Your Giant Nit Pick

[Barbas]

People reducing the value of words like "sorry" to a meaningless and utterly disposable level.

 

[visiblenoise]

People nitpicking about grammar. =D

Grammar actually.
As far as I'm concerned, the phrase "Try and do X" is grammatically incorrect. You cannot try and do well. What does trying look like without a verb attached to it? Have you ever just tried. Tried nothing, but tried all the same?

No. That's not a phrase.
The correct phrase is "Try to do well." That makes sense. It gives try a direction, as it kinda' requires one to make sense. Simply trying and then doing well is a dumb phrase.

Whenever I hear someone say "Oh, I'll try and be there soon." I just sigh...

I usually hear "try and do X" in slightly sarcastic situations, and usually it's to (1) insinuate that the person isn't trying at all, in which case it makes sense to tell them to "try", and then (2) instruct them on what to do. So maybe it isn't 100% textbook grammar, but it is not an error at all.

One of my longstanding big ones is people misusing words in an attempt to sound more intelligent. The traditional offender here is "concept", said when people mean "idea", but don't want to use a word so commonplace ("conception" is the joining of male and female gametes; while an idea is an idea, a concept is a zygote), but of late it's been given a run for its money by abuse of the word "trailer", here used to refer to a movie, tv, etc. preview. Follow me closely here: a trailer trails something- that is, it comes after. Not before. After, like with the trailers attached to semis out on the highway. A preview, by contrast, comes before- you see it before you've have seen the thing it's a segment of; you have pre-viewed a piece of it. If you head to the movies (in the US, at least), before each preview, you'll see a little screen saying (emphasis mine) "the following preview has been approved for general audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America". If the MPAA can grasp it, it's not a complicated idea.

Think of it as "following/trailing" the moving train that is the plot of the movie, such that you only see unfocused bits of it. And I don't know what you're going on about with 'concept', which is the summation of several smaller ideas.

My main reason for arguing against your guys' arguing is that if everybody followed grammar textbooks and dictionaries to a tee, our language would be boring as shit. I do have standards though, like strictly using 'literally' in its original meaning.

 

[Fox12]

My other biggest peive is when people say "you can't have your cake and eat it too." Why not? It's my cake, I have it, why can't I eat it? Is it so wrong to eat the cake that I have, that is mine? It's the other way around. You can't eat your cake and have it too. Whatever, I'll let harlan explain it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUYYfGkc5PQ

It makes no difference it's a simple concept: Having eaten your cake you no longer have it so why have it if you're not going to eat it? You can't unless you're saying cakes have some other magical purpose other than eating?

Maybe you could turn it into some kind of modern art exhibit.

Sure, but simply turning the phrase around makes more sense. You can't eat you cake and have it too, because you just ate it. It's gone.

But when people say "you can't have your cake and eat it too" it messes up the order, and makes it less clear.

I will knife fight anyone who disagrees with me on this

 

[rasta111]

I will knife fight anyone who disagrees with me on this

I actually agree with you on this, it's like someone is just straight saying you can't eat the cake you just baked. My point was mere semantics, it makes no actual difference how you say it as long as you're conveying the same idea but it can work on different levels. I used to feel the same way as it can be a little confusing... But as long as it's understood eventually that's what really matters in the end.

 

[Just Ebola]

When people pretend to be interested in something you're interested in just to seem more interesting. And when you try to talk about it, it becomes clear that they actually don't know anything about whatever the thing is. It's just insincere and awkward.

Also when people say 'could of' or 'should of' it drives me insane. The proper form being could've or should've.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm pretty laid-back, go-with-the-flow and am not bothered by any personality quirks or small personal foibles.

...Until you touch my toothbrush.

THEN I WILL CUT YOU.

 

[happyninja42]

When people pretend to be interested in something you're interested in just to seem more interesting. And when you try to talk about it, it becomes clear that they actually don't know anything about whatever the thing is. It's just insincere and awkward.

Or maybe they were showing interest because they know nothing about it and wanted to talk to you about it? I do that all the time. I strike up a conversation with someone, and ask them a general question like "So what hobbies do you have?" or "I see you are knitting, how long have you been knitting? Do you do it as a business or just for fun?" Yeah, I don't know shit about any of these subjects, but that doesn't mean I don't have interest in them, or can at least appreciate your personal interest in them, and enjoy a conversation about the subject. Knowing something about the subject, is not a prerequisite for being interested in a conversation about it.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

I'm kind of surprised at the expectation people'll only have one. This world is chock full of aggravating nonsense; that most people tolerate with (at most) a grumble and a sneer doesn't make it any less aggravating.

One of my longstanding big ones is people misusing words in an attempt to sound more intelligent. The traditional offender here is "concept", said when people mean "idea", but don't want to use a word so commonplace ("conception" is the joining of male and female gametes; while an idea is an idea, a concept is a zygote), but of late it's been given a run for its money by abuse of the word "trailer", here used to refer to a movie, tv, etc. preview. Follow me closely here: a trailer trails something- that is, it comes after. Not before. After, like with the trailers attached to semis out on the highway. A preview, by contrast, comes before- you see it before you've have seen the thing it's a segment of; you have pre-viewed a piece of it. If you head to the movies (in the US, at least), before each preview, you'll see a little screen saying (emphasis mine) "the following preview has been approved for general audiences by the Motion Picture Association of America". If the MPAA can grasp it, it's not a complicated idea.

Sometimes an idea can be a concept, though. If the idea was conceived out of a joining of ideas, particulary from two distinct sources, then it can be fitting, even effective to describe the idea along the lines of "...the concept was born out of a conversation I was having with my dad..."

 

[Just Ebola]

When people pretend to be interested in something you're interested in just to seem more interesting. And when you try to talk about it, it becomes clear that they actually don't know anything about whatever the thing is. It's just insincere and awkward.

Or maybe they were showing interest because they know nothing about it and wanted to talk to you about it? I do that all the time. I strike up a conversation with someone, and ask them a general question like "So what hobbies do you have?" or "I see you are knitting, how long have you been knitting? Do you do it as a business or just for fun?" Yeah, I don't know shit about any of these subjects, but that doesn't mean I don't have interest in them, or can at least appreciate your personal interest in them, and enjoy a conversation about the subject. Knowing something about the subject, is not a prerequisite for being interested in a conversation about it.

Keep in mind I said 'pretend'. As in they actually don't care about the subject or know anything about it. Of course I would never judge someone just because they don't know as much about something as me, that's not what I'm talking about. I just bugs me when people tailor their hobbies and interests in an attempt to seem more interesting, and I see that happen a lot.

I'm of the opinion that you can't be interested in something when you have no idea what it's about, so when somebody tells me that they share a hobby of mine but can't tell me the first thing about it, I find it pretty annoying.

Edit: I feel like I did a poor job of explaining.

It's kind of like the difference between somebody approaching you and saying "You like (X)? I've always been curious about (X), tell me a bit about it." Or someone approaching you and saying "I hear you're into (X). I'm all about (X), I've been into it since before liking (X) was cool."

The last one, that's the annoying one.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I hate to sound like an old fart, but I've got a bunch of them.

-Cell phones ringing in meetings or other formal settings. This one bugs the crap out of me because my phone is ALWAYS on vibrate (except when I put it next to me when I'm sleeping), so why people always have their phone's ringers on (and seemingly always set to the loudest setting) just bugs the hell out of me.

-As someone already mentioned, when people stand side-by-side on escalators or moving sidewalks, so people can't get by. If I'm not in a rush, I'll usually just stand and not let it bug me, but when I've got to move it drives me nuts.

-People blaring music out of their cars. Does music sound better when you play it so loud in your car you can hear it from the next county? Or are all of those people legally deaf and I'm just a terrible person?

-Noise cancelling headphones. Yes I know this one doesn't affect me in the slightest, but for some reason it gets to me seeing people walking around in public with noise-cancelling headphones on. Is it seriously that terrible to listen to the world around you?

 

[Shraggler]

Also when people say 'could of' or 'should of' it drives me insane. The proper form being could've or should've.

This example of the subset of grammatical errors probably irks me the most: the ignorance of homophones. English is replete [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_dialect-independent_homophones] with them [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_dialect-dependent_homophones], yet people (people who've claimed to have read books, mind) consistently misuse words. It always makes me double-take or pause whenever I see something written that is completely incorrect. It's also annoying seeing this in text messages, knowing the sender has a smartphone with a full keyboard, auto-correct and the works, yet still manages to misspell or misuse a word or words. Every time I've misspelled a word for a cheap chuckle, I've had to deliberately choose my own spelling, typically after it has been automatically corrected. This tells me that some people must think they're correct when spelling certain words, think auto-correct is wrong, and have reverted to their spelling of a word out of ignorance or stupidity.

I'm not claiming to be infallible, I make mistakes all of the time. I have words that still make me hesitate because they were ingrained incorrectly so long ago.

But just basic things like contractions and homophones... come on, this is grade school shit.

Ok, I'm going on a tangent and a down very angry rabbit hole. Breathe. Aw fuck, that's another one - people who use 'breath' to mean 'breathe' (i.e. using the noun in place of the verb).

Yes, it's a nitpick.

 

[Parasondox]

-Noise cancelling headphones. Yes I know this one doesn't affect me in the slightest, but for some reason it gets to me seeing people walking around in public with noise-cancelling headphones on. Is it seriously that terrible to listen to the world around you?

If you live in the city and have to hear drunk people arguing, kids to and from school screaming their heads off on the bus, some couple arguing over who's the least loyal in their relationship, sirens every 10 bloody minutes, helicopters over head every hour, babies screaming cause they parents are on the phone ignoring them, people on phones who invites everyone to their conversation because they have to speak so damn loud and get offended when someone tells them to lower their speaking voice cause it's also the quiet part of the train, yeah I damn well would have my noise cancelling headphones on.

However, in the countryside or near the river, I let my ears experience nature. I need to go back to Wales more often.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Bicycles on the road. They piss me off like nothing else. You can't afford a car, and need a form of cheap transportation? That's fine, I understand. But when I see this moron:

Spoiler

clogging traffic, and forcing cars to go around him? Yeah, fuck that guy.Q

Blame the people who don't design roads to accommodate bicycles, my friend. Over here there's more than plenty of bicycle paths, and even in the rare case that there isn't, people will show the proper etiquette and drive as close to the side of the road as possible. Unless ofcourse it's high schoolers who'll ride side-by-side in numbers of three or even four.

Professional cyclists on the other hand can often be dicks who generally show a complete disregard for other motorists and casual cyclists.

 

[EHKOS]

Honestly, it's starting to get to internet fads. That and any time someone tries to talk to me about something they saw on the news. I go the Escapist for a bloody reason.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

People who center their whole being about disproving or removing the greatest gifts humankind ever had: Choice, Perspective and Different Viewpoints.

Lately, it seems the greatest offenders of this nowadays are the Agenda Theists and Atheist. The ones that have to name themselves to show they are against something. It's all needlessly antagonistic. We're all dust soon. Even if there's an afterlife or no, pretty soon our collective consciousness will end. If it gives someone peace to believe in something (science is something. It's not a religion, but it's a noun, so it's a thing), let people do that.

I don't care if you're Atheist. I don't care if you're Theist. It is a short, short ride we have. Why waste the time at odds when we can just say 'Hey, we're different', and move on?

Nothing we do even really matters. Humanity will end. Even our greatest ideas will be lost to time. So why not just enjoy our moment of consciousness for the little time we have instead of wasting it arguing with one another?

-Noise cancelling headphones. Yes I know this one doesn't affect me in the slightest, but for some reason it gets to me seeing people walking around in public with noise-cancelling headphones on. Is it seriously that terrible to listen to the world around you?

Actually, yes. Yes it is.

I suffer outside. I'm terribly shy, even though I was paid for a long time not to be. I don't really know how to deal with other people, nor am I completely inclined to learn. Being outside without some type of sanity measure (i.e. music that makes me happy) will leave me feeling uncomfortable.

Yet, I live in a society and I have to go out. So I do what I must.

 

[Fox12]

Bicycles on the road. They piss me off like nothing else. You can't afford a car, and need a form of cheap transportation? That's fine, I understand. But when I see this moron:

Spoiler

clogging traffic, and forcing cars to go around him? Yeah, fuck that guy.Q

Blame the people who don't design roads to accommodate bicycles, my friend. Over here there's more than plenty of bicycle paths, and even in the rare case that there isn't, people will show the proper etiquette and drive as close to the side of the road as possible. Unless ofcourse it's high schoolers who'll ride side-by-side in numbers of three or even four.

Professional cyclists on the other hand can often be dicks who generally show a complete disregard for other motorists and casual cyclists.

I'm fine with people who are polite, obey the road laws, and who use common sense. Some people can't afford a vehicle, and need a bike for work. Others simply enjoy a ride. I'm fine with those people. My issue is with a specific subset of bikers.

You know the ones.

In full yellow biker apparel, wearing aerodynamic helmets like their about to do the tour-de-france. In my experience their unsafe, and expect everyone to accommodate them without actually obeying any of the laws. There was one guy who kept riding his bike, for fun, in the middle of the night without any safety gear or flashers, and I nearly hit him. Those people drive me nuts. Normal bikers are fine.

But that's just my pet peeve.

 

[FPLOON]

For me, thinking/seeing vastly different foods touching each other... Why is all your moist food touching all your dry food? Why is the melted cheese touching your tomatoes?? Why are your scrambled eggs mixed with the friend chicken???

Other than that, my past self has some other [smaller] nitpicks to bring up, I guess:

1. Multiplayer Trophies - Let me break this one down with three reasons why this in one of my pet peeves... #3) These types of trophies are the least likely to last as long as you want them to, compared to single player trophies... (In other words, "get then while they're hot"!) #2) If you don't have the "skillz" to pull them off, I'm sure persuading one of your friend to help you get them by any means necessary... and #1) They are required to get in order to get that 100% achievements... (Fuck you game for thinking I was going to roll with that, especially when the multiplayer is either shoe-horned in and/or the trophies themselves could have been in their own damn section!)

2. Lack of Enjoyment - Subjective as it is, if I'm not having fun... It's not always me who has "the problem"...

3. Inexcusable Criticism - I get how you don't like a particular genre or a particular style of gameplay... That does not mean it objectively "sucks"... (Also, you better have a good reason for your opinion of a game you haven't even played, yet you're already have your "suck pistols" at the ready...)

Those last two seem to switch, given both the circumstances and/or my subjective mood that day... However, #1 will always be #1 until I grow old and complain about the next next generation's technology or something like that... (I WILL have a cane, dammit! ...And I will NOT be afraid to smack some sense into that particular generation, by gummit...)

"The show's still good even without the [original] creator(s) on board..."

I don't know why that statement peeves me to no end... But, it kinda does whenever someone start comparing seasons to a particular show, where the earlier season had the creator on board and the later season does not...

Also, fans claiming that one show is just copying another show that came before it... It peeves me even more when they start taking both shows apart piece by piece just to show how much they are "alike" or how one show truly is "copying" the other...

And, yes... The results to my overall peeveness to either situations varies from show to show, topic to topic... It's never THAT consistent...

Huh... 2014, am I right?

 

[HardkorSB]

People who walk one way and look the other, constantly walking into people.
I used to react politely to it in the past but now when I see one of them walking straight at me, I just stick out my elbow at the height of their head and keep walking.
I do the same when people are looking down at their phones while walking.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

-Noise cancelling headphones. Yes I know this one doesn't affect me in the slightest, but for some reason it gets to me seeing people walking around in public with noise-cancelling headphones on. Is it seriously that terrible to listen to the world around you?

If you live in the city and have to hear drunk people arguing, kids to and from school screaming their heads off on the bus, some couple arguing over who's the least loyal in their relationship, sirens every 10 bloody minutes, helicopters over head every hour, babies screaming cause they parents are on the phone ignoring them, people on phones who invites everyone to their conversation because they have to speak so damn loud and get offended when someone tells them to lower their speaking voice cause it's also the quiet part of the train, yeah I damn well would have my noise cancelling headphones on.

However, in the countryside or near the river, I let my ears experience nature. I need to go back to Wales more often.

Actually, yes. Yes it is.

I suffer outside. I'm terribly shy, even though I was paid for a long time not to be. I don't really know how to deal with other people, nor am I completely inclined to learn. Being outside without some type of sanity measure (i.e. music that makes me happy) will leave me feeling uncomfortable.

Yet, I live in a society and I have to go out. So I do what I must.

Ok, now I'm starting to understand why I don't like them (and I do live in a major city, btw): they have this sort of misanthropic quality to them. It sort of seems like "everyone annoys me, I don't want to listen to anyone, I don't want anyone to talk to me, so I'm going to put these on and shut myself off from the world".

Which, if that's what you want to do, cool beans, it doesn't affect me, I guess I'm just old fashioned and I sort of miss conversations with random people, which is difficult nowadays when the first thing a lot of people do when they step outside is throw on headphones.

 

[viscomica]

One of the things that bug me on a regular basis are drivers that can clearly see you're crossing the road and they f-ing speed just to make you move faster. Not cool.
Another thing that bugs me are bus drivers that can tell you're running and drive off anyway.
Also people who talk way too loud. I'm not interested in your conversations so STOP shouting when talking on the phone.
Thank you.