Pet Peeves

[Ruby Eyes]

When people complain about the word "moist".

What is even complainworthy about that? Would you perchance enlighten a non-native English speaker, please?

[Sundew]

What is even complainworthy about that? Would you perchance enlighten a non-native English speaker, please?

There really isn't a solid reason for disliking it, but "moist" is one of the most hated words in the English language. It's the sound of it, not the meaning, that is so widely disliked, but there may be some association to sex that causes people (mainly women--yes, there have actually been surveys about the word) to cringe at its use.

 

Mark Liberman defines word aversion as "a feeling of intense, irrational distaste for the sound or sight of a particular word or phrase, not because its use is regarded as etymologically or logically or grammatically wrong, nor because it's felt to be over-used or redundant or trendy or non-standard, but simply because the word itself somehow feels unpleasant or even disgusting", which describes the popular stance on moist quite well.

 

Some other quotes and stuff from Google searches:

"Being grossed out by the word moist is not beyond comprehension. It's squishy-seeming, and, to some, specifically evocative of genital regions..."

"It might have something to do with the 'oi' sound. Like in 'ointment' or 'goiter.' ... Also, it comes from the Latin 'muscidus' which meant 'slimy,' 'moldy,' 'musty' and gave us the word 'mucus.'"

 

Sexual association seems to be the most defining reason: I've surveyed my school about the word before. Here are the results as I wrote on May 23, 2014:

"Moist" is known as one of the most disliked words of the English language. Today I wanted to find out if this was the popular opinion or simply a loud minority. I surveyed my classmates. These are the results.

39 people liked the word "moist".

45 people had no strong opinion.

And a whopping 8 people disliked the word "moist".

It's worth noting that most of the people who liked the word were male, and everyone who said they disliked it were female.

So it would appear to be a loud minority (depending upon where you are) rather than the majority. Females definitely have a stronger aversion to it. Almost no girls in my survey said that they liked it, and most had no strong opinion. No boys disliked it and the majority (of males) actually favored the word, which makes me also think that the reasons for liking/disliking "moist" are related to sexual associations: Stereotypes regarding sexual philosophy are especially true during teenage years.

[Ruby Eyes]

Wow, I had no idea! Thanks for educating me!

(I must've been to the wrong parts of the internet, because the word I'd associate with sexual things would be "wet" rather than "moist" ...)

[edwardelricfreak]

I think part of it is the "oi" but also the "st" right after it- it's why oyster also sounds gross imo. D:

[Ruby Eyes]

Well, if the "oi" alone would gross people out, those English speakers should never try to learn German - we have lots of "oi" sounds here

 

 

Oh yeah, another peeve ahead!

People claiming German would be hard to learn because it has so many rules. English seems to have NO rules that are worth a single dime. Spelling (light, bite?), pronunciation (leader, header?), prepositions ... nothing really makes sense there, you either *know* it or you don't. German has at least a few guidelines you can cling to E.g. "eu" immediately following a consonant or at the beginning of a word is always pronounced "oi"

[MedievalMystic]

The idiot moron that just put my eggs in hatcheries.. One of my eggs is sick now and the others were well on their way with so many views so fast. Oh, you best thank God there's no way of knowing who you are, you pathetic little soul. I'd tell you exactly what I thought of you and flay you alive and White Knights coming to your rescue and screaming about how 'mean' I am and bans be damned.

 

People that do that to anyone for any reason, but especially just for spite, royally piss me off.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2014 by MedievalMystic

[edwardelricfreak]

Well, if the "oi" alone would gross people out, those English speakers should never try to learn German - we have lots of "oi" sounds here

 

 

Oh yeah, another peeve ahead!

People claiming German would be hard to learn because it has so many rules. English seems to have NO rules that are worth a single dime. Spelling (light, bite?), pronunciation (leader, header?), prepositions ... nothing really makes sense there, you either *know* it or you don't. German has at least a few guidelines you can cling to E.g. "eu" immediately following a consonant or at the beginning of a word is always pronounced "oi"

I've taken a few years of German and I have to say, I haven't been bothered by "eu" ("oi") sounds by themselves. I don't think I've encountered any "eust" words yet, either. I think part of it is that eu and oi/oy are a little bit different- eu is a bit more between long i (as in my, tie, die, light, etc) and oi, so it's not quite the same oi, if that makes sense? In fact some diallects of German I've heard (and other Germanic languages with similar words and pronunciations) even pronounce it like long i.

 

 

As far as your other peeve, I have to say German is actually a fairly easy language! A lot of English stems from German since it was originally a Germanic language, so a long of words are very similar. Obviously by now there's a lot more Latin- and Greek- based words in English, but I think more words come from German. o3o

[Fuzzbucket]

ghoti spells fish in English, if you work at it....

[Zinogre]

When people tell me how to play a game, I'll play the game the way I want, I don't need you telling me what to do.

 

Backseat drivers.

 

People who chew with their mouths open.

[JavaTigress]

The idiot moron that just put my eggs in hatcheries..  One of my eggs is sick now and the others were well on their way with so many views so fast.    Oh, you best thank God there's no way of knowing who you are, you pathetic little soul.  I'd tell you exactly what I thought of you and flay you alive and White Knights coming to your rescue  and screaming about how 'mean' I am and bans be damned.     

 

People that do that to anyone for any reason, but especially just for spite,  royally piss me off.

Actually, MM, I don't know that that many people would come to someone's defense in that case.

If they were known to be guilty of view-bombing others, that is.

 

I, for one, would not.

 

I would guess that most people would share your irritation with that person, rather than rushing to defend them.

Again... that is assuming they could be shown to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

Viewbombers are NOT popular on this site. While, don't get me wrong, there are rules against laying into someone on the public forum ( and violating THAT would be counter productive...might lead to the bans you mentioned... though to be fair if they WERE guilty, they'd be in for trouble of their own if it was known), I don't think anyone would feel too sorry for them. I think the issue is that, as you say, there is no way of proving beyond a reasonable doubt who the guilty party is. That said, I think view-bombers tick EVERYONE off. I wouldn't foresee anyone screaming that you are mean for being angry.

 

I guess at least you didn't actually lose any dragons thanks to the incident... at least not from what you said.

That is more than some people who don't catch it until every last one of their eggs dies.

 

I can say that I don't blame you for your feelings one bit.

Edited November 23, 2014 by Silverswift

[Rachel72]

When people smack their lips while eating.

I absolutely hate that. Makes me think, that they werent taught manners...

[Rachel72]

People who chew with their mouths open.

I hate that!!!!

[georgexu94]

Motorcyclists that ride on sidewalks. I'll be lenient and understanding with bikes.

 

Motorcycles that are very noisy- the one that you can hear loudly after it's already far away approximately two blocks.

[elderberrysyrup]

I hate, HATE when people use "antisocial" when they mean "asocial". Antisocial correlates with antisocial personality disorder, which is most commonly referred to as psychopathy/sociopathy.

 

I also dislike when people use the word psychopath over distinctly non-psychopathic things.

[Fuzzbucket]

I hate, HATE when people use "antisocial" when they mean "asocial". Antisocial correlates with antisocial personality disorder, which is most commonly referred to as psychopathy/sociopathy.

 

I also dislike when people use the word psychopath over distinctly non-psychopathic things.

I am a grammar freak actually. Antisocial meant - well, antisocial as in a pain in the butt - LONG before they developed terminology for APD. Sorry, but I shall carry on using it in the sense in which the word was originally coined.

 

adjective

adjective: antisocial; adjective: anti-social

 

    1.

    contrary to the laws and customs of society; devoid of or antagonistic to sociable instincts or practices.

    "a dangerous, unprincipled, antisocial type of man"

    synonyms: sociopathic, distasteful, disruptive, rebellious, misanthropic, asocial

    "worrisome antisocial behavior"

    2.

    not sociable; not wanting the company of others.

    synonyms: unsociable, unfriendly, uncommunicative, reclusive, withdrawn, avoidant;

    informalstandoffish

    "I'm feeling a bit antisocial"

 

AND - as they recognise this fact too:

 

The World Health Organization includes it in the International Classification of Diseases as "dissocial personality disorder".

(Source: wiki)

 

But I agree with you over psychopathy. As for the use of the word mental

for the mentally ill...

Edited November 24, 2014 by fuzzbucket

[LaHaine]

I hate, HATE when people use "antisocial" when they mean "asocial". Antisocial correlates with antisocial personality disorder, which is most commonly referred to as psychopathy/sociopathy.

 

I also dislike when people use the word psychopath over distinctly non-psychopathic things.

"Antisocial" means antisocial personality disorder only in clinical contexts. Outside of that, it simply means not sociable. Sorry, at least it still works like that in my language and it annoys me a bit when people reply with "you are a sociopath?? hahah!" when I try to say I'm antisocial. It's in the dictionary people, it's not my problem you only read the first description of the word. If/When it's out of the dictionary and everyone forgets its original meaning, I will start using asocial.

[Fuzzbucket]

ALSO - asocial doesn't in ANY context mean the same as antisocial, though it is occasionally used that way.

 

Asocial means basically avoiding contact with others; antisocial references behaviour that is detrimental to others. ("A-" tends to mean "without" as in asexual - no interest in sex; amoral - without morals; apolitical - no politics involved; achromatic - without colour.)

[7Deadly$ins]

"Antisocial" means antisocial personality disorder only in clinical contexts. Outside of that, it simply means not sociable. Sorry, at least it still works like that in my language and it annoys me a bit when people reply with "you are a sociopath?? hahah!" when I try to say I'm antisocial. It's in the dictionary people, it's not my problem you only read the first description of the word. If/When it's out of the dictionary and everyone forgets its original meaning, I will start using asocial.

It'll probably never be out of the dictionary entirely. Dictionaries do, after all, contain archaic words.

[Ruby Eyes]

ALSO - asocial doesn't in ANY context mean the same as antisocial, though it is occasionally used that way.

 

Asocial means basically avoiding contact with others; antisocial references behaviour that is detrimental to others. ("A-" tends to mean "without" as in asexual - no interest in sex; amoral - without morals; apolitical - no politics involved; achromatic - without colour.)

That can get difficult when you're dealing with other languages, too. Tricky translation traps!

 

German "Asozial" actually means "antisocial" as in "disruptive to a given social context" only - it does not mean "asocial" in the introvert style meaning.

 

 

 

People taking all the hot water from the kettle without replacing it ... so I gotta refill again and wait until it heats up for my tea ... seems I have to stand by it and pay attention to water slowly getting bubbles

[catstaff]

Motorcycles that are very noisy- the one that you can hear loudly after it's already far away approximately two blocks.

Loud pipes save lives.

 

Motorcycles are not always easy to spot in traffic, so people driving cars are far more likely to look for a motorcycle if they can hear it.

 

Lanesplitting annoys me, though. That's when a motorcyclist rides on the line between lanes of a road for the express purpose of getting ahead of stopped traffic. Every time I see someone doing that, I always feel like opening my car door to block them.

[Ruby Eyes]

Lanesplitting annoys me, though. That's when a motorcyclist rides on the line between lanes of a road for the express purpose of getting ahead of stopped traffic. Every time I see someone doing that, I always feel like opening my car door to block them.

I just let them pass and try to make room if I see them in the mirror. They're out in the cold, I'm inside my warm, comfy car. It's just a trade-off: they "gain" a few seconds of time and give away comfiness. Who am I to spoil that?

 

I'm more annoyed by *bikers* doing that. They just get in front in order to slow down the whole line behind them. Nothing gained except lots of angry honks.

[georgexu94]

I just let them pass and try to make room if I see them in the mirror. They're out in the cold, I'm inside my warm, comfy car. It's just a trade-off: they "gain" a few seconds of time and give away comfiness. Who am I to spoil that?

 

I'm more annoyed by *bikers* doing that. They just get in front in order to slow down the whole line behind them. Nothing gained except lots of angry honks.

Let's be understanding to the bikers too, then. They have to pedal themselves unlike motorcycles. They're also cold, more so than motorcyclists.

 

And aww, that's very sweet. I've never felt it that way. Good point right there! Aphrodite be praised! And well, that would at least loosen up my anger for them.

[edwardelricfreak]

It'll probably never be out of the dictionary entirely. Dictionaries do, after all, contain archaic words.

As well, they generally will add/keep words that are used a lot, even if they need to change the definition to add in a new meaning (I believe something fairly recent happened for the definition for 'literally' because it is more often used for figurative meanings...). Since antisocial is used a lot to mean asocial, it's likely that a definition may be added to say something along the lines of it being another word for asocial. Maybe. Might be more likely for it to simply redirect to asocial with "did you mean asocial?" Anyway, just rambling now.

 

---

 

I've never minded bikers or their loud bikes, really. o3o

 

---

 

A peeve of mine: when someone is trying to pass around you because they just want to go faster, and then they end up stuck because either a light turned red, there are cars ahead to make it impossible for them to continue going faster, or both. I just laugh at them and think "hah, that's what you get for hurrying! Didn't really get you anywhere."

 

Another: People who tailgate. Not only is it dangerous, but it's rude. While the person tailgating might not realize they are, it comes off as pushy to the driver in front and in the case of a larger vehicle tailgating a smaller one, the headlights are quite blinding in their rear-view mirror. Ideally, for each 10-15 mph you're going, my grandmother (who drives buses for a living and has been for several years) told me you need about a car length between you and the car ahead of you. So, if you're going ~60mph, you should hopefully have ~6 car lengths of space between you and the other car. It gives you time to break in case they have to suddenly stop, as well as allowing others to fit in there if they need to.

 

More driving peeves: Whenever people don't leave any space for cars to go through at intersections. Ugh.

 

Even more: Whenever the people at my school don't stop at the STOP sign at the loop in the parking lot, and even worse when they go before those coming into the parking lot go. Basically the loop is set up to where those coming in have the right of way; the only time those going out are able to go is when someone coming in is turning or when there's a large enough gap to be able to go without stopping the incoming cars. But no, many do rolling stops at best. Most cars just roll right on through. It's annoying.

[Obscure_Trash]

I'm more annoyed by *bikers* doing that. They just get in front in order to slow down the whole line behind them. Nothing gained except lots of angry honks.

This is usually done for their own safety, actually. Cars usually don't give bikers space in the shoulder (which can get rather narrow) and cars driving 4x faster than you can go on the bike right next to you is rather frightening. As well, shoulders and curbs aren't often upkept and can be uneven and full of potholes, making the bike ride harder and more uncomfortable, forcing the biker into the road anyway - and not always in a controlled manner. Better to slow some cars down than be run over by one.

 

~

 

Acne treatments that don't work. >_>

[Imzadi]

An amusing one, but it still mildly annoying. When people writing about some famous person or other on the red carpet say she was "Rocking a red lip", my first thought is always "Just one? what happened to the other one?" It's cutesy and I dislike cutesy.