as "Macy's" to refer to the house owned by R. H. Macy as "Macy's"

In fact, "Macy's", with a star in place of the apostrophe, is still the official name of the store. J. C. Penny is more formally "J. C. Penny & Co.", but that doesn't make it "wrong" for someone to refer to "Penny's". That may be a usage that has been in their family since the days when James Cash Penny (yes, that was his real name) was just starting out in the dry goods business. Similarly Barnes and Noble were two real men and the same rule about possessives applies. It would be silly to refer to Gap stores as "The Gap's" or Radio Shack as "Radio Shack's", but to call the store founded by Adam Gimble "Gimble's" seems reasonable to me.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Dave_Brown]

Trying to put a "positive" spin on reality:

It's handicapped, not handicappable.
It's "XX" years old, not "XX" years young.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

"handicappable" I think you mean "handi-capable", since "handicappable" would mean "capable of being handicapped", perhaps a reference to horse-racing.


Actually, I'm all for this. I just think that if we're going to call prostitutes "sex workers" and illegal aliens "undocumented workers", we should call drug dealers "unregistered pharmacists" and bank robbers "freelance loan officers".

Regards,

Joe

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Well, if they are truly devil-children, I don't think they'll be overly concerned about the acceptability of their behaviour...

Of course, the proper thing to do has already been discussed. Remove your misbehaving child from the area. It's an immediate consequence to their actions and shows some courtesy to those around you. However, in many of these cases, it's usually more the fault of the parent then the child. Most kids (at least the younger set anyway) are typically not pure evil. They have specific triggers for bad behaviour. Tiredness, hunger, sickness, etc. If you have your child out in public, you really should be aware of where your child is on the sliding scales of each of those markers. Junior is getting hungry but you have one more stop to make? Perhaps you should grab a snack first (or better yet, leave that task to another day). My wife and I aren't perfect in these regards - we've certainly misread our child's cues and had "issues" in public settings. If that has happened, we 1) immediately leave and 2) hopefully learn from the mistake (both parent and child).

 

[MarkHastings]

[sarcasm] Don't you realize that the parents have had to deal with this for many years, so there should be no reason for an entire restaurant to have to o-b-j-e-c-t to 30 minutes worth[/sarcasm] It's the old "If we have to deal with, you have to as well".

You gotta love people like that. :rolleyes

Oooo! Or better yet! The ones who read what I just wrote and say "Well, kids are never going to be perfect...they'll act up no matter what you do" - as if this is supposed to make me more understanding of the screaming while I'm trying to eat.

 

[Cees Alons]

Joseph,

Yes, I already edited it to change it to Cole Haan.
(Founded by Cole and Eddie Haan of Chicago - well, the family name strongly suggests Dutch, Flemish or German origins, in that order, or even older.)

You're right that all those are names of "real people". That goes for the original 'peeve' too, of course.

Thanks.
BTW, is there also a possible difference between UK English and (contemporary) US English here?


Cees

 

[Regulus]

If you look at pictures of Early Shopping Malls (1960s) You'll see a "Penny's' Department Store. Fast Forward to today and the same store has Modernised its sign to say "JCPenny". I remember when Sears was caled "Sears Roebuck" and a few of their older stores still have an "SR" Letter on their Door Handles.

 

[David Williams]

Not to kill this wonderful discussion, but the guy's name was James Cash Penney not Penny.

 

[Nate Anderson]

With you there 100%! Nice to know I'm not the only one getting bombarded by the smug married couples.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Wait, there's more: us "smug married couples" then get bombarded with the question "when are you having kids?"

 

[Regulus]

DOH!

 

[Colton]

Harddrives that advertise as 300gb, but once you format it becomes alot smaller. Why can't Micro$oft and harddrive manufactuers come to some agreement on how to measure 1gb?! Basically, this forces the customer to purchase a bigger harddrive to get the desired size he/she expects after formatting. Want 250gb? Buy a 300gb drive. Want 300gb? Buy 350gb. ... and so on. GRRRRR!!!

- Colton

 

[MarkHastings]

That's like a car having a speedometer that goes to 150mph, but the speed limit won't let you go that fast. ...well, at least here in the states.