Things That Annoy Me, But Shouldn't

People who feel the need to proselytize.

Look, I understand when someone is insecure with their beliefs

This is a familiar tune.

I get on my own nerves constantly

 

Colorful index cards. Yes, I know why they come in an array of colors - but I don't like to use them for studying (which I do if I don't have regular cards). Erasing an error off of one makes the card look oddly discolored, leaving me with that slight annoyance that grows greater every time my eyes glance over it.

It shouldn't annoy me since I didn't buy the damn things, so maybe I should stop being so petty and shut the hell up.

But it still annoys me.

 

Here's something else I find a bit annoying, and I don't mean to offend anybody in particular: a person, who is a native English speaker, complaining about the lack of skills of another person's English-as-a-second-language skills, and in their complaining make several (or more) spelling or grammar mistakes because, apparently, their own English skills are not much better than those of the person they are complaining about. (I TEFL in Colombia, and I come across this situation often.)

 

You can deny me access to your content because I use an ad blocker, but I've never clicked on an internet ad and never, ever, will. Might be to your advantage to let me see what you've got. I may want to link to some of it, and some of the people who follow my link might enjoy your ads.

 

The word "burglarize".

 

'Normalcy.'

...

+ELT/TEFL - in the sense of the original thread title...the intellectualisation/scientificaling/academification/profomiapathic nature of a [coreless] business pastime pursued in generations passed by an 18 year old + ruck-sack [with prejudice] ...and specifically the heavyweight literature of the business - blend of psychology/philosophy/pop texts...

@MatCelta

things-that-annoy-me-but-shouldnt

...same goes for 'doctors.'

 

EFL uni professor-ish here, and I hear you. Some meme or other I saw that said unless you speak more than two languages fluently you've got no business making fun of someone's foreign accent.

 

Only if you are reading poorly written fiction, and then change the accent to
one that is not of the character's nationality, because one must find ways to
entertain the self when reading such terrible written crap.

(But as for people IRL, I agree. Sometimes I wonder what language I speak,
and it is somewhere between English, and Gibberish.)

 

Happens to me all the time when I speak French.

 

I had a boss once, when I was working for a place that catered to educating adult learners from foreign countries, who had a hard time with accents. A student from an African country who was brand new to America having only arrived the day before the incident, could not really say what she needed help with. Through Google translate on her phone and through a classmate who acted as her interpreter, she tried to ask us for help, but he (my boss) refused to listen to her OR her interpreter and turned her away in tears. I ran out to help her and calmed her down and figured out what she wanted and helped her. but my boss says if she needs help, she better learn English because she is here in America, then he went on a rant about it being stupid to even accept students who couldnt even speak "proper" English.

....last I heard about him, a former coworker told me he was placed on administrative leave for raging on another student.

 

That's honestly reprehensible.

But there are a lot of people who simply have a problem with people from other cultures. If they've not travelled or been exposed to other cultures, they have a very narrow, centered point of view. Which is why I think everyone should travel outside one's own continent at least once, preferably while they're still young enough to appreciate it.

I was once standing at a local airport in the UK, in a newsagents when a couple of the cleaning ladies came in to buy a sandwich. They looked at the selection and one of them said, "I don't want any of this foreign rubbish, I just want some normal food."

Apparently cajun chicken was too foreign for her.

 

Agreed.
Sadly, I've only ever experienced Canada and Italy. I've been to Germany when I was 8, but I only remember balloon animals at the mall, lol! I dont count Germany as a cultural experience.
The students at the school I worked at, they were amazing. The Muslim Student Organization invited me and other staff members to a religious observance and there were Muslim students from Africa, India, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and they all brought food from their culture and shared how they observe this religious holiday in their own country. Then I was invited to an Indian holiday celebration organized by a few students from India and staff members from India (I tried Indian food for the first time, and it was amazing!).

Even if you cant travel, meeting people of different backgrounds and cultures is just as good

 

I don't know if this is true or not, but simply based on my own observations: people in the USofA travel less compared to people in other developed countries. I think that is a leading factor for the bad reputation that gringos have throughout the world. As Naomasa says, people need to get out and travel someplace far from home. You'll learn far more in the experience than you will ever learn by simply studying about the country in a class. I have been to five countries which run the gamut from rich Canada to poor Ghana. The others were Thailand and Mexico and I now live in Colombia. Traveling opens ones mind to a whole new world that you can't get from books.

 

We've gotten off-topic, so now back on topic - another thing that annoys me - noisy neighbors who don't know when to quiet down for the night.

 

Many people in the US travelled tons. What most people forget is that America is fairly large. California to New York is a larger distance than crossing Europe in its entirety. And no, we are not the same. I've lived around the country, on every side, and the people are vastly different acting. Different values and attitudes, sometimes dialects.

Going to other countries of course is a huge culture change sometimes, and other times it's basically the same. Travel is necessary to gain a more worldly view, but don't just think because they haven't left America means they haven't travelled. We have a lot of ground to cover.

I've been to, I think, eleven different countries. There's more similarities to people than I really thought there would be. Now going to another new country isn't as exotic as it was before for me, but it's still fun. The one thing most places have on America is history. We simply haven't been around that long.

 

Vitamin pill bottles that say "Take four tablets daily..." because they just want you to finish the damn thing and buy another asap. One suggested the user take eight a day for maximum effect. Really now? Money hungry sons of....

Shouldn't annoy me though. I can take as little as I please.

 

That idea rates high on my personal nightmare list.

Docs have decided a laminectomy will be required so it's full-on surgery/device now. Probably in January. Here's hoping!

 

Yeow!

 

.

 

I'd like to dispute this.

 

Toasters. I have a phobia.
People using the word decadent to refer to foods. I once watched in disbelief as a celebrity chef began referring to chocolate brownies in a manner so vile I didn't even want to eat chocolate for a week. Don't remember who she is, simply dubbed the Porno Brownie lady.
Any Rachel Rayism like "Yummo"

-SIN

 

Members, usually new ones, who come to a forum like this one, ask a question, then proceed to instruct would-be responders exactly how or how not to answer it.

 

That The Beautiful South’s version of Harry Nilsson’s Everybody’s Talking changed the lyric in the line ‘... skipping over the ocean like a stone’ to ‘... tripping over the ocean like a stone.’

How does a stone trip over the ocean?

 

filling out a form..... just to fill out a form..... that pulls up another form