Return of the silly little things that annoy you thread

G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
North Americans seem almost universally to refer to soil as "dirt".

Incidentally, moving here nearly 30 years required aspects of learning English as something of a new language. Most interesting in many ways (several points would belong in the "delight" thread), with the occasional frustrating aspect, as above.
 
G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
People who reply-to-all in e-mails to say thank you to the sender.

I can understand it as, when I prepare to send individual replies, I often wonder if people think I am not grateful for things, and so there is a temptation. But I reason that, as I continue to say thank you to more and more individuals, more people will end up knowing that I am indeed probably replying to the originator with gratitude.
 
Neil Holland

Neil Holland

Location
London, England
This is a slow burner for me but leapt back to mind when a bloke reversed out of his drive just as I cycled up to him this morning. I managed to manoeuvre around the front of him without impact.

"Why didn't you just stop?" he shouted out...

"Why didn't you just reverse onto you drive in the first place?" I thought... (Or at least check properly before blocking the road and nearly causing a collision)

In winter reversing out into traffic of all kinds with frosted windows is bloody dangerous too... Soooo many people do it...
 
Colin Wills

Colin Wills

Location
London
G. W o l f f said:
North Americans seem almost universally to refer to soil as "dirt".

Incidentally, moving here nearly 30 years required aspects of learning English as something of a new language. Most interesting in many ways (several points would belong in the "delight" thread), with the occasional frustrating aspect, as above.
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I sometimes think the English have moved English along somewhat and north Americans speak Shakespeare. Though soil is probably archaic for dirt. This will get the linguistics team going.
 
G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
Neil Holland said:
In winter reversing out into traffic of all kinds with frosted windows is bloody dangerous too... Soooo many people do it...
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I seem to recall that the Highway Code used to advise that a driver should not reverse into a road that is busier than their location (I don’t remember the exact wording). It is dangerous in all weathers. When you approach your drive, you are well positioned then to observe traffic and safely reverse into the drive, allowing for safe (and much quicker) emergence.
 
G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
Taps with one (mixer) handle only: our new house has only this type, and they are not all plumbed consistently, so for example in the kitchen down is hot and the reverse in the bathroom. It is driving me bonkers and I have had enough of cleaning my teeth with hot water. We will change them in due course, but based on previous experiences, I am not going anywhere near the plumbing with a spanner in my own hand to change the lines over. Even if they were plumbed consistently, I would still hate them.

Also annoying is that these taps are obviously in fashion (here at least), and it seems quite hard to find a good selection of taps with two handles.

Possibly one for the "delight" thread: a colleague visited the UK for the first time a few years ago and was horrified to discover two completely separate taps for hot and cold, and was then massively put out by this! His partner would not stop complaining about it and appearing to be in constant and continuing shock.
 
G. W o l f f

G. W o l f f

Location
Canada (formerly of Hertfordshire)
Neil Holland said:
Pump soap and hand gel dispensers that get slightly gummed up and instead of dispensing the soap / gel into your palm when you push the button, shoot soap / gel horizontally across the sink and onto your crotch. You're then left with the "shall I rinse it and will colleagues think I'm incontinent...?" challenge.
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Liquid hand soap in itself qualifies for this thread in my view!
 
P

Paul Benny

Location
Cheshire
I pass several car showrooms on my daily commute that appear to be fully lit 24/7.
Whatever the supposed rationale, the environmental impact of the energy consumed should surely outweigh this.
 
Richard Zambuni

Richard Zambuni

Location
London and Connecticut
Tim Rose said:
There is a house 11km (as the crow flies) from my house that has has unnecessarily bright security/flood lights that annoy me when I look out the window first thing every morning.
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Look on the bright side, given it's 11km away and given the weather in Scotland there are probably two mornings a year when it will annoy you ;).
 
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Raymond Tilney

Raymond Tilney

Location
Northampton
The Highways Agency adverts that deploy the "Go Left" phrase sung to the tune of Go West by The Village People/Pet Shop Boys.
Talk about callous disregard for those who have had accidents/died on the so called smart motorways:mad:
 
Paul J a i n e s

Paul J a i n e s

Location
London, Europe
....." <insert name of middle aged male artist> Live At the Albert Hall"

Usually Clapton doing some wanky guitar solo and its on Youtube recorded by someone who has paid a lot of money to be there, but got stuck behind their mobile phone for 90 minutes recording it.

Its the Albert Hall bit that really grinds my gears as well. Where artists go to die in front of Daily Mail readers.

Rant over.
 
Alistair Scott

Alistair Scott

Location
London
Neil Holland said:
Pump soap and hand gel dispensers that get slightly gummed up and instead of dispensing the soap / gel into your palm when you push the button, shoot soap / gel horizontally across the sink and onto your crotch. You're then left with the "shall I rinse it and will colleagues think I'm incontinent...?" challenge.
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Splash yourself with plenty of water then blame those noisy new Dyson urinals.
 
Joel Hopwood

Joel Hopwood

Location
Kent
I took the Avanti West Coast train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston the other day. The first half an hour of the journey was a cacophony that almost drove me to violence.

<pre-recorded voice>WELCOME ABOARD THE 16:02 AVANTI WEST COAST SERVICE TO <goes on for some 30 seconds, listing every station en route, at Bose-defeating volume>

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T LOOK RIGHT, <goes on etc>

After 5 minutes the train calls at Stockport. And the whole cycle kicks off again. Only another 10 minutes to Wilmslow, we get the whole thing AGAIN.

And then, the crowning turd in the water pipe, after it's all FINALLY shut the f up, the guard, sorry "train manager" thinks I want my 5 minutes of fame, they get on the PA and ramble on for another minute or two, repeating the station list in case anyone missed it and plumbing new depths of banality. All at completely ear splitting volume.

Such a shame as the service itself and the train staff are excellent. With some added silence and a Chris H style wine-picnic, it really is a superb way to travel.

SEE IT, SAY IT, SORTED
 
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