[Archived] Pet Peeves.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Yeah I'm with TCJ on this one. I think it's probably an American/English thing. As I saw it, unless punctuation was used at the end of the quote itself, the full stop was placed out of the quotation marks.

I walked around the shop and decided I didn't need anything.

If I was quoting "I didn't need anything." - I would put it as so.

If I was quoting "I walked around the shop" - I wouldn't put a full stop.

I think it comes largely down to context.

Where is Wen?

[jim mk2]

People who put the end full stop outside of the quote (learned this from a proofreader I worked with and has annoyed me since).

For your information

My old English teacher would say it is more correct to write, "I hate it when people spell players names wrongly".

is correct because the sentence is an indirect quote and therefore the quotation mark should be inside the full stop.

The quotation mark should be outside the full stop only if it is a direct quote, thus:

My old English teacher said: "Americans should learn how to punctuate properly."

[American]

Welcome back. If you read the Chicago Style Guide, it says different.

As others have said, perhaps it is an American/British thing. Then again, you're the ones who changed z to s in a lot of words....

[jim mk2]

Then again, you're the ones who changed z to s in a lot of words....

I think you'll find English as wot has been spoke in these isles has been around alot longer than American English.

By about x thousand years.

[broadsword]

"players' names" and not "players names", shurely?

[bazza]

"players' names" and not "players names", shurely?

Correct, Bryan. And don't call Jim Shirley.

[broadsword]

I tell you what winds me up bazza.

My anger management class. Don't get me started on that! Now **** off!

[Tom]

Oh yeah, that is SO annoying when they put massive, really uncomfortable labels in clothes. Then, when you try to cut them out, you make a hole in your top!

I got some jeans from River Island and they had a massive square label stuck inside half way down the leg which was mega itchy so I pulled it off and it left loads of sticky residue and my jeans kep sticking to my leg and ripping hair off.

Not good.

[ABBEY]

stick residue in your jeans??? ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[American]

I think you'll find English as wot has been spoke in these isles has been around alot longer than American English.

By about x thousand years.

But again, the s instead of the z hasn't been around for thousands of years, in fact, it has been going on for less time than there have been British living in America. We spell it the way it was originally, not you.

[American]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ize_vs_-ise#-ise.2C_-ize

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/ize?view=uk

[Tom]

I don't hate it but those adverts for the likes of Daz etc bug me when they show how their old formulae didn't get things bright white but their new formulae does.

Wait a minute there, a few months ago you told me your new formulae which is now the old formulae got things perfectly white, now you're wither lying now or you lied then, which is it?

In fact screw it I don't trust you now

[mellison24]

People who insist on doing magic tricks, but haven't had enough practice and end up buggering it up.

10/10 for effort but wait until you don't look a total twoddle before doing it, eh?

[bazza]

I tell you what winds me up bazza.

My anger management class. Don't get me started on that! Now **** off!

They used to wind me up as well; anger management, time management, valuing diversity and the rest. What a load of rubbish and a complete waste of time.

People who insist on doing magic tricks, but haven't had enough practice and end up buggering it up.

10/10 for effort but wait until you don't look a total twoddle before doing it, eh?

Tommy Cooper made a good living from doing this.

[mellison24]

They used to wind me up as well; anger management, time management, valuing diversity and the rest. What a load of rubbish and a complete waste of time.

Tommy Cooper made a good living from doing this.

Ah, but he did it deliberately and in a funny way. I mean people who really feck them up after believing their own hype.

[ultrablue]

people who don't wipe down a wet bench

Eh?? genuinely can't imagine what you mean

[tcj_jones]

Think he means in the gym.

[ultrablue]

ahhhhh - i was imagining a bloke in a park getting cheesed off because I sat in a little puddle or something.

[tcj_jones]

Hahaha, funnily enough, that's what I imagined on first reading!

[neekoy]

Think he means in the gym.

No I mean when someone makes a cup of tea and spills some water on the bench or when someone takes something out of the freezer and there is condensation on the bench and they don't wipe it off.

When it dries it leaves rings or marks or lucky enough youy may even get a wet shirt when you lean against the bench.

It is not hard to grab the cloth and wipe it down

[Claytons Left Boot]

That dreadful woo-woo-woo noise people make instead of cheering.

I can't stand that either. When did simple applause/clapping change to what I call that American style woo-wooing? Watch any Saturday night TTB programme (Television for Thick @#/?s) and you hear it constantly. It also seems to be a female thing if you listen closely. We once went to A Question of Sport at the BBC studios in Manchester. They primed you in to clapping really loudly at the start/after the interval and so on, holding up placards showing you when to do it, but then (1992 ish) it was still clapping.

[American]

I can't stand that either. When did simple applause/clapping change to what I call that American style woo-wooing?

With the advent of the Arsenio Hall show, roughly 1989.

[Claytons Left Boot]

Bear Grylls - over the top or what?

[Radagast]

the word "random"

This. "OMG so random!" "How random is that?" "And it was just pure random!" You mean unexpected you little twerps!

There's a boy sits next to me in work who says "pacifically" instead of "specifically," which is the definitive stamp of the cretin.He somehow manages to use it in just about every conversation I overhear him having through the course of the day as well.

One of my flat mates (I've not been petty enough to find out which) has a habit of closing over the lid on the toothpast tube but not actually clicking it shut, which for some reason annoys the living hell out of me.

[tcj_jones]

Two good ones there, Radagast.

Facebook is another good example of how the word 'random' is used to describe just about everything. Also, adaptations of the word, like 'random-ness'. 'Irony' is another word that is often mis-understood and applied incorrectly.

I also really cringe when I hear 'pacifically' said instead of 'specifically'. There's another word (I cannot remember what it is and it's really annoying me now) that is always mispronounced, often by newsreaders!