Things that inexplicably annoy me...

We're almost at the point where you can phone your car and have it automatically, driverlessly, pick you up. You won't have to look for it. For that matter, it could drop you off at a convenient place and go park itself. We're nearly there, people!

 

^ Yeah, probably well after I'm dead.

What irks me is when people don't capitalize proper nouns. It's usually for nationalities, so I see 'america', 'britain', 'italian' and it makes me wonder if they ever passed basic grammar class. I get it if English isn't their first language and they're excused. But if English is your first language, then you goddamned better show that you've passed basic grammar lessons for toddlers if you ever hope to be taken seriously.

 

Oh - you have me started now, this reminds me of one of my biggest pet peeves. People over pronouncing Italian words for no reason. It's not 'Spaghetti' to these people, it's 'Spagheeeetttttttii!' Stop it! It doesn't make you sophisticated, it makes you look like an idiot.

Or when people correct your pronunciation when you are right. I pronounce 'Wagner' 'Vhag-ner' then people will go 'Whag-ner'. No, it's a german name, it's 'Vhag-ner'. People also do this when I pronounce Caesar as 'Kai-sar'.

 

Not you too! Seriously, what's with people not capitalizing the names of countries these days?! GAAH!

But you're right, people who mispronounce when they should know better annoy the hell out of me. Interesting thing about 'Caesar', though. Does make more sense that it's pronounced 'Kai-sar' as that's where the words 'Kaiser' and 'Tsar' came from.

 

Also that feigned incredulity idiots adopt when you haven't tried a particular food item. "What you've never had XXX" Shock! As if eating is actually a game of one upmanship.

 

It seems to be sometimes. Some guys feel like their balls get bigger if they eat a hotter pepper than you.

 

Oh god, I know! So what if I've never had sushi the traditional Japanese way? I don't get it.

Yeah, you are right about not capitalizing a proper noun. That should annoy me more than it does to be honest - but I guess I'm guilty of it myself.

And yeah, Caeser is the root of both German Kaiser and the Russian Tsar - whereas the English word King is from German (Anglo-Saxon) and from the word 'Ring'. Something for the useless facts thread.

In Geordie culture it's considered a mark of considerable respect if you can have the so-called 'Magmaloo' a curry you can only get in certain areas of Newcastle. It's ... well, not fit for human consumption. As is most English food, quite frankly.

 

At the risk of sounding racist here, I'm going to say this: I HATE Japanese food. I was in Japan for six months in 2001 and had the opportunity to try lots of it, and it just doesn't fit in my mouth. To me, it's all some dead thing found on a beach in a sauce made from squeezing another dead thing found on a beach. Ugh. I'm not into it.

 

I live in the north of England. If I didn't like fish I'd have starved to death by now.

 

I tend to have the food channels on in the background quite a lot, Jamie Oliver sends me into a rage. As does Lisa Faulkner. Can't quite put my finger on it.

 

Eating sushi is a lot like bad sex. It's cold, bland, and ultimately unsatisfying.

 

Fish I can deal with. I like fish. Fish and chips? Okay. Japanese food is not necessarily fish. Just 'cause they found it on a beach doesn't mean it's from the planet Earth.

 

People that drive under the speed limit when there's no need to...

 

The Japanese usually don't prepare their food for squirrels, Minstrel.

 

When I fall asleep on the plane and wake up to find that the snacks have already been distributed. I'm thinking of putting a sticky note on my forehead that reads, "Please wake me up when snacks arrive."

 

Haha, the topic of heated debate on here once or twice.

 

When people say they only like poetry that rhymes. Or that they only like poems about nature - or say they like the Romantics but then go on to say everything the Romantics introduced is somehow effeminate.

 

This is why you bring your own food. I was on a flight to Chicago once, and Jimmy Kimmel was on the same plane (he's a comedian/late-night talk-show host, for you non-Americans). He boarded the plane with bags and bags of Burger King stuff. He was in first class, but still no waiting for snacks for him!

 

But everything the Romantics introduced IS effeminate. Those guys - Shelley and Keats and the rest - ruined poetry for all of us. Homer and his lot were about battles and mighty heroes, but the Romantics were about grecian urns and bellybutton lint.

 

When A major new source highlights celebrity news above something that really matters.

 

This happens all the time. Celebrities exist to distract us from real news.

 

Minstrel's got a point there, Lemex. Poetry is now thought of to be about romance and kissy-kiss stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but still.

EDIT:
When I found out that one of my friends watches Fox News. I...I don't know what to say.

 

My cat stole my cookie...an Oreo and it wasn't even broken. How much is postage to Oz, priority overnight delivery for one small feline?

 

Yup, and those idiots who won't turn right on a red light.

 

I love my mom, but when she orders a croissant she says "cwassant." We are not in France, just order it normally.