<p>I get really irritated when people use apostrophes inappropriately. A few examples I’ve seen recently:</p>
<p>“they want to see what other’s thought”
“student’s are not permitted to wear baseball caps”
“reservations required for party’s larger than 6”
“the banquet will be held at the Johnson’s house”</p>
<p>I could go on and on but you get the idea. Why so much confusion regarding plurals and possessives? Granted, I’m an English teacher, but people seem to catch on to much trickier aspects of the English language.</p>
<p>Oh, louisaj, don’t even get me started on “I” v. “me” mistakes. Why oh why do people think “I” is alway correct? It’s not. “Me” is a good word. Use it with your prepositions, please!</p>
<p>DougBetsy, The funniest part of the I vs. me issue is that these people usually think that they sound so intelligent. I hear this quite a bit on tv reality shows. (Not that I actually watch them, lol.) It really does make me cringe.</p>
<p>When I sit in my office to eat my lunch and clear up things or just be in peace and people stand over me while I am chewing to discuss nonsense.</p>
<p>Bethievt, no I didn’t say anything to the flight attendants. They seemed pretty swamped & only once or twice made it down to my section of the plane. </p>
<p>My psychiatrist said that next time I could try some Xanax. I had been hoping that they would come around with some liquor but they never made it that far. *Annoying!*i missed out on the food too! Next time I guess I sit in the front.</p>
<p>Let me start off by saying that I do not own a cellphone and hope to never change that fact. When I go to the theater, the opera or any other venue, I HATE how people exiting the aisles, on the stairs or in the corridors, are checking their phone messages. Can’t it wait until you get out on the street? I have the same issue with those who walk on the sidewalk, talking. I’m in NYC, and people need to get to where they’re going. I find that cell phone users tend to stroll, rather than have a purposeful walk. And it always seems that I’m behind them. Thank you for letting me get that out. I feel cleansed.</p>
<p>Yeah, well if I would have been in a hurry just now to get through an intersection I would have been t-boned! Car didn’t even come close to stopping and I had a green light 2-3 seconds before the car even entered the intersection!</p>
<p>EK–Xanax sounds like a good idea, just for plane flights though. If you could have a few relaxed flights, maybe you could break the cycle. Most flights no one gets food anymore. I bring my own.</p>
<p>Texting while driving is now illegal in VT. I hope cell phone use comes next. I recently saw a guest on a tv talk show take out his phone and totally zone out. Couldn’t do a two minute segment without playing with his phone.</p>
<p>Parents who are completely blind to the shortcomings of their own kids.</p>
<p>Seriously annoyed with a friend who spent her kid’s entire school life completely enamored with her little darling, who spent years explaining away the disconnect between his high intelligence and lack of performance in school. It was always bad teachers, or a lack of appropriate challenges, or a need for tutors, or youthful exuberance, or high creativity that wasn’t being nurtured, or something else “out there” to blame.</p>
<p>And yet, said kid was a liar, sneaky, slid through classes with a minimum amount of effort, extremely experimental with drugs and alcohol, highly distractible, and by senior year showed no evidence of being ready to accept the responsibility of successfully keeping a scholarship at a school halfway across the country. </p>
<p>Freshman year was exactly as anyone might expect: very low grades first semester along with wonderful “experiences” off campus in several big cities up and down the east coast. Second semester the kid promises to bring grades up to be able to keep the scholarship (needs almost a 4.0 to accomplish this). Second semester grades still looking sketchy just before finals, and parents still don’t get it!</p>
<p>Thank you for this opportunity to rant a bit.</p>
<p>People (of all ages) who stare blatantly and for very long periods at my teenager daughter with special needs. It doesn’t matter that she is beautiful, elegant, polite and more socially appropriate than most of the population.</p>
<p>People who talk on a cell phone while driving on the highway, drive 10 miles below the speed limit, and drive in the LEFT lane. Then the driver hangs up and speeds up to 10 miles above the speed limit. Then the driver takes another call, slows down, and all the while, drivers are either stuck behind this car or are passing on the right. Argh.</p>
<p>^In some cases that may be true…sometimes student athletes get “priority registration” and at my school in particular, they try and register for the “easy classes”, leaving no room for students that may honestly need that class in order to graduate. (nothing against student athletes, but this is a particular annoyance of mine as someone who deals a lot with registration help.)</p>
<p>^^That student-athlete may need it to graduate as well. If that student needed it so bad, maybe they should have taken it earlier… or maybe the university needs to offer it more…</p>
<p>My D is in the honors program and is on the dean’s list. She registered for a class that she needs to graduate. Another student went ballistic on her as D was walking into her class to begin a presentation that will count for 25% of her grade. They both need the class to graduate and there are other sections. However, the other sections conflict for the girl, as they do for my D. My D registered on her date for a class that she needs. She isn’t responsible for the other girl’s conflicts and she is giving up that seat over my dead body.</p>
<p>People that don’t take personal responsibility for their problems , and pass that trait onto their children. I fear for the future of this country</p>