Pet Peeves ver. Fjones vs Redleader

[Thorn105]

I believe you are partly mistaken. Yes, apostrophes are used for possession and not plural, but, I believe there are some allowable exceptions, mostly when it comes to making plurals out of things that are not actually words.

Edit -- I wasn't 100% sure so I looked this up. I can give you some sources if you like.

But in general, I agree with your pet peeve. It is annoying that so many people now just add " 's " to most plurals.

Yes, please give me some sources. I really do get quite unreasonable, say for instance in a professional environment - including, but not limited to - posted signs, attention all staff emails, ad copy, proposal letters, and resumes. If I am going to be unreasonable, by God, it is imperative that I be absolutely right, dammit!!!! No, seriously, thanks for looking that up, and I would love to see what you found, if you get a chance to post it. It would be quite embarrassing to correct a person's grammar only to discover that in fact it was myself in the wrong. I may have worded my original post wrong, so intent was I on my bitching. Perhaps I should have said apostrophes are NOT used for possessive pronouns, or for NOUN plurals, including acronyms.

 

[Dave]

Fjones, sorry, I don't believe you. But that's okay, because it's a really minor difference of opinion, and as long as you're not posting a bunch of apostrophe pluralized signs in public then it doesn't really matter. And really, it's most correct to spell out numbers anyway, so they shouldn't be pluralized

In high school there was this one guy who would spout the most horrendous bullshit all the time, backing it up with: "I have a book at home that I read this in". Virtually nothing he ever said was even close to the truth, and the only books at his house were military coffee table books and porn. Ever since then I filter all I hear through my personal bullshit filter, and it takes a lot to reconfigure it.

My latest pet peeve is directed at myself. Why the fuck can't I manage to remember to bring everything that I need for the day with me. All I need are my gym clothes, food, a book, and a few odds and ends, but it seems like every day I manage to forget some little thing. It's annoying as hell, and can really throw a wrench in my plans if I forget the wrong thing.

 

[Fjones]

..........ok........?

When ppl ask me where I was born I say "Mexico City" not "Mexico" but whatever


Not so much pet peeves, but my 18yr old cousin has been getting on my nerves lately!!! I thought she was more mature for her age but now I'm seeing that 18 is 18 is 18 is 18...
**Keep in mind as you read this I absolutely have "had a talk" with her on every single subject that I am about to complain/rant about. I know ppl will be thinking "sounds like you need to slap a bitch" I wont slap her but I have gotten into arguments and discussions with her on all these topics. But like I said, sometimes 18 is 18 is 18...

--She is constantly on her phone.
This irritates me 1) when we are watching tv or a movie and she comes in to the living room or kitchen (basically same space as the living room) talking and laughing all loud on the phone so that we can't hear or pay attention to whats going on with what we're watching.
And 2) some people save up for a lifetime to come to the beautiful island of Maui-whenever we try to take her some place cool/nice/ beautiful she's just on her phone either talking or texting or listening to music so loud she can't hear what we're saying to her. Its like she doesn't even care to get to know the island at all

--She has NO manners! I dont think I've heard her say "Thank you" even ONE TIME since she's been here (almost a month already) We are pretty broke right now and my boyfriend really goes out of his way to cook delicious dinners with what little food we have. Not only does she not say "Thank you" but she doesn't even show gratitude by doing the dishes, or even cleaning up after herself. She just finishes eating (and she can eat too! She always has one or two extra helpings) then goes directly to her room or to the computer.

-Her eating habits are disgusting. She puts ketchup, lime, and/or maple syrup on EVERYTHING. I'm talking pizza, eggs, spaghetti, vegetables, etc... She has not once touched a meal-even TRYING IT before demolishing it with maple syrup or lime. Its gross and offensive. Also I knew she was like this before she came so I tried to warn my boyfriend. He was kind enough to get her a bottle of lime juice so she would feel "more at home" (since limes are like $3/lb we didn't get her real ones) I showed it to her and let her know that it was him who thought of her to get that, she picked it up and said "This isn't going to cut it, I'm just going to have to go to the store and get real limes." also "OMG you guys are like totally out of ketchup I NEED MY KETCHUP when can we get more??" !!!!! No-"Thanks for thinking of me" or anything. SO RUDE!

--She eats like a fucking pig. I know that sounds mean but I am pregnant and she eats more than I do. My boyfriend is very athletic-burns lots of calories therefore consumes more calories, and she eats more than him.
This irritates me 1) because we're broke (she KNOWS this!!) and we can't afford to be buying 3 times the amount of food that one person should be eating. I get some free food from WIC like milk and eggs and stuff-WIC food is only given to pregnant or nursing mothers to be able to nourish themselves properly and SHE eats almost all of it!! For example (oooh this really pisses me off) I get two gallons of milk for every WIC check so I get one 2% for my boyfriend and I to share and one fat free JUST for her since she literally flipped out the first time she opened my fridge and saw 2% "NO fat free?? I can only drink fat free!!!" So i get it for her.... well she drinks that so damn fast (while my boyfriend and I are sharing another gallon) that she ends up drinking our 2% too!! I'm like "I thought you only drank fat free" she tells me "O well now there's none left and I have to drink my cookies with milk!" BITCH
And 2) She is constantly complaining about her weight. I really want to strangle her when she does this. She will sit on her ipod taking note of every little thing she ate to see what the calories are, and then complains "OMG you guys are going to make me get so fat out here!" I get into arguments with her about this ALL the time! Its like-HELLO! It doesn't take a fucking "calorie application" to tell you that drenching 3 platefulls of spagetti (which we always home-make with HEALTHY fresh vegetables straight from the garden) CUPfulls of maple syrup followed by 15 oreo cookies and 2z of milk to know that you're consuming too many calories. ALSO not doing ANY excercise despite my encouragments to go for walks, swimming, have her get on our eliptical machine. I always make the comment "How many calories does your ipod say you burn sitting in front of the computer for 12 hours a day?"

--Her typical day: Wake up at 2 or 3pm, eat constantly throughout the day while sitting on the computer till 4am in the morning. Lately though I've been hogging MY computer since I actually need it for our business. But of course every few hours I get asked "Can I get on real fast? So and so tagged me on a note on facebook and I can't check it from my ipod" UGH give me a break!!!

/end

Assuming you are not exaggerating (and I do believe you are being mostly or entirely accurate), I think you should simply show her the door and tell her to use it.

This is the house where you and your boyfriend live right? Why is your cousin there? I understand she is family, but her behavior is unacceptable and you control whether she stays there or not, so I am not sure how sympathetic we should be (I know you were just ranting and not asking for sympathy, I just hate to see someone acting in such a disrespectful manner and getting away with it. I am irritated with your cousin just from reading your pet peeve rant about her). I do hope you manage to find a solution because I fear you are going to go insane.

 

[Fjones]

^ I completely disagree. Most people who actually live in the District say (or should, IMO) they live in D.C. not Washington. I highly doubt people purposefully confuse people when they don't say "Washington state" and just say Washington. I would assume they meant the state if someone said "I'm making a trip to Washington". I'm sure Washingtonians find it really irritating that they're always asked "D.C. or the state"?

A Fair point. Yes, I say "DC" as well when I refer to Washington DC. But If I heard someone say "Washington" and we were anywheer on the east coast, I would still assume he or she meant DC unless specifically stated otherwise.

 

[Fjones]

Fjones, sorry, I don't believe you. But that's okay, because it's a really minor difference of opinion, and as long as you're not posting a bunch of apostrophe pluralized signs in public then it doesn't really matter. And really, it's most correct to spell out numbers anyway, so they shouldn't be pluralized

In high school there was this one guy who would spout the most horrendous bullshit all the time, backing it up with: "I have a book at home that I read this in". Virtually nothing he ever said was even close to the truth, and the only books at his house were military coffee table books and porn. Ever since then I filter all I hear through my personal bullshit filter, and it takes a lot to reconfigure it.

My latest pet peeve is directed at myself. Why the fuck can't I manage to remember to bring everything that I need for the day with me. All I need are my gym clothes, food, a book, and a few odds and ends, but it seems like every day I manage to forget some little thing. It's annoying as hell, and can really throw a wrench in my plans if I forget the wrong thing.

Surely you jest? You want someone to spell out "Nineteen-fifties" instead of writing 1950s or 1950's ?

Also, what do you mean you don't believe me? I am stating that as a matter of FACT I looked it up. I said I would give the source if need be, so why would I make that up? You might disagree with my source, but that doesn't change the fact that I have a source to back up what I was saying.

Also, the guy you described sounds like a tool. I assure you my vast collection of books is real, in fact, I have posted photos of my entire bedroom / living room on this site, complete with the books

To be honest with you, I am a bit baffled as to why I have to do this, because I just checked my other books as well and they are all unequivocal on the subject -- in my favor. I wonder if YOU could cite a source to back up your (apparently erroneous) claim?

So, here we go –

Woe is I
by Patricia O’conner
Page 152


The most common mistakes in English Usage
By Thomas Elliot Berry
Page 191


Writing from A to Z – The easy to use reference handbook Fourth Edition
by Sally Bar Ebest and others
page 197



And, just for good measure, here is a link to an article with the opinion of esteemed writer William Safire, one of the great writers and a recognized authority on writing. It took me 30 seconds to find this with a google search.

http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/InformalEssay.html
“The reasoning of The Times' word columnist, William Safire, is that the apostrophe is used to form the plurals of numbers and letters, and so there.”

 

[Fjones]

Yes, please give me some sources. I really do get quite unreasonable, say for instance in a professional environment - including, but not limited to - posted signs, attention all staff emails, ad copy, proposal letters, and resumes. If I am going to be unreasonable, by God, it is imperative that I be absolutely right, dammit!!!! No, seriously, thanks for looking that up, and I would love to see what you found, if you get a chance to post it. It would be quite embarrassing to correct a person's grammar only to discover that in fact it was myself in the wrong. I may have worded my original post wrong, so intent was I on my bitching. Perhaps I should have said apostrophes are NOT used for possessive pronouns, or for NOUN plurals, including acronyms.

See above post for a source. Acronym plurals do indeed have an apostrophe. Also keep in mind that many things called acronyms are not really acronyms. If it is not pronounced as a word, it isn't an acronym.


"It would be quite embarrassing to correct a person's grammar only to discover that in fact it was myself in the wrong."

Don't worry too much about that. Everyone makes errors in grammar now and then, even those who champion proper grammar and usage. If you look hard enough on BL you might even find one that I made

I think the key is, we expect people to get the easy stuff right. Your and You're is just such a silly mistake, as are most of the ones people write about in this thread.

 

[poopie]

i'm from new york-

cornwall, new york!

ahhh, but the south now- there's the problem. as soon as i moved down here, i noticed a lot of kids ask for "50 cent" or "75 cent". i could almost let this slide if we still commonly used half-dollars, but no. also, i don't ever recall a 75 cent coin.

as for the lack of turn signals? this is their mecca! my boyfriend and i joke that they must be out of blinker fluid (this makes me giggle to no end!).

i am not a fan of the driver who won't let you merge coming off an exit (esp. when the other lane is wide open). no fair!

ooh, and smokers! those who throw their butts out the window (esp. when we're going through a drought here). some models (only the luxury foreign ones, i guess) have some type of receptacle for extinguishing these things...so i'm told.

i've got more, but right now my pet peeve is that i have to poop.

 

[jam uh weezy]

another driving-related one, this seems to be a common occurence in my life lately...


when the lane to the left or right of you is at a halt, and yours is going steady. so without warning, some asswipe decides he wants in your lane and zooms out, no indicator or anything, and you have to almost come to a screeching halt because this shmuck has no sense of consideracy. grrrr. and yes i realize consideracy isn't a word.

 

[eon_blue]

^ maybe they call you because they have a few questions to ask you quickly, not wasting time with a text message, much easier and less time consuming.

I agree. I hate it when someone texts me a huge message asking me a question that warrants a lengthy response, then acts annoyed when I call them rather than text them back.

Sorry, but not everyone has an f'ing Iphone or the like with a keypad that makes it easy to type long ass messages. Some of us are still stuck in the stone age with our flip phones, and in most cases it's much easier to call rather than text.

 

[Fjones]

Sometimes it seems like product manufacturers just like fucking with people. The USB ports on some computers are at the bottom of the unit, facing downward at a 45 degree angle and partly under a flap of some sort. Why would they do that? Just to see how pissed off we can get trying to plug something in?

And then some products with coaxial input jacks place the jack on an indented panel on the back of the machine right near the top and side edge, making it almost impossible to screw it in or unscrew it. I just have no idea why they would do that.

 

[Noodle]

another driving-related one, this seems to be a common occurence in my life lately...


when the lane to the left or right of you is at a halt, and yours is going steady. so without warning, some asswipe decides he wants in your lane and zooms out, no indicator or anything, and you have to almost come to a screeching halt because this shmuck has no sense of consideracy. grrrr. and yes i realize consideracy isn't a word.

I've considered correcting you, but I'm sure that would not be very considerate of me at this point in time.

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

Parents who think that because they pay someone to teach their kid something the kid will automatically be good at it, and if they're not, well it's the person fault not their kid.

Mom bitched at me today for ten minutes because her kid has not moved up a level since she got on team. If you kid fucking PRACTICED maybe she would, she can't even fucking compete because she doesn't know the routine so she is not GOING to move up, don't tell me I'm a horrible coach because your kid has no self discipline.

Seriously, these are the kids that will grow up to take no responsiblity for themselves and blame everything on everyone else. I cannnot make anyone do anything they do not want to do, take some responsbility for your kid and most of all make them take responsibility for themselves.

In fifteen years of competitive gymnastics not once did my mother ever blame one of my failures on my coach. And I am glad for it.

 

[xxkcxx]

Sometimes it seems like product manufacturers just like fucking with people. The USB ports on some computers are at the bottom of the unit, facing downward at a 45 degree angle and partly under a flap of some sort. Why would they do that? Just to see how pissed off we can get trying to plug something in?

The computer I am on now has this and I had never seen a configuration like it previously.

I literally have to get down on the ground and look up that flap if I want to use BOTH USB plugs (which is always since the one USB is always taken up by the internet connection thingy)

 

[LoveAlways]

when people ash in cups that we drink out of when there are ash trays-designated specifically for ashes within arms reach. I KNOW i can just wash the cup but damn that is just gross!!

and on a similar note, i already mentioned ash trays (or bongs) on the dinner table totally ruins my appetite!

 

[jam uh weezy]

^Oh god, have you ever seen someone at a party take a swig out of an "empty" beer full of cig butts? So sad, yet so amusing.

 

[LoveAlways]

^Oh god, have you ever seen someone at a party take a swig out of an "empty" beer full of cig butts? So sad, yet so amusing.

I've totally done that disgusting!!

 

[Fjones]

The computer I am on now has this and I had never seen a configuration like it previously.

I literally have to get down on the ground and look up that flap if I want to use BOTH USB plugs (which is always since the one USB is always taken up by the internet connection thingy)

Dell Dimension 4550?

 

[Fjones]

HOLY SHIT
HOLY SHIT
HOLY SHIT

I am absolutely losing it.

I am trying to sell things on ebay. I do this every few years. They have made it less and less convenient and now it is just a maddening exercise in frustration.

Picture a graph of Y = e^x. I would say that describes my frustration level, but that is understating it. I would say it is more like X^x.

It would take me the remaining 37 pages of this thread to list my specific grievances so I will not bother.

 

[Fjones]

I have to elaborate. This is excruciating. I feel like smashing things.

It should not take this long to sell a few things.

I have the option, after listing something, of "Sell a similar item." I can also use a template.

When doing that, isn't it fairly obvious that the ITEM ITSELF is going to change but everything else is going to stay pretty much the same?

SO what does it fucking do? It RESETS things like my auction start time yet KEEPS the item, description, AND Photo the same.

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??????

I said "sell SIMILAR item,"

not

"SELL IDENTICAL ITEM THAT I DECIDED TO MAKE A SEPARATE LISTING FOR LIKE AN ASSHOLE NOOB INSTEAD OF JUST PUTTING QUANTITY 2 IN THE ITEM NUMBER AVAILABLE!"

I now have to make a dozen extra clicks to REMOVE THE OLD ITEM INFO and add the new item info, during which it REMOVES THE TITLE (Even though I only needed to change 1 number or word), the condition, and other stuff that is obviously staying the same.

Then I have to decline all kinds of pointless extras that I will never use, like gallery, highlight, featured listing, etc. WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I JUST CLICK on "NEVER" ONE TIME instead of having to click it every time?

All tolled, it amounts to dozens of extra clicks for no reason, and since each page is cluttered with all sorts of worthless crap, each page load takes extra time.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

FUCK THIS lousy stupid site!

I could go to amazon.com and sell there... Oh wait a minute, they charge $6 commission on a $15 item and then make force you to make up a shipping cost deficit.

 

[Dave]

Another gym peeve-- people who don't put weights away. Right now about two thirds of my exercises are on some sort of machine or rack, and it was my understanding that if you were done using the equipment you put the weights away as an indication that you're done with it. Then you get some fuckwit who thinks 'well there are people here who are paid to do that, so why should I?' This leaves people like me waiting around, trying to see if the equipment is actually free, and cooling off as a result.

Happened on THREE sets of equipment today. Fuck sakes.

Fjones-- that sounds rough. Have you tried selling your stuff locally through a Bargain Finder or similar free-to-list classifieds?