Return of the silly little things that annoy you thread

Peter May

Peter May

Location
Snorbens, Herts
David Sedaris

He's back yet again wasting space on Radio 4's 18:30 comedy spot, tho' he never says anything amusing, let alone funny.

He drones on in a whiney monotone (he's a terrible public speaker) with observations on what has irritated him about American life.

Usually he starts of with something like 'This is a piece I wrote for the New Yorker' then proceeds to read an article he's already been paid for, with no adjustment for a British audience - except once in the previous series when he read an article about wearing underpants with buttock enhancing padding, and he explained before it that 'fanny' didn't mean in America what it means in Britain, then went ahead with the reading using fanny.

He's paid by the BBC, records in the UK lives got a house in Britain as well as a 'brownstone walk up' (what?) in some area that makes sense to a US audience of New York city, and makes no adjustment for a UK audience.
 
Peter May

Peter May

Location
Snorbens, Herts
I assumed I was in a minority because of the number of series he's done for the BBC, I'm glad you enjoy him Colin.

Wish I did, considering the amount of time he has.

Cannot remember even breaking a smile let alone laughing. Now if he was in the whinging slot rather than the comedy slot...........
 
Peter May

Peter May

Location
Snorbens, Herts
Thom Blach said:
Jabs. How did this horrible slang locution become so prevalent that even BBC news bulletins use it?
Click to expand...

In newspapers/web-pages jab is shorter than inoculation and vaccination. And easier to spell. Horrible word, implied someone being jabbed instead of having a painless inoculation.

In the same vein*, why is every story on the subject illustrated by a needle being pushed in people's arms. I had no hesitation about having the inoculation but I looked the other way while it was done, and I don't want to see photo's of it.

I can't see that these photo's encourage the hesitant.

*geddit?
 
D

Dan Baillie

Location
England
With apologies to Bob Marley....

Ooh, yeah! All right!
Alright.
We're jabbin'
(See)
I wanna jab it wid you
We're jabbin', jabbin',
And I hope you like jabbin', too
We're jabbin'
To think that jabbin' was a thing of the past
We're jabbin',
And I hope this jab is gonna last
We're jabbin'
Jabbin
Jabbin’
Jabbin’
Jabbin’
Now we're jabbin' in the name of the Lord
We're jabbin',
Jabbin’
Jabbin’
Jabbin
Now we're jabbin' right straight from yard
Ooh, yeah!
We're jabbin'
I wanna jab it wid you
We're jabbin', jabbin',
And I hope you like jabbin', too
Jab's about my pride and truth I cannot hide
To keep you satisfied
Love that now exist, true love I can't resist,
Jab by my side. Oh, yea-ea-yeah!
We're jabbin'
(See)
I wanna jab it wid you
We're jabbin', jabbin',
And I hope you like jabbin', too
We're jabbin'
To think…
 
G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
More work frustrations and amazements.

Frustration: our work version of Windows (no idea what version and don't care!) constantly tries to make the "active window" one in which something is being updated (e.g., a web page loading). This might appear sensible but it is endlessly frustrating as I like to click on things that I would like to get themselves ready in the background (e.g., multiple tabs in a browser) while I am typing or doing something in what I want to be the active window (often a password box). I can be actively typing an e-mail or in a word processor and the OS will keep putting other windows at the front, over and over again, even if I keep trying to go back to what I want to be the active window. If it were my own system, I could probably do something in the registry, but of course our IT security prevents any such mucking about.

Amazement: I had to endure a debate about whether a "lego approach" or a "cookie-cutter approach" was best. I am not making this up. My sister said I should have chimed in with "let's try meccano". I am more inclined to talk about using a bog brush or a plunger for our bigger problems.
 
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G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
Squirrels and rabbits.

Seemingly cute, but in reality malicious, damaging bastards that are now removing any plant life in my garden that remained after a tough Ontario winter for plants (although milder than usual, we had no snow cover until the end of January, meaning no insulation). Annoyingly, squirrels will strip all the buds from my few surviving rhododendrons (I shouldn't have tried growing these here), trying each one to see if it is tasty, discovering that it is not, but trying all the others too, just in case. Rabbits seem to love viburnums and Euonymus alatus especially. E. alatus ("burning bush") is allegedly considered semi-invasive here. I can't see how unless you are in a rabbit-free zone.

 
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Alistair Scott

Alistair Scott

Location
London
The sun came out this morning, time to wrangle my pale, bandy legs into a pair of shorts. Then remembered an annoying recent design fault in shorts for gentlemen - I am sure not universal, but certainly has occurred in products from Polo and White Stuff I've bought in recent years.
So, I'm sure we all approve of the second button in the waistband of your trousers/shorts, acting as back-up if the main fastening button should pop off after a good lunch. However these shorts, instead of having just an extension of the waistband to attach to the button, have a triangular flap of fabric which starts lower down and effectively sits behind the zip area. So, in order to use the zip opening for its urinary purpose, you also have to undo the second button and adjust the flap, which also means undoing the main holding button, at which point you might as well just drop your pants completely. Hopeless. Of course those of you with python-like equipment at your disposal, doubtless including rock gods of our acquaintance, will not face this issue. For mere mortals, unnecessarily annoying.
 
Jason Michelle

Jason Michelle

Location
Berkshire
Emails from wine brokers that quote ”super duper best wine we’ve ever tasted ever ever ever for only £20 a bottle”... where the headline price is in fact IB.. so it’s not really £20 if you wanted to drink this best ever ever ever wine.

I know the rules of this game but it still annoys me.
 
Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson

Location
Scotland
Jason Michelle said:
Emails from wine brokers that quote ”super duper best wine we’ve ever tasted ever ever ever for only £20 a bottle”... where the headline price is in fact IB.. so it’s not really £20 if you wanted to drink this best ever ever ever wine.

I know the rules of this game but it still annoys me.
Click to expand...
Even worse when the email says ”super duper best wine we’ve ever tasted ever ever ever for under £20 a bottle” to discover that it is £19.99 IN BOND. :mad:
 
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