Pet Peeve 1

[tsdragon]

What is your current pet peeve vis-a-vis language and usage?

Mine is the relatively new habit of people trying to sound more educated that they obviously are by using the word "myself" a lot. Unfortunately they rarely use it correctly. They usually use it when they mean "me" or "I". For example: "My wife and myself went to Europe this winter," or "The company gave my coworkers and myself a raise."

It just drives me nuts!

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[SQLSister]

MR3Putt, the word liaison always cracks me up due to a truly embarrasing moment I had when I was 24 years old. I was collecting data for a manpower study, interviewing a senior manager. We had a standard set of management tasks that we had to collect information on (How many times you performed a task and how long it took on average to perform it once) and one of them was "Perform liaison." So I asked this very senior manager how many liasions he performed a week. He looked at me funny, I realized that particular word also has a sexual connotation and turned bright red, red enough to match my hair. I was always very careful how I phrased that question after that.

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[columb]

Many of these pet peves make me literally explode with anger.

Columb Healy

 

[flapeyre]

Tracy:

Yep, been there, done that, got the T-shirt. We never had kids, but if we had, I'd never, ever, give any of them an ambiguous name like Robin or Sandy. And, needless to say, there never would have been a Francis, Jr.

It's getting so that I can tell which mailing list I'm on by how they butcher my name. I've even had mail addressed to "Fancis", believe it or not.

While we're on the subject of mail, another pet peeve comes to mind: those companies/organizations that never purge their mailing lists, and never put ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED on the envelope so that they will be informed of the new address (I know it costs them money every time the USPS does that, but there are people - myself included - who will never do business with an organization that's that sloppy with customer information).

I've had a post office box for nearly four years now, and I still get mail addressed to the previous boxholder (mostly junk mail).

Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!

 

[hilfy]

Tracy and Francis,

I frequently have the same problem in the opposite direction as my name is Dell. It was rather amusing when I was still married because my ex-husband's name is Kimberly. We would run into situations all the time where people would think I was him and he was me based on our names.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do. --Me

 

[jennuhw]

One of my biggest pet peeves has to deal with my name, also. My first name is Jennifer. A lot of people that I don't know will call me Jenny. I am not a 10 year old girl, so I don't feel being called Jenny is appropriate! I especially hated it after Forrest Gump came out.
A telemarketer called me Jenny once and said that she talked to me the week before. I was absolutely positive that I didn't because I remember everyone who calls me that!!

 

[SQLSister]

Francis, my favorite was the time my name got butchered in someone's mailing list to the last half of my first name and the first half of my last name. It was quite a shock to get mail addresed to Dith Moffi. Took me a minute to decipher it.

And the never purge thing is annoying, we get (at least once a week) credit card offers for my boyfriend's ex-wife (let's ee 19801 was when she last lived here) and all sorts of new stuff ordered in the name of my boyfriend's sister who has been dead for two years. Yeah, I'm sure she really wanted a subscription to a car repair magazine a year and a half after her death.

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[RCorrigan]

**** Slightly Off Topic ****
In the UK there is an organisation called the "Mail Preference Society" that you can register with to stop junk mail ... there is also one for "cold-calling" (Telephone related)
There are consequences for companies that continue to bomard you after you are registered , rather than it being an empty threat.

<Do I need A Signature or will an X do?>

 

[Stella740pl]

tsdragon,

...mail all the time from lesbian groups who assumed that Tracy and Judy Dryden just had to be a lesbian couple.

In many cases, I don't think anyone assumes anything at all, just cold-calling, cold-mailing, or cold-spamming. I don't think my name could mislead anyone, and I get tons of spam for "male enhancement", and other similar junk. After ordering some stuff for men, online or over the phone, usually gifts for my husband, father, brother, or other relatives, I started to get mail addressed Mr.Stella Lastname.

 

[PreacherUK]

Not sure if this counts but...

My pet peeve is people crediting themselves as the originator of a quote (particularly in signatures) that they did not originate. Because lets face it, its rather obvious you did not in fact originate that quote, you have, if at all, simply changed a few words of an established and recognised quote.

We should all be honest here, most of the truly profound things to say in the world have been said

 

[Dimandja]

>people crediting themselves as the originator of a quote

Yessir! The best way to stop this is to vociferously point it out whenever you suspect it. It'll keep the rest of us honest.

__________________________________________
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[tsdragon]

I'm guilty of that last (not giving credit for a quote) in my signature. The original is from Lord of the Rings: "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for they are cunning and quick to anger" (or something like that). I don't remember where I read the paraphrase I use. It was many years ago, and actually said "ketchup" (or catsup of you prefer). I don't care for ketchup (no matter how you spell it) so I changed it to "mustard" and have been using it for years. There's another variation: "Meddle not in the affairs of cats, for they are cunning and will pee on your keyboard."

Francis: Guess I'm guilty of perpetuating the name problem. We named out daughter Kerry (and yes, we spelled it that way on purpose). I don't know if she gets much confusion or not, but when she was young people did ask us if it was spelled "Carrie".



Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[Mr3Putt]

columb:

Many of these pet peves make me literally explode with anger.

I love that. LOL.

My wife and I have an inside joke (actually, we have rather a lot of them) referencing something on NPR's Morning Edition several years ago.

In an interview, Senator Blowhard (name changed to protect my poor memory) had a very low opinion of some committee or other. He was on a tirade, berating the committee members for egregious delays. In fact, "they are literally dithering and dathering in there", he said.

Mrs3Putt and I began to hoot immediately. To this day, should someone make a claim stating an absolute (read: literal) and unimpeachable fact that seems particularly stupid... one of us will just say "LITerally" and we'll get a quick smile between us.

I literally L'dMAO. Or not.

 

[hilfy]

Tracy,

Actually, the first time I saw it on a button (at a science fiction convention...) it was "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good dipped in chocolate."

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[strongm]

> My first name is Jennifer ... I am not a 10 year old girl, so I don't feel being called Jenny is appropriate

My wife's name is Jennifer. She hates to be called that, though, preferring Jenny and Jen (she argues that if she is being called Jennifer it must mean she is in trouble...)

 

[sleipnir214]

A telemarketer called me Jenny once

My father, I and my son are all "James R"s, but we all have different middle names. My father goes by James (and variants), my son and I by our middle names.

Back before the U.S. Federal "Do No Call" list, a telemarketer would occasionally call the house looking for "Jim". Those presumptions of first-name-basis communication and use of a nickname were my cue to start playing the "Who's Your Boss" game.


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[IanAble]

I agree with most of the pet peeves already posted, but I loathe the "so many grammes of carbs in american/imperial measurement" e.g 5g in 16oz. Life's confusing enough without that sort of mix and match!

 

[jennuhw]

I prefer to go by Jen. I agree with your wife that the only time I get called Jennifer is if I am in trouble!

 

[tsdragon]

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good dipped in chocolate.

Whoever wrote THAT version needs to be in this forum. It doesn't read well at all. The last phrase is very stilted, doesn't flow, and totally messes up the meter of the thing.

It may not be poetry, but properly phrased it does have a poetic quality to it.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[hotfusion]

Turbo"
"Quantum leap"

The meaning of these two seems to be at serious risk of being utterly lost now.

The word 'turbo' seems now to used to indicate an enhanced feature of just about anything; For example, I recently saw a portable CD player which bosted 'Turbo Bass', whatever that may be....

'Quantum leap' is a phrase with a meaning which also seems to have changed due to ignorance. I'm no expert in quantum physics, but I had always understood the whole idea of a quantum jump/leap was that it represented the smallest change of state possible. Now, it seems, it gets used to suggest an enormous leap forward....

And their incorrect use by laymen really gets up my nose!

Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/index.htm

 

[ToniL]

I get disgusted when people over enunciate words in an effort to sound more intelligent than they are. Also, I hate when people read like they're... well... reading.... Y'know, that kinda monotone, robotic drone... Reading aloud should sound more like a conversation than a chore...

Peace,
Toni L.