Your Giant Nit Pick

[Twintix]

People standing side-by-side on an escalator, instead of doing the FUCKING SENSIBLE thing and standing one behind the other, leaving a lane for us who're running a little late and need to climb the stairs instead of riding them.

May I extend on this and say that I fucking hate when more than two people walk side by side on small roads and sidewalks?

I mean, if there are only two people, it's usually fine, but if there are more, it's almost impossible to get past them. My walking pace is faster than average, so people slowing me down aggravates me to no end. And if I try to walk past them, you can bet that they're going to walk out in the same direction as me.

It is just so freaking irritating. And it's irrational and I'm sorry. I know people walk like this so that they can chat with all of their friends instead of just one friend at a time, but when I come across it, my rational thoughts shut down and I start thinking "Oh my GOD, can you fucking slowpokes FUCKING MOVE?!". And again, it's irrational and I don't believe I'm the Queen of the road, but I don't even have to be in a particular hurry, I get super irritated anyway.

 

[happyninja42]

People standing side-by-side on an escalator, instead of doing the FUCKING SENSIBLE thing and standing one behind the other, leaving a lane for us who're running a little late and need to climb the stairs instead of riding them.

May I extend on this and say that I fucking hate when more than two people walk side by side on small roads and sidewalks?

I mean, if there are only two people, it's usually fine, but if there are more, it's almost impossible to get past them. My walking pace is faster than average, so people slowing me down aggravates me to no end. And if I try to walk past them, you can bet that they're going to walk out in the same direction as me.

It is just so freaking irritating. And it's irrational and I'm sorry. I know people walk like this so that they can chat with all of their friends instead of just one friend at a time, but when I come across it, my rational thoughts shut down and I start thinking "Oh my GOD, can you fucking slowpokes FUCKING MOVE?!". And again, it's irrational and I don't believe I'm the Queen of the road, but I don't even have to be in a particular hurry, I get super irritated anyway.

Have you ever tried the following?:

"Excuse me ladies/guys/mixed gender combination/etc, thank you, just let me slip past if you don't mind, thanks, have a nice day." ? I've had wonderful success with this approach.

 

[Twintix]

People standing side-by-side on an escalator, instead of doing the FUCKING SENSIBLE thing and standing one behind the other, leaving a lane for us who're running a little late and need to climb the stairs instead of riding them.

May I extend on this and say that I fucking hate when more than two people walk side by side on small roads and sidewalks?

I mean, if there are only two people, it's usually fine, but if there are more, it's almost impossible to get past them. My walking pace is faster than average, so people slowing me down aggravates me to no end. And if I try to walk past them, you can bet that they're going to walk out in the same direction as me.

It is just so freaking irritating. And it's irrational and I'm sorry. I know people walk like this so that they can chat with all of their friends instead of just one friend at a time, but when I come across it, my rational thoughts shut down and I start thinking "Oh my GOD, can you fucking slowpokes FUCKING MOVE?!". And again, it's irrational and I don't believe I'm the Queen of the road, but I don't even have to be in a particular hurry, I get super irritated anyway.

Have you ever tried the following?:

"Excuse me ladies/guys/mixed gender combination/etc, thank you, just let me slip past if you don't mind, thanks, have a nice day." ? I've had wonderful success with this approach.

...I'm not good with people, so I find asking strangers about things (That aren't directions, since my sense of direction is shit) embarrassing and awkward.

Besides, I'm always afraid of sounding rude, and you know what they say: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I can't stand the phrase "same difference". It's dismissive and ridiculous. I know it's usually used in response to minor, nit-picky corrections in the first place, but a correction is a correction. That's not to say it's a big deal, of course, but it'd bother me a lot less if someone would just accept the correction with an "okay" before moving on, rather than dismissing it. Besides, what does the phrase even mean? Same difference as compared to what? To each other? I just don't get it.

 

[Snotnarok]

Grinding teeth.

Now, you might say "well, how often do you sleep near someone that does that?". And you'd be right to ask that, but I take care of a disabled person that does this while walking around. Said person will walk to your back, press against it and grind quite loudly. How loud? Well, across the room it's quite apparent it's happening and it's fucking horrible. I have a phobia with teeth damage and this does not sit well with me.

 

[Daveofarabia]

In the spirit of pet peeves rather than nit-picking,

Walk on the side of the path! If a six foot guy walking quickly behind you is intimidating to you, rather than turning around constantly like he's a rapist don't force him to be behind you, leave room for passing.

on that same line,

When the guy with considerably longer legs than you passes you on a path, don't give him a filthy look. Believe it or not, he's not rushing or thinking you're slow He's just learned from many years of inconsiderate people on paths that having to walk at half pace is more tiring than taking a jog and is trying to avoid leg cramps.

I think i'm done.

 

[Daveofarabia]

In the spirit of pet peeves rather than nit-picking,

Walk on the side of the path! If a six foot guy walking quickly behind you is intimidating to you, rather than turning around constantly like he's a rapist don't force him to be behind you, leave room for passing.

on that same line,

When the guy with considerably longer legs than you passes you on a path, don't give him a filthy look. Believe it or not, he's not rushing or thinking you're slow He's just learned from many years of inconsiderate people on paths that having to walk at half pace is more tiring than taking a jog and is trying to avoid leg cramps.

I think i'm done.

 

[happyninja42]

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...I'm not good with people, so I find asking strangers about things (That aren't directions, since my sense of direction is shit) embarrassing and awkward.

Besides, I'm always afraid of sounding rude, and you know what they say: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".

*shrugs* I dunno, I try to flip the situation around. If you were one of those people in the line of talkers, and someone behind you asked if they could slip past you because they were walking faster than you and your friends, would you consider it rude of them to do so? If not, then there isn't any real reason to think so for yourself. Besides, I personally think the potential for random strangers thinking you are mildly rude for asking to walk past them, is probably a better scenario than becoming a seething, boiling cauldron of repressed irrational rage over a small thing like that. xD

I can't stand the phrase "same difference". It's dismissive and ridiculous. I know it's usually used in response to minor, nit-picky corrections in the first place, but a correction is a correction. That's not to say it's a big deal, of course, but it'd bother me a lot less if someone would just accept the correction with an "okay" before moving on, rather than dismissing it. Besides, what does the phrase even mean? Same difference as compared to what? To each other? I just don't get it.

The phrase basically means that while the person is acknowledging the error, the difference is negligible. I'll give you a perfect example with a friend of mine, who is the root of my "I don't mean to be pedantic but.." peeve.

I was making a comment about something, I think it was dice probabilities with World of Darkness rules or something, I don't recall these days. I made the statement of "you've basically got a 50% chance to pull it off" And he interrupted me to say "Well, actually it's more like a 55% chance" Now, considering the fact that i said basically which implies a margin of error in the following statement, to then interrupt to correct for such a minor difference, is fairly annoying, and prompts dismissive responses of "same difference" because a 5% difference frequently is the assumed margin of error when making estimations. Now if he had said "Actually, you're math is wrong, it's more like a 75% chance" this is different, as the difference is significant enough to change my opinion on the subject. Perhaps now I don't find that game mechanic as balanced/faulty, since the figures I was using were apparently significantly in error. But if you're going to interrupt me to say "Actually it's 51% chance" or "it's a 53% chance" when I say things like "roughly" or "basically" or "about", words used to convey estimates, then you're just wasting everyone's time in the conversation. xD

Oh! That reminds me of another pet peeve of mine! When someone is talking to you, and asks you a question, but then keeps interrupting you to continue talking to you. Personally, you get 3 strikes on this. If we are talking, and you keep talking over me when I am trying to provide my own input, and you just won't shut up and let me reply in kind, then I'm done talking to you on that subject. And I will flat out say it. People will usually go "Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead, what were you going to say?" "Nope, sorry, nevermind, not going to discuss it with you. You get 3 attempts to let me speak, after that, you obviously don't want to hear what I have to say, and are just talking to hear yourself talk." This frequently makes them feel bad, which is the point. It's rude, and I don't like it. If you couch it with something like "I'm sorry for interrupting you, but I want to finish this thought." Then I'm cool, you've acknowledged the insult, and asked for permission to continue with your speech, no problem, I'll sit back and let you speak till your done with that thought, but I expect my turn to speak in kind.

 

[Belaam]

People tend to say "Scientists just contradict themselves! Yesterday eggs were bad for you, and now it says they're good for you!"

When this happens, what actually happened is usually that one scientifically legitimate study showed that eggs increase the risk of heart attack, and another, equally legitimate, study showed that eggs improve your immune system. These studies do not contradict each other at all.

Scientific ignorance at all annoys me to no end, but these kinds of things are indeed particularly vexing. Take anyone arguing against science by using scientific advancement. "Ha! Scientists changed their minds; they used to think dinosaurs were more like lizards and now they think they were more like birds. This shows that scientists don't know what they are talking about!" or "At first my doctor thought I was having problems with my appendix, but now they think it may be Crohn's Disease. That doctor is an idiot!" It's like there's some wall in their brain that keeps them from getting that figuring something out is a process and that complete understanding are somewhere between hard and impossible.

Einstein and Newton having differing views of physics does not mean that there are no laws of physics.

People who say things like "I don't mean to be rude but..." or "I don't want to criticize but..." If you don't want to say whatever that thing is, then don't say it, if you don't want to look like whatever you don't want to look like.

add in "racist", "sexist", "mean", etc.

 

[sagitel]

-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.

woah! where do you live? because i live in one of the most populated cities in the world and there is not even one tenth of just what you described going on here! and its not like i live in the quite part of the town.

OT: the thing with "should of" and "would of" has already been said. but my nitpick is loud chewing. it disgusts me to hear evey sound your mouth makes while chewing some food. control yourself dammit!

 

[Padwolf]

Clothes on the bed. I can't stand it. I can't stand clutter on the bed. Around the bed, fine, I can deal with that, but not ON the bed. Back when I was living with my parents and people came round and to my room I'd have to put a blanket on the bed for people to sit on because jeans should not be touching my pillows. If anyone dares put shoes anywhere on the bed I will end them. The bed is a place for pj's/nudeness. Not for clothes!

 

[Parasondox]

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.

woah! where do you live? because i live in one of the most populated cities in the world and there is not even one tenth of just what you described going on here! and its not like i live in the quite part of the town.

OT: the thing with "should of" and "would of" has already been said. but my nitpick is loud chewing. it disgusts me to hear evey sound your mouth makes while chewing some food. control yourself dammit!

East London. UK not South Africa. According to figures, the poorest part of London. Some days it's quiet. Some hours it's quiet but once it's rush hour, between 3pm and 6 pm, things get a bit messy. Especially with the damn horns from drivers for whatever reason.

 

[Neonsilver]

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...I'm not good with people, so I find asking strangers about things (That aren't directions, since my sense of direction is shit) embarrassing and awkward.

Besides, I'm always afraid of sounding rude, and you know what they say: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".

*shrugs* I dunno, I try to flip the situation around. If you were one of those people in the line of talkers, and someone behind you asked if they could slip past you because they were walking faster than you and your friends, would you consider it rude of them to do so? If not, then there isn't any real reason to think so for yourself. Besides, I personally think the potential for random strangers thinking you are mildly rude for asking to walk past them, is probably a better scenario than becoming a seething, boiling cauldron of repressed irrational rage over a small thing like that. xD

Since I have the same pet peeve I give my own opinion on asking.
Flip the situation around again and think about the city during a busy time of the day. It's usually not one group but many groups, so you would have to ask again and again. While it would cost them nothing to leave some room for others.
I know that they don't block the sidewalk on purpose, but it feels like they forgot that there are other people wanting to walk there.

 

[bossfight1]

I hate YouTube's playlist system right now in that it automatically goes to the next video when your current video is done, not giving you a damn choice in the matter. They replaced the Autoplay button with the Repeat playlist button; could we just have a binary autoplay on/off switch, please?

On top of that, I hate when companies - namely game companies like EA or Ubisoft - don't listen to the overall consensus held by their customers and instead go for what a handful of people think is ideal, or, more likely, make practices that lead to more profit. For example, the ISPs worked hard, and are STILL working hard, to cripple net neutrality because without it they stand to make a shit-ton more money, and they ignore the legions of people yelling at them to stop being such money-grubbing tools. As such, the people making these decisions are gonna be remembered as those who sought to neuter the internet just to line their pockets. When you're making decisions that will effect your customers in a major way, simply test the waters first, get a feel for what the customers WANT; isn't this what your PR/Marketing guys are for?

There's nothing wrong with making money, but would you want to remembered as a sensible businessman who sought satisfaction for both parties, or a swindler and an asshole?

 

[Someone Depressing]

Feet. Put your fucking feet away. Put some socks on. You disgust me and you are disgusting. I hate you and nobody has and never will love you. Or your feet. Ugh, do you ever wash? Or clip your toenails? Your mother must be ashamed of you.

What do you mean, how did I get into your house? That's besides the point.

Also really extreme religious people. I get wanting to serve whatever or whoever you feel you are indebted to, which is more or less why religion exists, but when it becomes forced on other people in the form of bigotry, I get pissed off.

 

[Johnny Impact]

1. I also hate the sound of chewing food. My mother in particular has mastered the trifecta: inveterate lip-smacking combined with foods that crunch or require lots of chewing and a tendency to talk while she eats. "So I said to your Aunt Martha that she ......" and onwards in similar fashion. Makes me want to kill her.

2. Professional written works with excessive typos. One or two is understandable. We're only human. More than a half dozen puts it in "you didn't even try" country. I broke down and bought the Shadowrun 5 rulebook at PAX. Holy Christ, there's an error on every page! Words duplicated and/or misplaced, wrong cases, wrong verb tenses, etc. I don't remember seeing any misspelled words, so it's obvious they ran it through spell check, but it's equally obvious nobody did any proofreading. I mean, at all. None. Zero. Catalyst, for your own good, stop being lazy/rushed/incompetent/whatever and proofread your goddamn products. Hell, I'll do it for you! Just don't take money for works published in this condition. I was more accurate than you in the seventh grade and nobody ever paid me a dime.

 

[Recusant]

One thing you seem to be forgetting is that language changes over time. Sure, the root word of 'trailer' means something that comes after, but it has become a commonplace term synonymous with preview, at least when referring to media.

As much as we might hate it (and believe me, I am a grammar and language nit picker myself), the fact is that the connotation of words and terms expand and contract. If 'literally' can literally mean 'figuratively', then we have to accept that the evolution of language will eventually leave us behind.

But "literally" doesn't mean "figuratively". It means "literally". Language is a flowing thing, yes; but the fact that it's fluid doesn't mean it's meaningless. That there is no single Grand Poobah of the English Language doesn't change the fact that these words are being misused; claiming that "trailer" is an acceptable substitute for "preview" is like claiming that "soap" is an acceptable substitute for "pizza". If we don't adhere to any standards, we don't have a language; just a bunch of nonsensical jabbering.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Grammar Nazis - I specifically don't like those that constantly correct one or two common mistakes in a post, without anything else in their own post. It is simply a wast of space and our time when one has to correct everything, one post at a time, and cause the viewer to have to scroll twice as often to see the real discussion. (One Wii U site I visit has a couple like that.) I'm glad the Escapist has a low content rule. It is understandable if someone politely corrects a single person's glaring, repeated mistake, though.

Cheap CD/DVD case spindle clasps - The locking things that hold the disc. I've dealt with some poor designs that would not let got of the disc and made my think I'd break the disc of the lock. Just today I finally did break one of my Venture Bros cases because the design didn't match the flexibility of the material (acrylic, I think). I was pressing the thing that said "Push," yet the disc just wouldn't come out. The thin, light plastic (ABS?) cases seem more reliable.

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.

On my way home from Chicago one time, I was on a ritzy rural two lane road and came up behind a cyclist (as far right as he could be) I had to slow down for and pass when the other lane was clear. Seconds later, along that same road, signs displaying "No Bike path on [that road]" all on massive, open properties that could give up some land for a path. (The fences where twice as far back as where a path could go.) I'd bet it's the same rich people who won't donate a tiny unused side of their land that were on my ass while I patiently waited to pass the guy.[footnote]Hey, that's another nit pick: Rich, entitled fuckers who keep everything to themselves when they know they don't not need it and their kindness(at least of not fighting reasonable eminent domain) could benefit the community.[/footnote] And, the sad news is they might win whatever political argument is holding up a path, since the politicians are of course in their pockets. On my road, we have a bike path. Every home lost maybe 10 square meters of land[footnote]Most of which was nearly useless, as it was right next to the busy road, in some good sized front yards, or in the back yard for some people, behind trees.[/footnote] on the edge of the property and I don't think anyone complained. (Hell, it saves a little lawnmowing time and gas.)

I hate YouTube's playlist system right now in that it automatically goes to the next video when your current video is done, not giving you a damn choice in the matter. They replaced the Autoplay button with the Repeat playlist button; could we just have a binary autoplay on/off switch, please?

Yeah, miss the control they took away. And for a while, they couldn't even decide where to place the forward and backward buttons. I liked being able to turn off the auto play, because I might be about to fall asleep and really enjoy slipping into dreamland while rewatching a video with four guys making lewd jokes over gameplay footage. Also, I like to read (translation: skim through to find rare bits of intelligence) the comments and no autoplay control means I have to time myself to pause the video or go back to it after it jumps ahead.

(More nitpicking: sites and programs that change layouts and labels for no good reason, other than the designers' job security)

 

[wetfart]

People, while discussing video games, that say they are going to roll up a character/class. No, you're not. You want to roll up a fighter? Fine. 3d6, in order. Now let me go get my monster manual....