A List of Intense Annoyances

• People who ride a bike on the sidewalk and expect you to move out of their way.

That’s all that readily came to mind for intense annoyances. I’ll have to put more thought into it.

Influencers.
No matter what they are trying do influence you to do, they are all a bunch of self interested assholes.

• [1] Quoting Sir2u

  Influencers.

  [2] people who go to concerts so they could hear themselves talk nonstop. They do this intentionally. [3] Drivers who hit pedestrians. WTF, man! :scream: [4] Drunk drivers. There should be a breathalyzer device in the car to start the ignition. But it wouldn't take long before people could fool the breathalyzer. So, I don't know.[5] People who eat ramen everyday. Look, it's good. But everyday? We're not in apocalypse yet.[6] Animal abuse[7] Dragon fruit.

Quoting Mikie

Attention spans are down to 5 seconds.
Being interrupted or talked over.
No one reads anything greater than 3 or 4 sentences.
No one will read, watch, or listen to what you recommend - no matter how enthusiastically.
People who, when describing what person X said, does a voice impression that reduces that X to a blithering idiot.
Anyone who thinks "Saving Private Ryan" is a great movie.
Reaction videos.
The phrase "YOLO."

I share your intense annoyance at being interrupted or talked over, but the others don't bother me much. To be sure, I'm annoyed at how addictive reaction videos can be--I've even watched reaction videos of reaction videos--but I can't say I experience intense annoyance; I've never seen Saving Private Ryan and have no interest in seeing it (I suppose the one that annoys me that everyone goes on about is the Shawshank Redemption, which I dislike); I had to look up "YOLO".

Recommendations are quite interesting and I know it can be frustrating when people ignore yours. I've followed up on a few recommendations I've been given that have shaped my life importantly. However, you learn from disappointed experience to ignore most of them. Obviously who gives the recommendation is important, but also I think how the recommendation is given matters. I think the recommender has to make a case for it, rather than just "check out x, it's cool". It also has to come at the right time for the recommendee.

Current intense annoyances of mine:

• Liars and bullshitters: the reason this is intensely annoying to me and not just a bothersome but ordinary fact of life is that I didn't know until recently just how many of them there are. There are a lot of them. Disappointed!
• The bureaucracy of national residency, visas, taxes, etc.
• The punishment of ordinary Russian citizens by EU sanctions, banks, etc.

• Being held responsible/reprimanded for an outcome that isn't my fault.
• Not being able to contact a service representative for poor/absent service as a customer.
• Managing passwords
• Folks in stores who are looking at their phone while blocking isles with their cart/bodies.
• The gratuitous concrete features/surfaces at my job which are functionally useless and have to be pressure washed multiple times a year.
• Pressure washers ( one of mankind's worst inventions, as they are pieces of fucking shit!)
• Discontinued or unavailable manufacturing parts or planned obsolescence (should be laws against this bullshit)

Quoting Nils Loc

Being held responsible/reprimanded for an outcome that isn't my fault.

Yeah, that really gets under my skin, and worse, if the matter is more of a subjective sort of thing trying to defend yourself can just make you look guilty.

Quoting Nils Loc

Folks in stores who are looking at their phone while blocking isles with their cart/bodies.

Very annoying at the gym if someone does this while “resting” between sets for an inordinate amount of time and hogging the equipment.

Related to this:

• People who place a water bottle or towel on gym equipment to reserve it and then wander off.

Doesn’t happen that often but when it does I will sometimes move the item and use the equipment and that usually results in an annoying confrontation.

Quoting Sir2u

Influencers

:up: Yes.

Quoting L'éléphant

Dragon fruit.

:lol:

I like dragon fruit! What’s annoying is how expensive it is.

Quoting Jamal

the one that annoys me that everyone goes on about is the Shawshank Redemption, which I dislike

In the past I would have taken umbrage with that — but after seeing it again, I get it. Especially when people go on and on about it. Becomes such an obvious, cliched choice. I used to love that movie, too — but now I think mainly because of Freeman’s narration.

It’s also syrupy.

Quoting Nils Loc

Discontinued or unavailable manufacturing parts or planned obsolescence (should be laws against this bullshit)

Yes!

Driving down a two lane one direction street when two bicycle lanes appear, sending you into a single lane. No matter how often you drive this street you never see a bicyclist.

Quoting Mikie

What’s annoying is how expensive it is.

Exactly.

I just read an article and it reminded me of something else that I really don't like.

Righteous deservers People that think that their rights go over and above the rest of humanities. Just stop oil, over zealous trans people, car parking space hoggers, queue jumpers, anyone that thinks they they deserve more just because they are who they are.

I was wondering why I had not thought of this when I posted earlier. I think it is probable because I rarely go out and about nowadays and have not had much personal experience with it lately. Funny how the mind works

Reply to Sir2u

Several years ago I was in a long line for a popular blockbuster film in a small-town community on the islands where some white kids, looking early twenties and from affluent backgrounds, went to the front of the line and talked a local couple into letting them cut. I think they picked the couple because they looked like they had the most *aloha spirit*. Creepy and annyoing as hell to watch.

Reply to praxisI agree, annoying bastards. :lol:

Supermarket music. (most contemporary music)
Soundtracks so loud you can't hear the dialogue.
Bait-and-switch advertising.
Unopenable packages.
Tailgaters.
Bad spelling on signs.
Inconvenient, poorly designed DVD cases.
People who stand in doorways.

Quoting Vera Mont

Supermarket music

In my middle age I have begun to positively enjoy shop and restaurant music. When it’s good I enjoy it because it’s good, and when it’s bad it amuses me and gives me something to wryly rant about. It’s the same as the enjoyment of watching a bad film.

On the whole though, this attitude of mine is driven by a spirit of determination to enjoy things about the world that I don’t really like, but cannot change.

Quoting Vera Mont

Soundtracks so loud you can't hear the dialogue.

Agreed. I watch most films with subtitles these days, even when it’s in English. I don’t think this is entirely due to age-related hearing loss, but I guess that’s part of it. Relatedly: annoying and unnecessary background music in documentaries and YouTube videos.

Just thought of another one: people who put on the car radio very quiet just so that there’s some background music to stave off their dark existential angst.

And people who put the TV on when there’s nothing they particularly want to watch and you’re trying to have a conversation.

If I am being really honest, women, who I find very attractive, who find me not so.
I can live with such, and I am very suspicious of the primeval source of such feelings but I do nonetheless find such reality, intensely annoying. :yikes: does this mean I have an internal patriarchy gnawing at me? Pesky reproductive imperatives. I find all 'Pon Farr' style imperatives, understandable from the standpoint of species survival, but very intensely annoying!

Also young women with squeaky voices speaking very fast on the telephone. Nearly everyone speaks fast now; you get the feeling they want to get their lines uttered before the microphone is snatched away. I guess a lot of my annoyances are auditory, even though my hearing is still normal, because the world has become so very noisy, even while I've been sequestered away in my quiet country home for three years.

A List of Intense AnnoyancesQuoting Mikie

Yes, these are sweeping generalizations. I don't care.
Also, this is a living document.

Yay. Living and word-flowing. Good to get it all out and great to read!
I thought of the thread today when I read this:

Quoting Michael Rosen - The Guardian

[b]In these troubled times we all get the ‘bothers’ but I have a surefire cure: write them down
Michael Rosen[/b]
The sentence was created to make sense of the world, but some things are beyond logic. Forget what you learned at school, let the words out.
Treat yourself. Instead of reading the rest of this article, first go and write down something that’s bothering you …
[...]
Here’s the experiment:
Whatever word or phrase comes into your head, write it down. Don’t worry about whether it fills the whole line (part of the tyranny of the sentence!). Don’t worry if it sounds unfinished.

Now wait.

Whatever next thought comes into your mind, write it down underneath that previous line. I call this “unfolding”. Now repeat this unfolding for as short or as long a time as you want. Remember that you can nick anything you want from songs, poems, plays or films that help you express this bother.
Mine, today, might look something like this:

Losing
Losing the way
Losing my grip
Losing the sense
Losing it
Losing him
Lost

But don’t worry about what mine look like, or about getting them right. They’re yours.
The point of this is whether it’s doing you good. The best response is if people wish to have a go themselves, because in sharing bothers we start to find that we are less alone than we’re inclined to think we are.
We find company and help in our similarities and commonalities...Writing might not be an instant cure for all your bothers, but it can be a way of feeling less in a hole alone with yourself.

I think all at TPF pretty much know about the benefits of writing.
Until now, I haven't made a practice of writing my 'bothers' down.
I prefer phone rants!
OK, Rosen, here goes nuthin':

'Winners'
Winners and losers
Winners at the expense of 'losers'
Whiners at diners
Dining sans wine
What? When people are starving and worse!?!
Fining the wording
Freeing the words
Free to be seen and heard; to touch and taste, if not smell
To win and lose, fair and square.
Why should I care?

Why should I care?
I
Really
Don't
Care
Do U?
Trumps, trumpers, trumpeters
with guns and muddy boots
on other people's carpets
breaking things
broken things
fragmentation

No, that's too heavy for an annoyance. But i did, for fun, paint on the back of a jacket:
I Care
Don't
You
?

Quoting Vera Mont

But i did, for fun, paint on the back of a jacket:
I Care
Don't
You
?

Careful
You might set a trend
Seeing the back of somebody
Like Melania
Wearing on the mind
'No hidden message'
Fake news
Until it isn't
The timing
And the lies turning
Back to front and round again
To be continued...

Just thought of another one:

- The apparently millions of people, including those who know how to spell other words quite well, who constantly spell LOSE wrong. The way it actually gets spelled? “LOOSE.”

Good god that’s maddening. How can you go decades and not know how this is spelled?

What’s funny is that it never gets auto-corrected because “loose” is, of course, a word.

“Win or loose, it’s gonna be a great game.” Oh? FUCK you!

Sorry to LOOSE my temper.

That's funny, because I'm often annoyed by people losing letters that are supposed to be there or substituting them - helmut for helmet.
It's not nearly as intense, however, as using 'I' as object of a preposition. "This means so much to John and I!" Urrgghhh! If John were out of the picture, would you say "This means so much to I!" ? Or the phrase "try and" instead of "try to".

Quoting Vera Mont

It's not nearly as intense, however, as using 'I' as object of a preposition. "This means so much to John and I!" Urrgghhh! If John were out of the picture, would you say "This means so much to I!" ? Or the phrase "try and" instead of "try to".

I agree with you about “John and I”, but not about “try and”. In my opinion, “try and” is much smoother and more stylish. And it’s totally standard, in fact probably older than “try to”.

[quote=Merriam-Webster;https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/were-going-to-explain-the-deal-with-try-and-and-try-to]Not only do infinitive verbs not require to, but and is a long-established partner in the same position—that is, between a verb and an infinitive following it. The construction has been around since the 13th century, when it mostly occurred with infinitives following begin, take, go, and come. Today it's used with go and come ("Go and ask them," "Come and see"), as well as with other verbs: "Wait and let me finish," "Stop and chat for a while."[/quote]

Oxford and other dictionaries also treat it as standard (in case you think this is an American eccentricity).

Quoting Mikie

Sorry to LOOSE my temper.

Better to keep the heid than lose it!
Sometimes
Cool is when you lose
the "OH!" of loose teeth
All the better to bite

The plumber advised:
"Lefty loosey, righty tighty"
To turn the sink stopper
To loosen and lose the yuck

The st/ickiness of bathroom bits
Flushing loos lose
Loose stools
In or on the bowl
Mostly

Vaping
Harmful and dangerous
First and second-hand
Money making
Lung destroying
Air polluting
The planet
Toxic waste
Why?

Quoting Amity

Vaping
Harmful and dangerous
First and second-hand
Money making
Lung destroying
Air polluting
The planet
Toxic waste
Why?

It is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about annoyances. But, I didn't want to post it because my intention was not to disrespect the smokers of this forum (if there are actually any). It is literally a waste of money and toxicity for the environment. You know, it is bollocks how the state makes advertisements against smoke addiction, but at the end of the day they collect a lot of money in taxes thanks to all sold cigarette packages.

My mother is a smoker. I always give my best to help her to get rid of smoking. It is not an easy task. We have already reduced the consumption of packages and she "only" smokes half of the cigarette. I will be pushing forward until she definitely stops smoking.

Quoting Vera Mont

It's not nearly as intense, however, as using 'I' as object of a preposition.

Agreed. This is very irritating for you and I.

Reply to Amity

:clap:

Quoting Merriam-Webster

Today it's used with go and come ("Go and ask them," "Come and see"), as well as with other verbs: "Wait and let me finish," "Stop and chat for a while."

Not quite the same. In those examples, it's reasonable to assume that the recommended action will result in the predicted outcome. In the case of making an attempt, it isn't.

Reply to Vera Mont That’s entirely arbitrary. It only seems to be relevant because it is in fact quite common to use try to. I recommend reading the whole article if you haven’t.

Quoting Jamal

That’s entirely arbitrary.

I thought it was logical. Guess not, then.

Reply to Vera Mont Maybe the trouble is expecting grammar to be logical in the first place, when mostly what matters is what’s conventional, i.e., standard.

I only responded because one of my own, sometimes excessive, intense annoyances, is being criticized for breaking “rules” of grammar and spelling that are really just popular prejudices or fashions. Oddly enough, it is this attitude that leads people to say “This means so much to John and I”—having misunderstood the grammar, they think using me is incorrect, uneducated, etc.

I wouldn’t criticize you merely for preferring try to; it’s the implied criticism of my way of speaking and writing that I cannot take. :wink:

Quoting Jamal

Maybe the trouble is expecting grammar to be logical in the first place, when mostly what matters is what’s conventional, i.e., standard.

That doesn't mean it stops annoying me. I expect songs to have a tune and lyrics and it annoys me when they don't (Oh, man, does it ever!) even though the standard convention is to repeat the same two-note, three-word loop with several overlaid tracks of the same thing.

Quoting Jamal

I wouldn’t criticize you merely for preferring try to; it’s the implied criticism of my way of speaking and writing that I cannot take

Isn't every expression of annoyance an overt criticism of something and thus an implied criticism of those who, knowingly or otherwise, cause that annoyance?
If the criticized persons are injured by this, I petition to have this thread locked and erased forthwith. Know any sympathetic mods?

Quoting Vera Mont

That doesn't mean it stops annoying me. I expect songs to have a tune and lyrics and it annoys me when they don't (Oh, man, does it ever!) even though the standard convention is to repeat the same two-note, three-word loop with several overlaid tracks of the same thing.

Speculation forthcoming…

I put it to you that you are quite happy with many illogicalities of grammar (and spelling, which is especially illogical in English), simply because they are now standard and unquestioned, whereas try and offends you because try to remains as another standard option. Similarly, you are familiar with better ways of making a song than to “repeat the same two-note, three-word loop with several overlaid tracks of the same thing.” The latter might be popular but not everyone does it that way.

There is a big difference though: I don’t think try to is any more logical than try and, whereas I do think that some songs are better than others.

However, personally I think try and is better than try to, but I won’t be offended by your use of the latter.

Quoting Vera Mont

Isn't every expression of annoyance an overt criticism of something and thus an implied criticism of those who, knowingly or otherwise, cause that annoyance?

Yep. There is a small distance between “I hate it when people do X” and “I hate people who do X”.

Quoting Vera Mont

If the criticized persons are injured by this, I petition to have this thread locked and erased forthwith. Know any sympathetic mods?

I was personally injured by the comments about vaping, but I’m a big boy, I can take it :strong:

Quoting javi2541997

It is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about annoyances. But, I didn't want to post it because my intention was not to disrespect the smokers of this forum (if there are actually any). It is literally a waste of money and toxicity for the environment. You know, it is bollocks how the state makes advertisements against smoke addiction, but at the end of the day they collect a lot of money in taxes thanks to all sold cigarette packages.

My mother is a smoker. I always give my best to help her to get rid of smoking. It is not an easy task. We have already reduced the consumption of packages and she "only" smokes half of the cigarette. I will be pushing forward until she definitely stops smoking.

Vaping wasn't my initial thought.
But it seems to be increasing - and I'm more aware of it.
Yesterday, a young man vaped his way across the junction before me.
He was shrouded in steam, leaving a trail of smelly stuff behind.
I chose to walk in the other direction, to breathe relatively cleaner air. Good to have a choice.

I wondered what the mist contained. And more:
Quoting Vaping - cleveland clinic

Vaping is when you use a handheld electronic device to breathe a mist (“vapor”) into your lungs. An e-cigarette, vape pen or other electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) heats a liquid of nicotine, flavoring, propylene glycol and other additives into an aerosol that you inhale through a mouthpiece. Vaping can cause breathing problems, organ damage, addiction and other conditions.

It's good that you are helping your Mum quit smoking and that she is willing to try.
This article and BTL comments might be of help:

A friend who I considered to be almost as serious a vaper as me had managed 86 days off hers. Another friend told me how she had given up cigarettes for 18 months by reading Allen Carr’s book Easy Way to Quit Smoking.

I dared to believe that I could, perhaps, quit nicotine. I bought the vaping version of the book and read it in a couple of days. It works by dismantling any belief you have that vaping is a pleasurable or helpful activity – for example, the notion that it helps you concentrate or that it calms you in stressful situations. Quitting is reframed as a purely positive no-brainer and, what’s more, an easy thing to do, instead of the torturous deprivation that I feared.

The book was boring and repetitive but it worked some kind of sorcery because I obediently puffed my last vape – you are encouraged to vape as you read – threw it in the bin, and somehow I have been nicotine-free for an astounding 402 days. This is the first time in 20 years that I have not been ingesting some form of nicotine on a daily basis.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/18/addicted-nicotine-20-years-quit-vaping

Best wishes!

Quoting Jamal

I was personally injured by the comments about vaping, but I’m a big boy, I can take it

Did I read that you own a vape shop - or was that another part of my TPF hallucination?

Reply to Amity I have never knowingly owned a vape shop, but I have set foot in many. I can’t comment on the contents of your acid trips or whatever it is.

Reply to Jamal

Ah, so you are a vape-guy, then?

Reply to Amity I use a vape but I don’t want to be a “vape guy”. Vape guys are into vaping like it’s a hobby, and for some reason endeavour to produce as much vapour as possible, gathering with their vape guy friends to talk about vaping and compete to produce the biggest clouds.

Quoting Jamal

I use a vape but I don’t want to be a “vape guy”

It started with a vape. A want becomes a need. It's addictive and harmful. And it's not only guys. There's been an increase in young females vaping. Marketed as cool and comes in cute flavours like pink lemonade, bubblegum and watermelon ice. There is more availability of disposable vapes.

Quoting Number of young women vaping daily more than triples - the Guardian

Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that one in 15 women (6.7%) aged 16-24 vaped daily in 2022 – up from fewer than one in 50 (1.9%) in 2021 – with young women overtaking their male counterparts for e-cigarette usage.

The rise in young women vaping mirrors findings in an NHS survey of school-aged children last year, which showed more than one in five 15-year-old girls using e-cigarettes – hugely outstripping their male counterparts.

Reply to Amity To me, vaping was a good way to stop smoking. No doubt it has helped many people that way, and this is a good thing. I don’t advocate vaping for people who are not addicted to nicotine, and I can understand the concern with that, but at least it’s better than smoking.

Quoting Jamal

To me, vaping was a good way to stop smoking. No doubt it has helped many people that way, and this is a good thing.

Fantastic. Well done you! But it's still nothing more than a dummy tit. An addictive comforter.
The original sugar tit:

Quoting Sugar tit- wiki

It was made by placing a spoonful of sugar, or honey, in a small patch of clean cloth, then gathering the cloth around the sugar and twisting it to form a bulb. The bulb was then secured by twine or a rubber band. The baby's saliva would slowly dissolve the sugar in the bulb.

In use the exposed outfolded fabric could give the appearance of a flower in the baby's mouth. David Ransel quotes a Russian study by Dr. N. E. Kushev while discussing a similar home-made cloth-and-food pacifier called a soska (??????); there, the term "flower", as used colloquially by mothers, refers to a bloom of mold in the child's mouth caused by decay of the contents.

As early as 1802 a German physician, Christian Struve, described the sugar tit as "one of the most revolting customs".

The problem for others is in the secondary inhalation of these chemicals.
Secondhand smoke and vaping is more than just a 'revolting custom' or an 'intense annoyance'...

Reply to Amity I believe your complaint about vaping is an irrational moral judgment more than a concern for public health, and that you’re in the grip of a moral panic. But that’s the interesting premise of this thread: in sharing what you find to be obnoxious, some readers will find you obnoxious.

Next:

Pedestrians on cycle paths when I’m cycling, especially those who jump left or right at the last moment, when they realize there’s a bike coming. I want to say this is idiotic, because it really is the worst thing they could do, but my reasonable self tells my intensely annoyed self that it’s just a natural response and that I might do the same myself.

Quoting Jamal

I believe your complaint about vaping is an irrational moral judgment more than a concern for public health, and that you’re in the grip of a moral panic. But that’s the interesting premise of this thread: in sharing what you find to be obnoxious, some readers will find you obnoxious.

Ah, now you're smokin'!

Quoting Jamal

Pedestrians on cycle paths when I’m cycling, especially those who jump left or right at the last moment, when they realize there’s a bike coming. I want to say this is idiotic, because it really is the worst thing they could do, but my reasonable self tells my intensely annoyed self that it’s just a natural response and that I might do the same myself.

Like many walkers on a multi-purpose recreational path, I have to keep my wits about me.
One wrong move or stumble and I might be hurt. Along with damage to bike, scooter or others.

When I am aware of other users, I generally stop and pull into the side when necessary.
I was pleased and so thanked passing cyclists - a couple and then a single - when they gave sufficient and early warning. In addition to ringing a bell, one even called out "Cyclist coming!"

I don't know if there is specific training; rules or guide-lines for cyclists or any other path users.
The best way to warn others; to reduce the potential for harm for all concerned?

Reply to Amity I don’t currently have a bell on my bike so I sometimes shout “excuse me” or similar, in the appropriate language. But if the pedestrians are walking on bike-specific paths, I am entitled to run them over without warning.

Quoting Jamal

bike-specific paths

This is interesting. A number of roads now have wide paths alongside. I think there are signs on some that say 'Cyclists' but they are clearly the only paths available for walkers, joggers etc.
And cyclists still use ordinary pavements to cycle on...

I'd been wondering why more cyclists weren't using bells. I thought they used to be compulsory.

Quoting Do bikes have to have a bell?

Whilst bike bells are not a legal requirement, unless you live in the most rural parts of the UK it is strongly recommended that you use one. At under £5.00 bike bells are incredibly affordable and easy to replace.

Pedestrians, other cyclists and drivers all need to be aware of your presence and you never know, you could just save your own life or someone else’s.

Quoting Discerning cyclist

Bicycle Bell Law UK
Rule 66 of the Highway Code states that cyclists must let others know where they are when necessary. For example ‘by ringing your bell if you have one’. The if is key here; having or using a bicycle bell is therefore not a mandatory legal requirement in the UK.

It is recommended that cyclists equip a bicycle bell, and all UK stores will are required to equip one upon sale, but it is up to you whether you choose to use it or not.

I know you are a great guy, safety conscious and wouldn't hurt a fly.
This thread's great. The things I've learned!

Quoting Amity

I know you are a great guy, safety conscious and wouldn't hurt a fly.

I wonder why I’m mildly offended by this. Anyway thanks.

Reply to Jamal
No mild offence intended. You're welcome.

Reply to Vera Mont
Reply to Jamal

Try and get along guys. No need to loose the plot.

Reply to Mikie
?

Reply to Amity

Just being silly. Thought it was obvious— perhaps it wasn’t.

Oh I see what happened. Didn’t mean to tag you @Amity. Corrected.

OK, it's been a long day and I'm tired. Loosing my mind...
G'night!

Quoting Mikie

Didn’t mean to tag you Amity. Corrected.

Ta, now I won't loose sleep over it! Stopping now.

The use of "impact" as a verb.

Quoting Paine

The use of "impact" as a verb.

I'm okay with that, as long it refers to meteorite or cannonball. When it's used to replace 'affect' or 'influence', it drives me me buggy.

Reply to Vera Mont
What bugs me is that it got its form as a past participle so that one could cogently refer to things "having an impact".
But then it started getting used as an active verb. That has an Orwellian Newspeak feel of replacing better English.

Quoting Paine

That has an Orwellian Newspeak feel of replacing better English

So do very many other fashionable words and phrases. You'd almost suspect a conspiracy... when really, it's just an epidemic of imitation.

Referring to pure fiction, like Orwellian Newspeak, as though it were something real.

I just finished reading 1984 and according to the story, words that imply individuality, rebellion, or independent thought are systematically eliminated. The word "impact" would not exist at all in Newspeak because it can convey a sense of influence, significance, or change, which could be seen as promoting independent thought or analysis. Words like "impact" would be replaced with more simplified or controlled language that serves the purposes of the Party and reduces the potential for dissent.

The point is to control thought, not to degrade language.

Quoting praxis

The point is to control thought, not to degrade language.

It still is. They just became a little more subtle and tech-savvy since 1948.

Reply to Vera Mont

If you believe that can you explain how they do it? And who are they?

Quoting praxis

If you believe that can you explain how they do it? And who are they?

Who: They are the modern aristocracy.

How: mass communications: media social networking platforms; news sources

Through their communication networks, they have been able to convey subliminal messages for nearl a century now. The themes, the slant, the language used, the very tenor of advertisements all affect how the public hears and speaks and thinks. Thus, through waves of fear-mongery (the red menace, the evil weed, terrorists under the bed) alternating with reassurance, (our valiant troops triumph; our spies are smarter then their spies, the incorruptible police thwart crime) embedded in an endless banquet of palatable entertainments and distracting graphic images, words are perverted, perceptions are altered, ideas are planted and consolidated.

Quoting Vera Mont

Who: They are the modern aristocracy.

I think their best trick is brainwashing you into believing that people like Jeff Bezos are nobility. They have money and the power and influence that comes with money, that is all.

Quoting Vera Mont

subliminal messages

Tinfoil hats effectively block these messages, as I’m sure you’re aware.

Did I mention reaction videos?

Here’s another two from Twitter:

- People using the form “x: bla blah blah ; y: hold my beer”

- people ending their posts with “That’s it. That’s the post.”

Ughh…it’s so stupid and conformist it makes me hostile. Who does this stuff?

I need to stop even skimming Twitter anymore.

Quoting praxis

Referring to pure fiction, like Orwellian Newspeak, as though it were something real.

Yes, and other similar pieces.

Another annoyance -- referring to "War and Peace" whenever one means "lengthy" without ever having read the book. It's fucking 1,400 pages, written by Tolstoy!

"Oh, he wrote me a war and peace email just to explain the procedure".

Don't do this or I might as well quiz you on the novel.

(I did not read the book)

Quoting L'éléphant

I did not read the book

It was actually pretty good. Not that much longer than LOTR, and it made a lot more sense then Finnegan's Wake.
People who quote their favourite dead philosopher as if he had the final truth of everything.

Quoting Vera Mont

People who quote their favourite dead philosopher as if he had the final truth of everything.

Maybe they do.

Quoting L'éléphant

Maybe they do.

All of them?

Quoting Vera Mont

All of them?

No! Are you serious? Nietzsche was wrong.

Quoting L'éléphant

Nietzsche was wrong.

Oh. In that case, I should only be annoyed at people who quote him. I'll try...

Added one: people who write “you see.” Ugh.

Quoting Mikie

Also, this is a living document.

Attention spans are down to 5 seconds.

Being interrupted or talked over.

No one reads anything greater than 3 or 4 sentences.

I stopped reading.

Intense annoyance:

populist politics
people taken in by populists

And this reminded me of two more:

Quoting Vera Mont

Soundtracks so loud you can't hear the dialogue.

Movies so dark, you can't see anything but it's "gritty".

Quoting Sir2u

Righteous deservers People that think that their rights go over and above the rest of humanities. Just stop oil, over zealous trans people, car parking space hoggers, queue jumpers, anyone that thinks they they deserve more just because they are who they are.

Rich people

Lists.
Other people's petty gripes.
Other people.
Everything.

Continued harping on WWII, as if had been the only notable event in human history.

Quoting Vera Mont

Continued harping on WWII, as if had been the only notable event in human history.

From someone that has done more of that than anyone else on the thread about WW2. :rofl:

Reply to Sir2u
I don't know about quantity, though I seriously doubt "more than anyone else", but if anyone were bored and silly enough to go back over all the relevant threads to check, they would discover that all of my posts were in response to someone else's statement. I never once initiated a discussion regarding events or persons involved in that conflict.

Quoting Vera Mont

I never once initiated a discussion regarding events or persons involved in that conflict.

Yes, good bye.

Reply to Mikie This explains so much about your comportment.

Garbage bags that refuse to open.

theiyr're
they're their there

that must of been quite something

I'm better then you

youre
you're your

whe're
we're were where

"It was a shock to John and I."
"potato's $1.95"
"Get off of my lawn."
"Oranges are different to apples."
"Try and learn grammar."

Reply to Vera Mont Wet thumb and index finger and rub them together with the garbage bag opening between them. It will open in a jiffy.

Reply to Benkei
Yes! I tested it first on those filmy little vegetable bags in the grocery store, then yesterday on the recycle and garbage bags. Works on all three types of plastic. You have my life-long gratitude.

Images like this, with a human like robot doing something as if it is a human. You see images of them sitting in front of a bank of monitors and flying planes.

The funny thing is that it is never going to happen because it will always be cheaper to incorporate the AI into the system instead of building a separate entity. Why would a robot sit and look at monitors when all of the information could be processed inside a small box? A robot pilot would still have the problem of time lapse because of observation/movement delay, whereas the incorporated AI would not have anywhere near as much.

Is it just because the want people to accept the fact that there might be robots around soon or is it just that they think people are stupid?

Quoting Sir2u

Is it just because the want people to accept the fact that there might be robots around soon or is it just that they think people are stupid?

Yes and yes. Probably right on both counts.
Besides, it's a helluva lot easier to make an ad campaign featuring friendly androids and cute household machines than to educate the public about what kinds of automation to expect and how it works.

Quoting Sir2u

Why would a robot sit and look at monitors when all of the information could be processed inside a small box? A robot pilot would still have the problem of time lapse because of observation/movement delay, whereas the incorporated AI would not have anywhere near as much.

Is it just because the want people to accept the fact that there might be robots around soon or is it just that they think people are stupid?

On point observation!

It's marketing, I guess. AI technology is very active in the stock market. The connection of representation to the humans, probably, is what made them depict AI like the picture. Driverless vehicles, press-button services, and click-buttons e-services are around already and doing well.

Who knows maybe they're to appeal to the children.

I found the other one I was looking for.

Reply to Sir2u That's even worse.

An AI does not have a capacity to do deliberative thinking, but it exercises algorithm.

Quoting Sir2u

Is it just because the want people to accept the fact that there might be robots around soon or is it just that they think people are stupid?

I think it may also be down to most people not being all that interested in this issue and not having any theorized frameworks with which to understand it. But also, the image of a robot doing human things is a kind of short-hand - an easily recognized symbol. Not necessarily meant to be taken literally.

What's the point of a robot made in human form? It's inefficient, not designed for any specific purpose, just takes up a lot of space with unnecessary limbs. It doesn't eve try to pass as a real human, so the purpose can't be to fool anyone.
It's an icon. A symbolic link between a big metal box on wheels and Robin Williams.
It's a familiar idea.

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

Quoting tim wood

I gotta go with Vera Mont, here.

Of course, you're obnoxiously wrong, as usual.

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

Eliza Doolittle.

Would it be obnoxious to refer back to the logic of a much earlier pet peeve?
"Try to [e.g. climb that ladder]" means an attempt is made wherein the subject either overcomes his fear of heights or admits defeat.
"Try and [e.g. climb that ladder]" means that an attempt is made and the speaker presumes that the subject will then arrive at the top.
I know most people hear the same thing either way it's phrased - but I can't.

There are many other logical reasons for grammar. Most of them are aimed at clarity of meaning, the avoidance of ambiguity. And perhaps the possibility of subtlety, nuance, shades and degrees of meaning.
Some are mere conventions, and those change over time. Language is supposed to be alive and change over time, according to the needs and caprice of its users. But rapid, purposeful change is what happened at Babel.
The less attention is given to what communication actually means, the more misunderstanding, bias, deception and psychological manipulation can be introduced.

Reply to tim wood None in particular. But neither is Jamal wrong — besides the condescendence in his message. You are talking about different things.
Besides that fortay is not how Italian forte is pronounced, it is not just that misusage can exclude the speaker from some memberships, but that misusage may undermine communication. Some patterns (which eventually become rules) in a language may develop to remove ambiguity or unneeded specification, settling for a golden mean. If speakers err towards not attending the rule that removes ambiguity, it becomes obvious how they may undermine communication (if they err towards the unneeded specification, they are, for one, seen as pedantic).
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Kant wrote in a way that would not allow for significantly different interpretations of his work and that his usage of terminology was fully regular? So much time and effort would have been saved.
Obviously, one does not need to attend to rules when speaking to friends in the same as they do as writing a textbook for university studies (pedantic), but one must also be careful not to excessively help popularise mistakes that may degenerate communication. At the end of the day, it is an ethical issue, and by that fact alone it requires common sense — no definitive catch-all answer can be ever given.

Shitty ass modern pop (that is, modern pop)
People blarting their shitty ass modern pop in public places (Beach, park) or next door, implicitly demanding I either enjoy or endure their shitty ass modern pop, or gtfo

Reply to hypericin
I'm inclined to agree. I long for the stone age when songs had melody and lyrics.
(Although, I do recall that in 1966 another roomer in the house had her little heart broken and kept playing the Barbara Streisand recording of 'Autumn Leaves', over and over and over and over, for a week. It annoyed me very nearly to the brink of homicide.)

Reply to Vera Mont

That is an interesting perception. I think there is no lack of melody in todays pop, and certainly, they have lyrics. It's just that they are maddening, obnoxious drivel.

Gen-Z gets an undeserved bad rap, yet somehow to me their music embodies some the worst traits attributed to them: smug, narcissistic self satisfaction and self aggrandizement. The overall loss of quality compared to earlier generations (including ones I feel no special connection to) is stark.

Quoting hypericin

Shitty ass modern pop (that is, modern pop)
People blarting their shitty ass modern pop in public places (Beach, park) or next door, implicitly demanding I either enjoy or endure their shitty ass modern pop, or gtfo

:up: I don't go out without earphones. I listen to stuff like the following which is a very effective blocker and (to me) is also good music.

I may be pretty extreme though. E.g. If I could get a free meal at the most expensive restaurant in the world, I definitely wouldn't take it if I had to listen to ambient pop music or someone at the next table with their phone on a video or whatever.

Philosophers.

Just kidding. Just thought that'd be funny to someone. Somewhere. :meh:

But yes getting notifications of replies to posts I made hours ago when I was actually in the mood to debate, in betwixt states of sobriety when I'm not really in the mood to engage or formulate new thoughts. A personal problem, assuredly.

Other than that, probably Hanover's goats. He's got to be up to something off with them. No one is that consistently witty and knowledgeable of their own accord.

Quoting Outlander

Just kidding. Just thought that'd be funny to someone. Somewhere

I did laugh. I feel like it's the artist, not philosopher, in me whose stomach turns at such auditory assaults. But that may be conceit.

Reply to Baden

That's interesting. I'm not a fan of excessive nearly offensive decibel level myself. It's almost as if someone is trying to hide something that would otherwise be obvious.

Perhaps that's just my introvert-ish desire to maintain situational awareness wherever I may go. The more I can determine about a situation, the more I can plan, and the more secure and comfortable I am. Noise disrupts this, I notice.

Reply to Outlander

Yes, for me ambient music, particularly pop, disrupts my intuitive feeling for a place, replacing it with a candied consumerised cadence that I find repulsive and emotionally disruptive. I need my intuitive feel for a place to feel like I properly am myself.

...I am a princess. Do not put a pea under my mattress, bitch. :smile:

Quoting Baden

I feel like it's the artist, not philosopher, in me whose stomach turns at such auditory assaults. But that may be conceit.

Death metal eh? I think it is the metalheads that can least abide the ear-vomit that passes for music these days.

I used to be a black metal exclusive, I even wrote it, but I've been expanding my horizons to include goth, quality pop, punk, thrash and death metal. I'm mostly an old school guy, been playing this one quite a bit lately:

Quoting hypericin

Death metal eh?

Officially grindcore, but pretty close.

Quoting hypericin

I'm mostly an old school guy,

Same here. Came across "Full of Hell" quite recently.

Quoting hypericin

been playing this one quite a bit lately:

Solid stuff. :death:

Quoting Baden

Yes, for me ambient music, particularly pop, disrupts my intuitive feeling for a place, replacing it with a candied consumerised cadence that I find repulsive and emotionally disruptive.

Well, keep in mind, while you're the most valuable, you're also the most infrequently or leastly present. The employees reside there as well. You know, the people who make everything happen? It's about their consideration and preference as well. Many of whom benefit more than nominally, on tips, tips that scientifically evidenced to be brought about by the "candied consumersed cadence" you so haughtily talk down upon as if it were you stocking their fridge and fulfilling their dreams, which you in fact, are not! So riddle yourself that for a spell.

Reply to Outlander
Please, gtfo. The music is not there to somehow induce tipping (show me this "scientific evidence"). It's there because management decided the shopping public wants to hang out in a place playing music they presumably like. The poor employees have to endure the literal torture of being force fed this drek 8 hours a day. It is cruel as fuck.

And, "most valuable"??

Quoting Baden

disrupts my intuitive feeling for a place, replacing it with a candied consumerised cadence that I find repulsive and emotionally disruptive.

Spot on.

Quoting hypericin

The music is not there to somehow induce tipping (show me this "scientific evidence"). It's there because management decided the shopping public wants to hang out in a place playing music they presumably like.

Gladly. It's so beneath my effort I require a few sips to simply fit the role, naturally.

Oh "they decided" you mean, they noticed the fact of the reality that, I see fact and fiction becomes blurred with you. No matter. You're tolerable. Under the right setting.

Quoting Outlander

Gladly. It's so beneath my effort I require a few sips to simply fit the role, naturally.

:rofl: yeah...

Quoting Outlander

You're tolerable.

Wish I could say the same.

Quoting hypericin

Wish I could say the same.

You don't have to wish anything. Act against your fellow man's right to expression, and, oh, let's wish you good fortune, your current existence will end, quickfully, friend.

So, that's the end of that plain and simple.

Quoting hypericin

I think there is no lack of melody in todays pop,

I'm not sure what 'today's' pop is. I may be hearing yesterday's over the PAS of stores - granted, not the best audio quality.
If there are melodies, they last about three bars max and are anyway overwhelmed by loud percussion. Experts may find great virtuosity in the arrangements, but I can't hear it.
If there are lyrics, they tend to be an endless repetition of one or two phrases that make no sense to me, by the same one or two voices overlaid several times.
I'm just too old to appreciate the musicality.
Quoting hypericin

The poor employees have to endure the literal torture of being force fed this drek 8 hours a day.

They tell me they don't hear it after a while. Every now and then, when some young, healthy, prosperous performer wails overhead about their misery, I look up and say "For heaven's sake, get over yourself and do something useful!" The other aged customers smirk under their beards; the stock-boys stare at me uncomprehending. (It's okay; until quite recently, I was wearing a parrot's beak mask. My family's reputation is safe.)

Quoting hypericin

The poor employees have to endure the literal torture of being force fed this drek 8 hours a day. It is cruel as fuck.

In the enlightened future, this type of auditory abuse may be considered like smoking and banned.

Quoting Outlander

and, oh, let's wish you good fortune, your current existence will end, quickfully, friend.

This thread is intended for people to talk about their intense annoyances. If that makes you murderously upset, please go elsewhere.

Quoting Baden

If that makes you murderously upset, please go elsewhere.

Was that some kind of inept death threat? I couldn't tell, verbal expression is not this guy's strong suit. If so, I have to wonder why he is permitted to stick around.

Quoting Outlander

Act against your fellow man's right to expression,

Nobody has! Bitching infringes on on no fellow's right to expression - it is expression.

Reply to hypericin

It's been reported. But as you pointed out, it's difficult to know what to make of that.

Quoting Baden

If that makes you murderously upset, please go elsewhere.

I don't see what warrants such a claim or comparison at all, frankly. I simply take a man for his words. "Intolerable" means "fundamentally interrupts one's existence to the point of action". That was his claim, not mine, friend. I simply remind the commenter, perhaps his frame of mind is not without benefit of expansion. Perhaps we have different definitions of the word "intolerable" is all. His is simply dramaticized and I remind him, rubber will inevitably meet the road.

I can assure you, law and order is no stranger to me. In fact, it's something of a religion of mine. Heh.

Quoting Outlander

law and order is no stranger to me. In fact, it's something of a religion of mine. Heh.

Good. You won't mind being banned if we deem you go too far then.

I just saw this as a bait thread. That is to say, could be exploited as such. "Think of things that piss you off, go on, it's allowed, in fact, it's the rule. Then to be judged in such a mindset is impervious to rationale", is all. See my reply to fdrake. Go on, I permit you to.

Reply to Outlander

I'm not trying to look inside your heart here. I'm just saying, if you know how not to sound sinister and threatening, please take that route. If not, take your chances. We haven't been able to disentangle your semi-incoherent explanations.

- People taking one aspect of another person, one impression even, and judging the whole person and their whole life based on that, and judging them to be a bad person, or a loser, or whatever.

It’s just annoyingly boring. And the comments are almost always unoriginal, stereotypical, shallow and a waste of everyone’s time.

If a guy voted for Trump, you still need to know more before you can hate them. Same for guy who voted for Biden. Sorry folks, we all need to give each other way more credit than one issue, or even 10 issues. It’s true. No two facists or communists are the same.

- And upgrades to apps that just make them more cumbersome and stupid. Fixing what ain’t broken (or its cousin, upgrades to software.). Annoys the s out of me. Just leave some shit alone for a few years once in a while.

Quoting Fire Ologist

And upgrades to apps that just make them more cumbersome and stupid. Fixing what ain’t broken (or its cousin, upgrades to software.). Annoys the s out of me. Just leave some shit alone for a few years once in a while.

YESSS!!!

Bad writing.

An example of awful fucking writing (a typical intro):

Sitting on a park bench, Alfred James Michael Desmando McGillicuddy IV watched the clouds in the cerulean sky with a forlorn mien.

——

Why does every shitty story begin this way? The form is always the same— the names and actions and adjectives change, sometimes better sometimes worse. But always the same boring form.

Example of an interesting intro:

“The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail.”

First sentence of Jaws.

Great fish. Moved silently. Night water. That’s good writing.

Fuck all this boring shit. That goes for bestselling writers too.