<p>I have many pet peeves-too many. However, after all these posts, I am thankful my biggest traffic problem is usually farm machinery during spring and fall.</p>
<p>Sryr: that’s one I’ve never heard! lol</p>
<p>Random apostrophes are my pet peeve, as well. WHY do people think that certain words become plural only through the use of apostrophes? For example, I was just reading a thread on this board about “dunderheads” and someone said, “it is pathetic how people treat employee’s.” WHY the apostrophe? I was in our corner market earlier today and saw a handwritten sign advertising “Potato Chip’s” for sale. And on College Confidential, I frequently see posters refer to “college’s” they have visited, “sophomore’s” in high school, etc. And another odd thing that never fails to irritate me – often, people don’t use the plural of “freshman”. I even got an email from my child’s school that said “there will be no school for freshman” on such and such a day. I see this over and over again, so somehow people must have gotten it into their heads that “freshmen” is incorrect, the same way they seem to think that “colleges” is wrong. Why? I don’t know why this annoys me so much, but it’s like chalk squeaking on a blackboard to me!</p>
<p>vballmom and louisaj, I feel your pain, but for me it’s just people trying hard to be correct.</p>
<p>The possessive pronouns *his, hers, *and *theirs *have no s yet the possessive nouns **Bills, Janes, * and *my parents **do. This has caused confusion. The result is that many people attach an s to possessive pronouns just to be safe.</p>
<p>There are a couple of standard uses of the apostrophe s in English besides the possessive.</p>
<p>You find the s with abbreviations, letters and years: *1600 lb’s of torque 2 mgs of salt, two Bs and three As, the 1960s. *This practice is dying out but is still acceptable. </p>
<p>With letters, like dot your is [*is *???], *As *[???] are hard to get at this school. The possibility of misreading is high, so the apostrophe *s *is still required. </p>
<p>This has also contributed to the proliferation of s with plurals people just trying to be correct. In fifty years or so, s with plurals may be acceptable. Same for between you and I - same for definately. Language is organic. It will continue to change. And that’s not really such a bad thing. I would hate to have to say, Hi, it’s I.</p>
<p>People who will block access to a whole row of parking spaces, waiting for someone to pull out of a particular space so that they can park 3 yards closer to the front door of…the GYM!!!</p>
<p>Ah - glad to see some others know how to “capture the intersection” - it was taught in my drivers ed in NJ eons ago, but obviously it is not taught in NY since no one here knows how to do it, and I had to tell my D that it was actually OK to do…</p>
<p>Now the people who think because there is the ‘right on red’ rule that they don’t even have to bother stopping, even though there are people with the green coming right at 'em, THAT is a peeve of mine!</p>
<p>I got pulled over a few months ago when I was trying to turn left and was beyond the point of no return, and couldn’t complete the turn until after the light turned red because so many people ran the yellow (and red) in the other direction (a common occurrence here in MA).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the car in the front of the line after the last car went through was a cop. She decided to pull me over instead of the car in front that ran the red, because I was going in the direction of the station and she was coming off shift (she told me this). :rolleyes:</p>
<p>She let me go without a ticket after I explained that I was stranded in the middle of the intersection, and had to do something even though the light was red. Or maybe because writing a ticket would have cut into her personal time… I wasn’t complaining either way.</p>
<p>Newly realized peeve: friend who calls me and then asks me, “got anything else going on?” Uhhh, no. I didn’t have anything going on in the first place…you called me. She asks this a lot and I am always stumped how to reply. I realize its her way to end the conversation, but I feel put on the spot. Also HATE when people chew food while on the phone. Why not wait to call me until AFTER you have eaten? Gross.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and people who say, “anyhoo.” Not sure why that makes my skin crawl.</p>
<p>Another pet peeve at work–customers who call me specifically to ask for information, like a phone number or account number, and when I start to tell them they say, “Oh wait. Let me get something to write on.” Then I waste several minutes holding while they go find a pen and paper. If they know they’re asking for a number, they should find their stinkin’ notepad before they call me!</p>
<p>My pet peeve is people who don’t seem to understand what a YIELD sign means.</p>
<p>I also have many pet peeves, but one I haven’t seen mentioned here yet is when people use “myself” when not appropriate. I think they think it sounds smarter than “me”. For example: “they gave the award to Sue and myself”. It’s being used by news anchorpeople all the time now. That and starting every story on the news with “Right now”.</p>
<p>Another pet peeve - the cast of every national morning news show, with all the jokey banter. It’s why I listen to music every AM instead, or even watch “I Love Lucy” episodes (!), and read the news online. I don’t want a heavy dose of personality before breakfast. The Arnold and Maria stories illustrate this perfectly. I want to say “You’re a newsreader. I don’t want to see you being clever and hip. I want the frigging news.”</p>
<p>3bm103 - agree 100%. That drives me nuts. I think it stems from the fact that “me” is now the new “I”, so they don’t use “me” correctly anymore in any other context. If you say “Me and Jim went to the store”, you clearly can’t say “They gave the award to Sue and me”. They are being consistently incorrect. Ugh.</p>
<p>Couple of pet peeves. Person A makes dinner plans with person B (and person B has a coupon). They decide to invite person C. Person C tries to change the restaurant, but relents. Then person C asks to be picked up by person A to carpool/save gas (about 30 mi round trip). Then person C dominates conversation with person B, leaving person A out of much of it. Person C orders most expensive meal and 2 drinks (person A has one drink, person B has a soft drink. Person B (who had the coupon) indicates how much she feels she should pay (which is fair) and person C decided that she and person A should split the bill (Person C’s was $10 more). Person A gets no benefit from the discount coupon asn it all went to person B and C. Sigh.</p>
<p>Other pet peeve- therapist Dr A takes no insurance. Sees patients private pay, fee-for service only. Then therapist Dr A wants her child evaluated, schedules a lengthy comprehensive evaluation with Dr B, but cancels at the last minute because Dr. B happens to be out of network for Dr A’s personal HMO insurance plan, and Dr. A wants the testing done only by someone in her personal insurance network so she can use her insurance and not have to pay but a small copay.</p>
<p>jym: post #94…please don’t tell me this has happened to you more than once to have become a “pet peeve”…</p>
<p>my pet peeve of the morning: lady gaga is the top earning celebrity…? I am definitely getting old…</p>
<p>Maybe its more of a “vent” than a pet peeve, but yes, I have a few friends who tend to try to change the plans when they are included in them. This one particular friend tends to dominate the conversations, but thats just her, I suppose. Its just a bit annoying when we invite her to join us and then she takes over. C’est la vie.</p>
<p>My pet peeve? The weather. It’s hardly ever what I want it to be–too cold, dry, hot, humid, rainy, snowy, icy, windy–it’s always something, and it’s usually wrong.</p>
<p>“Between you and I” and the people who say it.</p>
<h1>94 my pet peeve would be any time you go out to eat and it is suggested by the most extravagant orderer, “let’s just spolit the bill”</h1>
<p>Sure, I had a sinner salad and water & you had wine & appetizers & dessert plus a mian course, but yeah, I’ll pay my fair share. We have been on the tuition austerity plan for so very long and one of our first cuts was going out, we rarely do it. I would like ot assume that the other person is not thinking, “Hmm, I’ll stick her with any extra $5-10-20 on her bill” and rather is simply unaware of how much less I ordered & I don;t really want to draw the entire table’s attention to my cheapness…um, frugality, but it can really add up.</p>
<p>I was part of a parent’s group meeting weekly on a project and met at a restuarnt, happily for me separate checks. Every single other person had a bill about $15-20 and mine was $5-10, every week.</p>
<p>The only solutions to this are either bring up what is fair and look cheap, which I am so I guess I should not mind, or order excess foods so you feel like you got to eat a fair share of what you paid for.</p>
<p>Somemom - I love it that you had a “sinner” salad. lol! oops.</p>
<p>Another pet peeve of mine - Going out with someone who doesn’t leave enough tip. I have actually handed the waitress more money when my friend went to the ladies room. This is a reason that I always try to have a separate check - then I put my own tip in there.</p>