Name a completely irrelevant thing that bothers you more than it should.

[Kanin]

2 hours ago, sassenach said:

Spin-off, please enlighten this Californian. What’s considered the Midwest? Is PA? 

We'll, I'm not from PA so I won't claim to be right... But I don't consider it the Midwest. It's the Northeast, but not New England. Hopefully that's not controversial 😀

[Junie]

I've always considered Pennsylvania to be a Mid-Atlantic state. 😉

A roommate in college (from another state) liked to point out my language idiosyncrases.  Including the fact that Pennsylvanians tend to pronounce the word Pennsylvania without the l -- Pennsavania.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Junie

[sassenach]

9 minutes ago, Kanin said:

We'll, I'm not from PA so I won't claim to be right... But I don't consider it the Midwest. It's the Northeast, but not New England. Hopefully that's not controversial 😀

See, if I really think about it, I guess I would have said northeast, too. Especially Philadelphia. I have several friends from there and Philly women are a vibe (as an aside, is Philly something that locals say? Or is it like San Fran, which makes locals wince?). Anyhoo, women from Philadelphia are absolutely not midwesterners (probably the men, too, but I don't know any). However, I have some other friends who live in western PA and they are totally different. Almost vanilla. Like the opposite personality of my Philly friends (I'm just going to roll with it for now). I think of them as midwestern. 

 

[sassenach]

3 minutes ago, Junie said:

I've always considered Pennsylvania to be a Mid-Atlantic state. 😉

A roommate in college (from another state) liked to point out my language idiosyncrases.  Including the fact that Pennsylvanians tend to pronounce the word Pennsylvania with the l -- Pennsavania.

I don't think of mid-atlantic as a region at all (which is not to say it isn't, just that I don't have a category for it). What other states would you include? And did you force yourself to write that to be or did it come naturally?

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by sassenach

[sassenach]

40 minutes ago, math teacher said:

My bathroom. The shower is not big enough to change your mind in, much less actually shower. The garden tub takes up almost half of the room, but is used for storage because I prefer showers. The other bathroom at least has a workable solution. 

We rented a house that had a shower so small that your elbows could touch opposite walls. Then the landlord redid it. Dude was 5'2" and he hired a "contractor" (read unlicensed Russian guy) who was also about 5'. Now, we are not tall people, but I am not lying when I tell you that the new shower head was installed at my boob height and no one saw anything wrong with that.

[Katy]

4 hours ago, Kanin said:

People in Pennsylvania do it too. The wood needs stacked. Drove me up a wall! Thankfully I have never heard it in the Northeast.

It actually makes sense because Pennsylvania also had a large number of German settlers. That’s the origin of those gorgeous stone colonial homes. 

[Junie]

5 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I don't think of mid-atlantic as a region at all (which is not to say it isn't, just that I don't have a category for it). What other states would you include? And did you force yourself to write that to be or did it come naturally?

 

Mid-Atlantic -- New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware

And the "to be" is natural to me now.  When my roommate started pointing out my speech quirks, I worked on changing most of them.  As an English major, I felt like I should. 😉

Also, I haven't lived in Pennsylvania since I graduated from high school, so it makes sense to drop the regional language.

[Junie]

3 minutes ago, Katy said:

It actually makes sense because Pennsylvania also had a large number of German settlers. That’s the origin of those gorgeous stone colonial homes. 

One of the things I miss about Pennsylvania.

[Junie]

So what bothers me more than it should?

People who leave their car parked at the gas pump while they go inside the store "for just a minute".

[Drama Llama]

People who tie their dogs up so that you can’t use a wheelchair ramp or go through a door or go through the gate to a playground without being in reach of them. 

[Drama Llama]

I think the challenge with PA is you have really distinct regions.

Like you could write an old fashioned SAT analogy 

Philly : Boston 

as

Pittsburgh : Cleveland

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Baseballandhockey
Grammar it is always grammar

[Terabith]

Erie: Chicago

[Terabith]

Honestly, most states have distinct regions.  East TN, WV, and far southwest VA, eastern KY, and parts of PA should go together as Appalachia.  Western WA and OR are totally different than eastern WA and OR.  Southern IL is more southern than midwestern.  

[Drama Llama]

17 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Erie: Chicago

Erie : Gary Indiana except it doesn’t have a cool song 

[marbel]

1 hour ago, sassenach said:

See, if I really think about it, I guess I would have said northeast, too. Especially Philadelphia. I have several friends from there and Philly women are a vibe (as an aside, is Philly something that locals say? Or is it like San Fran, which makes locals wince?). Anyhoo, women from Philadelphia are absolutely not midwesterners (probably the men, too, but I don't know any). However, I have some other friends who live in western PA and they are totally different. Almost vanilla. Like the opposite personality of my Philly friends (I'm just going to roll with it for now). I think of them as midwestern. 

 

I've only lived in the Philadelphia area since 2007, so I am new here, but Philly is a thing unto itself. (If I was really from around here I might say "jawn" instead of thing.) Philly people are very proud of being from Philly; most people I have met when I go into the city are very nice but they talk fast, so they often sound like they're annoyed. 

Definitely very different from western PA. 

[Longtime Lurker]

22 hours ago, GoVanGogh said:

I am super sensitive to noises (and food smells). 

Me too 😕

21 hours ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

People who leave “to be” out of phrases, like “that car needs washed” or “the baby needs changed”.  No. The car needs to be washed. 

Yes!

12 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

People using sell and sale interchangeably (“I have a sofa for sell”)

Yup.

10 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

Grammar police warning…👮

Yes…Thank you for inviting John and ME ME ME to the party. 
 

And…We appreciate your coming. (Not you). 
 

Or….Give the document to John or me (not myself).

What if you were speaking to a large crowd, and you were giving instructions? If you left out John would you say, “Please give the final, edited copy to myself.” ?

I always say, "Only I can give something to myself. Anyone else has to give it to me."

[Forget-Me-Not]

23 hours ago, sassenach said:

This is a total midwest thing. Not everyone from the midwest does it but everyone who does it is from the midwest.

I definitely heard it more when I lived in the Midwest (MO). But I hear it a lot in our new location, which is not midwest, from people who have lived their entire lives here. 🤷🏼‍♀️  

[sassenach]

All this regional talk made me think of another one for me.

People who leave California and then make it their whole personality. Listen, if you want to leave, leave. I left and came back; I get it. But please stop talking about it. The place you moved doesn't want to hear it- they hate you for bringing your California-ness to their state. Those of us still here do not care. We know it's less expensive elsewhere, we just don't want to live anywhere else. And if you are planning on leaving but haven't yet left, please only talk to the people above. No one else cares.

[sassenach]

7 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

I definitely heard it more when I lived in the Midwest (MO). But I hear it a lot in our new location, which is not midwest, from people who have lived their entire lives here. 🤷🏼‍♀️  

I'd ask where, but you don't seem to want to say (and that's ok). Are there many Germans? We may have established that as a through line.

[Forget-Me-Not]

13 hours ago, sassenach said:

I'd ask where, but you don't seem to want to say (and that's ok). Are there many Germans? We may have established that as a through line.

I don’t think there are many German people here. . .  I feel like there are more people of Scandinavian descent, but many generations out. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Forget-Me-Not

[Storygirl]

8 hours ago, Jenny in Florida said:

My off-the-top-of-my-head list:

• People who walk on the "wrong" side of the sidewalk or other walkway. I walk with my dog a couple of times each day, and our habit is to hug the right side of the walkway (as though I were driving). It seems like most people in the U.S. sort of stick to that practice, and if everyone did, foot traffic would move more smoothly. Every now and then, however, I'll run into someone walking towards me on "my" side of the walkway showing no sign of adjusting so we can easily pass each other. For the record, I do understand that my "right" side of the walkway is U.S.-centric, but I'm talking mostly about people who live in my neighborhood, not tourists from out of town.

Interesting. We don't have sidewalks but walk our dog down our street. We walk on the left side of the street, as pedestrians, and our dog walks by our left leg, so she is walking in the grass, while we are on the pavement.

If I were to walk on a sidewalk or path with her, I think I would not want to walk on the right side of the path, with the dog to my left, because the dog would be close to any person or dog we would pass, who was going the other way. If that makes sense.

I only walk my dog in our neighborhood, so it's a moot point for me.

Except it bothers me when other people walk on the right side of the street, coming straight towards me, when pedestrians are meant to walk on the left, against traffic.

[SKL]

On 7/20/2022 at 7:05 PM, Kassia said:

Specific things people post on facebook - I won't say what they are because I don't want to offend anyone who does the things that bug me.  I know it's their facebook pages and they can do whatever they want but certain things bother me and they really shouldn't.  

Me too ... I suppose it's a personal character fault (mine), but ... well I guess I'll leave it at that!

[SKL]

Ants.

Drivers ahead of me who don't understand I'm in a hurry.  Also drivers behind me who are in more of a hurry than I am.

Certain people loudly clearing their throat and other internal parts.

People talking about gross things when I'm eating.  (Why do these things ALWAYS come up when I'm eating??)

My kid's messiness / lack of awareness of the trail she leaves.

Hearing anything repeated 3 or more times in a row.

Spotty internet.

Having to eat at a restaurant - worst if I have to pick the restaurant.

The way most people pronounce "nuclear."

I should probably stop now!

[marbel]

On 7/20/2022 at 11:16 PM, sassenach said:

This is a total midwest thing. Not everyone from the midwest does it but everyone who does it is from the midwest.

Nah, I've heard it from people all over, not just midwesterners. Not necessarily a connection to German heritage either.  People just pick stuff up and sometimes it sticks. 

Now that I'm thinking of it, when I worked for 3M (based in MN), I picked up some midwestern slang even though I was in CA and had never set foot in the midwest, just from talking to coworkers from there. 

Similarly, though I've never lived in the south, I married a Georgia boy and have visited often, so I picked up y'all, which I find a very useful expression, and which I hear from a lot of not-southerners. 

[Danae]

From the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project:

[klmama]

This map nails it. 

[Terabith]

I have lived in like five states, all of which are a 4 on that map, and I’ve never heard that grammatical construction.  

[Forget-Me-Not]

46 minutes ago, Danae said:

From the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project:

This fits my experience exactly! 

[Pawz4me]

35 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I have lived in like five states, all of which are a 4 on that map, and I’ve never heard that grammatical construction.  

Yeah. I’ve lived my whole life here and rarely/never hear it. But my area is shown as 3-4. My experience says it’s not accurate. 

[kbutton]

On 7/20/2022 at 9:51 PM, teachermom2834 said:

One neighbor asked her what was up and she said someone was stealing her plants. That explanation bugged the snot out of me. 

Saw this on FB and thought of your neighbor. 

[kbutton]

15 hours ago, Junie said:

I've always considered Pennsylvania to be a Mid-Atlantic state. 😉

A roommate in college (from another state) liked to point out my language idiosyncrases.  Including the fact that Pennsylvanians tend to pronounce the word Pennsylvania without the l -- Pennsavania.

That L is very soft, for sure! The other option is kind of a "sull" sound instead, I think. 

15 hours ago, sassenach said:

Like the opposite personality of my Philly friends (I'm just going to roll with it for now). I think of them as midwestern. 

Different parts are different cultures, but it's not midwestern that I've been able to discern. There is a big divide culturally between cities and rural areas in PA. 

The whole friendly vs. polite thing is probably the big dividing line for me of whether you are in the midwest or not. In PA, people are friendly but not necessarily polite (and not necessarily impolite, but people don't wear their manners on their sleeve). In Ohio (proxy for the larger midwest and seems to hold true against my college experience), they are polite but not particularly friendly. I am not sure how to describe the difference if you don't know what I mean by that, but I have had a lot of people who know both places say it's pretty accurate.

15 hours ago, Baseballandhockey said:

I think the challenge with PA is you have really distinct regions.

Like you could write an old fashioned SAT analogy 

Philly : Boston 

as

Pittsburgh : Cleveland

Lol! 

In general, I have heard that PA is one of the most diverse states in regard to their regional language differences, so it makes sense that it would have a lot of different local cultures. I think there are some things that cross those regional lines or at least don't seem weird to others from PA--like we recognize that as being a PA thing even if it's not local to us. 

Like Junie, I haven't lived there in a while, and I've dropped some things (many Ohioans near me do NOT understand sarcasm), but others still stick; some of those things come right back when I go back home. Grammar is sort of fluid--conversational and more formal grammar are a bit different from one another. 

[Ema]

Mine, also, have mostly to do with grammar. I grew up in a small Midwestern town. I never really heard people doing the, “my car needs fixed,” but we had people using the word ‘to’ instead of ‘at.’ “She’s up TO the park,” instead of “She’s up AT the park.” They also said ‘warsh’ instead of ‘wash.’ In our last town (still Midwest, different state), people would say they needed to put “gas on the car.” NO! IN the car! Please do not put gas ON your car!

It also really bothers me when people have their phones on speaker in public places. If you absolutely have to talk on the phone in public, please do not subject others to the entire conversation; people don’t want to hear about Jimmy Joe’s operation, or Sally Mae’s relationship woes! But I think that is pretty rational…

[Junie]

29 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Like Junie, I haven't lived there in a while, and I've dropped some things (many Ohioans near me do NOT understand sarcasm), but others still stick; some of those things come right back when I go back home. Grammar is sort of fluid--conversational and more formal grammar are a bit different from one another. 

Oh, thank you!  I recently met someone from the midwest and I realized that I need to not be sarcastic with him because he just doesn't get it.

[QueenCat]

On 7/21/2022 at 7:49 AM, Hyacinth said:

People using sell and sale interchangeably (“I have a sofa for sell”)

 

That makes me INSANE!!!

[teachermom2834]

51 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Saw this on FB and thought of your neighbor. 

Haha. That’s great! We do have issues with theft in our area but that is people breaking into cars looking for money and guns. I assume those folks don’t respect the “no trespassing “ signs. But I guess they could be out stealing money, guns, and perennials. 

The plants she claims someone is stealing? That would be squirrels. Also not known to respect the “no trespassing” signs.

But gnomes…it could be the gnomes!

[shawthorne44]

On 7/21/2022 at 7:20 AM, ScoutTN said:

The bathroom fan left on for extended periods of time. 
 

 

You can buy a timer for those.   To turn the fan on, you rotate the dial to up to 60 minutes then it turns off automatically.   It won't be where you think you think it will be in the big box hardware store.   

[Lady Florida.]

Something that really bugs me: drivers who don't know the difference between yield and merge. 

 

On 7/20/2022 at 7:53 PM, Storygirl said:

I am hyper sensitive to noises and despise the sound of people sniffing. Or snorting. Ugh, snorting! Gross!

 

Ugh, yes! Sniffling and snorting noises are so irritating to me.

On 7/21/2022 at 8:54 AM, LuvToRead said:

Using I's instead my.  Such as "Today is John and I's anniversary".  I just do not understand why!!! 

 

On 7/21/2022 at 9:58 AM, Indigo Blue said:

Grammar police warning…👮

Yes…Thank you for inviting John and ME ME ME to the party. 
 

And…We appreciate your coming. (Not you). 
 

Or….Give the document to John or me (not myself).

What if you were speaking to a large crowd, and you were giving instructions? If you left out John would you say, “Please give the final, edited copy to myself.” ?

 

Those bug me too. I think many people had teachers who taught them to fear the use of me so they use I and myself inappropriately. 

I had a teacher who taught us to take the other pronouns out of the sentence. If I or me is appropriate to use alone, then use it with other pronouns. The same goes for me vs myself.

20 hours ago, itsheresomewhere said:

The word- kiddo.  I don’t know why it bothers me so much but it does.  

Uh-oh. I've always used that to refer to ds. Sometimes I called him kiddo and sometimes I called him that to others. <ducking and running>

 

[shawthorne44]

Mine is sniffling.   I hate that!   Just blow your dang nose!   
DD does it and I don't know where she got that since neither DH or I do that.  It has been a constant battle but she is getting better.  
 

[klmama]

18 minutes ago, Junie said:

Oh, thank you!  I recently met someone from the midwest and I realized that I need to not be sarcastic with him because he just doesn't get it.

LOL!  Dh and I talk about this frequently.  I understand sarcasm just fine, but I still answer as if the comment were serious.  I have no idea why.  Maybe because I'm from the Midwest?

[marbel]

3 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said:

Mine is sniffling.   I hate that!   Just blow your dang nose!   
DD does it and I don't know where she got that since neither DH or I do that.  It has been a constant battle but she is getting better.  
 

I don't like sniffling either, but I have so often heard people say it's rude to blow one's nose around others, so sniffling may seem to be a better option?  I mean, I don't like the sound of nose blowing but a person can't always get up and go into the bathroom or outside if the need comes up.  Especially during allergy season.

 

[Lady Florida.]

2 hours ago, Danae said:

From the Yale Grammatical Diversity Project:

My part of Central Florida straddles the 3-4 line yet I don't recall ever hearing people leave out the to be.

[shawthorne44]

1 minute ago, klmama said:

LOL!  Dh and I talk about this frequently.  I understand sarcasm just fine, but I still answer as if the comment were serious.  I have no idea why.  Maybe because I'm from the Midwest?

Maybe that is why I don't do sarcasm?   Early childhood was Minnesnowda.  

Just recently I answered a question straight and the person I was talking to thought I was making a joke and being sarcastic.  I said, "I don't so sarcasm."   He thought I was still being sarcastic.  It went on for a bit until someone else that knew me had to pipe up and say, "No, really, she doesn't do sarcasm."   

 

 

 

[ScoutTN]

23 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said:

You can buy a timer for those.   To turn the fan on, you rotate the dial to up to 60 minutes then it turns off automatically.   It won't be where you think you think it will be in the big box hardware store.   

That's a Dh project and the fan doesn't bother him! Home repair/electrical things are not my deal.

[Miss Tick]

3 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

That's a Dh project and the fan doesn't bother him! Home repair/electrical things are not my deal.

Well, what would happen if you started the project? Would he take over? It sounds like a very straightforward project, I think the switch versions drop into the same box the current switch is in, so even if he didn't take over i bet you could do it on a free Saturday (that might be a show stopper right there!) Maybe if you bought the supplies from the home store and then asked your dh to show you how to turn off the power to that room....

[ScoutTN]

3 hours ago, SusanC said:

Well, what would happen if you started the project? Would he take over? It sounds like a very straightforward project, I think the switch versions drop into the same box the current switch is in, so even if he didn't take over i bet you could do it on a free Saturday (that might be a show stopper right there!) Maybe if you bought the supplies from the home store and then asked your dh to show you how to turn off the power to that room....

Nope. Not my deal. it is irritating, but not to the degree that I will bother him about it. Also not necessary if people would just turn it off...

[teachermom2834]

1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

Nope. Not my deal. it is irritating, but not to the degree that I will bother him about it. Also not necessary if people would just turn it off...

Right? You shouldn’t need to do a project because people won’t just turn it off! Haha. 
 

I know @SusanCis being helpful. I once posted a big rant about how the people I live with kept opening packages of cheese and lunch meat when there were already open packages in spite of my system of keeping open packages in a drawer that could be checked first before new packages opened. I got pages of suggestions of how I could work around my people’s refusal to check the open packages drawer when I just wanted them to quit opening all the packages! I didn’t want to have to outwork them when all they had to do was quit opening new packages when there was already an open one! I didn’t want a work around! I wanted them to STOP IT! Hahaha. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by teachermom2834

[ericathemom]

Nonegon glasses. I was drinking wonderful reverse osmosis water at my parents' house when I noticed the glass wouldn't line up with the lines in the tablecloth fabric. Counting the edges, I found only nine! Ikea apparently chose to embrace chaos the day they made these. My kids and I (correct usage here!) even learned the name of this rare shape due to these glasses.

[Tree Frog]

1 hour ago, ScoutTN said:

Nope. Not my deal. it is irritating, but not to the degree that I will bother him about it. Also not necessary if people would just turn it off...

My dh leaves the fan on due to odor and white noise to sleep to. I had an epiphany one night after he looked at me funny for asking him if anyone would even be near that bathroom (master bath) before the odor disappated and pointing out he could leave the fan off. I can hear the fan in the main part of the house and it bothers me. Odor bothers him much more than it does me and sound bothers me much more than odor.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Tree Frog

[Miss Tick]

3 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Nope. Not my deal. it is irritating, but not to the degree that I will bother him about it. Also not necessary if people would just turn it off...

Sorry if I offended. I just got overexcited that, unlike many problems here, this one seemed to have an easy solution if you know your way around a screwdriver - unless it would be interpreted as a passive aggressive way to get him to take over. But that is not the focus of this thread and you were not were you asking for help solving this minor irritation. My apologies.

[heartlikealion]

This thread is hilarious. 

Small town hours. It doesn’t matter how long I’ve lived here. Drives me bonkers. The only store in town closes at 8pm. I worked there PT for a bit. They will sometimes close before 8, lock the doors and shoo people out. As an employee they told me they had to be out at 8 which makes no logical sense. As a customer you never know if they will have closed early. 

Then there’s the town square in another town. Pretty much all the shops close at 5 and have limited Sat hours. Nothing is open on Sunday. Well I was in that town tonight with my dad and I said maybe we can eat at this Chinese restaurant. The store was closed and door said they closed at 7pm and weren’t open on Sat. I said what is wrong with people?! My dad said they probably cater to the employees that work M-F in the town square. We did find a place to eat in town, though. I was thrilled lol 

Sam’s club closes too early and their gas station isn’t open very late so sometimes I pay extra for gas just because they are closed ugh. That’s not even in a small town. 

So just businesses that aren’t open late bother me I guess lol 

Regarding discontinued stuff - Snickers Cruncher. And I can’t believe Snickers almond made it this long. Cruncher was superior. Hardly ever drink alcohol but I liked Smirnoff Ice Triple Black. A million other flavors but not my triple black. Also superior 🤣

Edited July 23, 2022 by heartlikealion