# Little things that irritate in a big way - Cafe edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2011, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318 "2011-01-12T06:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/81 "2011-01-16T06:53:34Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I didn’t really go wrong, did I? > I calculated 6 miles per second because that was what was mentioned in the post. But as you point out, **Saltire** \*then immediately \*said 600 miles per hour. One or the other is wrong. > My calculations are correct for 1 mile per second. \*\*Saltire’s \*\*statement that this comes out to 600 miles per hour is wrong. 6 miles per second comes to 21,600 miles per hour. > > Now, since I don’t watch the show (well, to be fair, I no longer watch the show), I can’t say which was stated. But based on what was said in the quote, I’m going to say that **Saltire** miscalculated. Did the writers mess up, or was the report of 600 miles per hour wrong? I don’t know, but the calculations I made for 6 miles per second is a correct one. In my post, I said, “she ran a mile every 6 seconds or so, which comes out to 600 miles an hour.” I did not miscalculate. It is possible that I misheard, though I’m surprised they’d have her going so supersonic and not mention it specifically. Looking at the Wikipedia entry for the show, they say she has a mile time of .16 second. That would be 6 miles per second. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/82 "2011-01-16T06:54:08Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I didn’t really go wrong, did I? Yep. > [@](#): > > I calculated 6 miles per second because that was what was mentioned in the post. Nope. Here’s the original post you quoted: > [@Saltire](#): > > On the show, Julie Benz’ character can move really fast. When she revealed her power to her lab assistant, they tried to gather some data and determined she ran **a mile every 6 seconds or so** , which comes out to 600 miles an hour. (bolding mine) 600mph is correct and consistent with “a mile every 6 seconds,” which can also be written as 6 seconds per mile. Not 6 miles per second. I’ve never seen the show so I can’t about what they said, only what was posted to the thread. EDIT: Looks like we got the definitive answer. Half a dozen posts discussing a nitpicky complaint that ended up not having any merit to begin with. That’s the dope we all know and love. heh. ---
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/83 "2011-01-16T07:06:45Z")
Lately, I’ve noticed anyone explaining anything, for example on late night talk shows, or those doing sound bites re: news events, lean heavily on, ‘y’know?’ “Well, y’know, when I arrived on the set, y’know? I mean, like, y’know? it was the first time …” No. I don’t know, and I also don’t know what you’re trying to say. Could you please, like, you know, be a TAD clearer? an seanchai ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/84 "2011-01-16T13:02:32Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Yep. > > Nope. Here’s the original post you quoted:(bolding mine) > > \ You are right. Worse for me, I misread that quote _more than once_. Apparently I can do arithmetic, but I cannot _read_… **Saltire** , my apologies and my thanks to those who pointed out my misreading. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/85 "2011-01-16T13:22:23Z")
Something that annoys me about documentaries on the History Channel or on PBS is the 101-level material that has to be slogged through. It sounds like I’m bragging, but you know what I mean: there’s a topic you’ve always been interested in, and know a bit more than the average person about, so when “niche” television grants it a moment you’ll want to look in. You just like being in the milieu of the topic, and there’s a chance that they’ll hit on some aspect of it that you’re not familiar with so you’ll have something to go look up on your own later. But the 101-level stuff always triumphs. Let’s say there’s an obscure documentary about Greece’s war with Bulgaria in WWI, or Texas’s invasion of Arizona in the Civil War. Sounds interesting and not subject matter already done to death. But the first thirty percent of the show is back-story about Archduke Franz Ferdinand or Fort Sumter. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/86 "2011-01-16T14:29:35Z")
For some reason I seem to get steamed up about ten different ways every time I see the anti-gout drug commercial with the guy who looks a bit like Charles Durning, carrying a giant flask of uric acid everywhere. The narrator speaks to us as if we are all six-year-olds. “Gout is caused by high uric acid. To reduce the number of attacks, lower your uric acid. Goutiflax, or whatever it’s called, reduces uric acid, reducing the number of attacks”. Meanwhile, the images show the guy’s flask shrinking to a smaller, but still fairly gigantic, size. Wait, how’s that work, again? Then there’s the flask itself. The schmuck in the commercial even has a custom-made leather pouch he carries it around in. Yes, I know it’s what the grown-ups call a metaphor, but all I can think of when I see it is, “Dude, if you don’t like schlepping it around, just set the goddam thing down someplace”. Meanwhile, throw him off the bus before he spills that shit everywhere. Wait, I just remembered, they even show him going through an airport with that ridiculous flask. How the hell does he get through the security line with like a gallon of acid on him? Yet he does, and ends up fly-fishing on a lake somewhere, still with flask. That brings me to the gratuitous overuse of the two universal tropes that seem to show up in every single pharmaceutical advert made these days: the happy patient out on the lake in the woods (apparently you get a free vacation with every prescription to these new drugs) and everything filmed in slightly slow motion, like an NFL film. Side effects apparently include taking 30% longer to do anything or get anywhere. What really pisses me off, however, is that now I remember exactly what the ad is for, and can’t get the fucking thing out of my head, so clearly the agency achieved their aim. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/87 "2011-01-16T18:20:10Z")
When people write “I should of” instead of “I should have,” and “I could care less” instead of “I couldn’t care less.” When a person says “I hate xy,” and someone else goes “aww, but hate is such a strong word, you shouldn’t say that!” When someone says “they gave it to me and my brother,” and someone corrects them: “you mean MY BROTHER AND I!” When 10-14-year-old girls shriek because it’s raining. Websites that are based on flash rather than html. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/88 "2011-01-16T20:17:00Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > When people write “I should of” This is a recent development that makes the baby Jesus and me both sob until we’re sick to our stomachs. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/89 "2011-01-16T22:00:04Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > This is a recent development that makes the baby Jesus and me both sob until we’re sick to our stomachs. yeah, but can _you_ drink water and then puke wine out of the spear wound in your side? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/90 "2011-01-17T04:21:36Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > When people write “I should of” instead of “I should have,” and “I could care less” instead of “I couldn’t care less.” > When a person says “I hate xy,” and someone else goes “aww, but hate is such a strong word, you shouldn’t say that!” > When someone says “they gave it to me and my brother,” and someone corrects them: “you mean MY BROTHER AND I!” > When 10-14-year-old girls shriek because it’s raining. > Websites that are based on flash rather than html. Aren’t these MB irritations, as opposed to CS irritations? I took this thread to mean things that bug you in movies, tv, music and books. If we’re going to include MB irritations, I cannot stand uber-pretentious pluralizations. “Fora” instead of “forums” makes me want to rip somebody’s teeth out with pliers. “Penii” is up there as well, but thankfully the number of times this comes up is much lower. The worst sin of all is somebody using “fora” when the _singular_ form is called for. I want to burn their entire families alive. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/91 "2011-01-17T04:28:57Z")
I have to go along with the OP – the opening of certain shows with a live audience. I DVR all our shows so we can fast forward through the commercials, and I really appreciate the “mute” button. Agreed about The Daily Show audience – I either mute or ff until the camera homes in on Jon. The worst is The View. Clapping, cheering, screaming, in addition to…a standing ovation?? Oh please, four to five women who talk over and interrupt each other and their guests, and they get a standing ovation? And when a guest comes out, more time is taken while he/she clasps hands, hugs, and kisses everyone (while the audience claps and screams). ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/92 "2011-01-17T08:05:23Z")
Okay, so I have another, very slight irritant: Whenever I look for YouTube links of a certain song, it always bugs the crap out of me when the audio of the video I find is such that the song ends up being not in the right key. I remember songs being sung in a certain key in a certain recording, and when that key is off, I notice, and it bugs the hell out of me. I’ve been told this is one of the signs of perfect pitch, but I still doubt I have it. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/93 "2011-01-17T08:45:36Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Something that annoys me about documentaries on the History Channel or on PBS is the 101-level material that has to be slogged through. It sounds like I’m bragging, but you know what I mean: there’s a topic you’ve always been interested in, and know a bit more than the average person about, so when “niche” television grants it a moment you’ll want to look in. You just like being in the milieu of the topic, and there’s a chance that they’ll hit on some aspect of it that you’re not familiar with so you’ll have something to go look up on your own later. > > But the 101-level stuff always triumphs. Let’s say there’s an obscure documentary about Greece’s war with Bulgaria in WWI, or Texas’s invasion of Arizona in the Civil War. Sounds interesting and not subject matter already done to death. But the first thirty percent of the show is back-story about Archduke Franz Ferdinand or Fort Sumter. What I hate is when they add things that have nothing to do with the topic the documentary is presumed to be about. Discovery Channel produced a documentary about the Valkyrie bomb plot several years back, which was two hours long but about half of the time went into great detail about Churchill’s bathing habits and Stalin’s alleged affair with his housekeeper. And then it ended very abruptly with cue-cards mentioning the fates of the main conspirators against Hitler, because apparently that part wasn’t very important. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/94 "2011-01-17T12:24:42Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > TV ads that consist entirely of a man or woman staring at the camera, making facial expressions but not saying anything, while a voiceover does the talking for them. Seriously, what the hell is that about? Yep, any sort of lip synching just bugs me. Especially because you know the voice actor was not attractive enough to be on TV, so they had to match the “right” voice with the “right” actor. I agree completely with the earlier statements about the “perfect mom/useless family” dynamic in commercials. One specific commercial makes me want to burn things. It’s for the Windows Cloud, and features a woman complaining about her family pictures not coming out right. So she uses the computer to “swap in some smiles” and make a picture she can “share without ridicule,” because apparently that’s of huge importance. Her ending line is “Windows gives me the family nature never could” as her now-castrated husband hangs his head in shame. Apparently Windows is marketing directly to the lucrative “total douchebag female” demographic. Sharing the area of “ritual humiliation” are the Bud Light commercials featuring a guy, who is not quite as manly and attractive as his buddies, asking the INHUMANLY HOT woman working the bar for a light beer. He, because he is not nearly enough of a massive studbucket, doesn’t care whether he’s getting more taste or less taste. The INHUMANLY HOT bargirl then launches a withering verbal attack on his clothing, and asserts that when he grows a pair of testicles he should come back and get a REAL MANLY BEER which probably is made from the semen of purebred stallions, while the SLIGHTLY LESS HOT girl drinking at the bar sneers at him. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/95 "2011-01-17T13:58:36Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Are “Penii” is up there as well, but thankfully the number of times this comes up is much lower. > > . Yes, as I get older now i find the number of times my penii comes up does get lower.😃 - ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/96 "2011-01-17T17:37:28Z")
I know why TV and movie characters order or make meals and then leave without eating them, but it always annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/97 "2011-01-17T17:49:47Z")
> [@Sycorax](#): > > The worst is The View. Clapping, cheering, screaming, in addition to…a standing ovation?? Oh please, four to five women who talk over and interrupt each other and their guests, and they get a standing ovation? And when a guest comes out, more time is taken while he/she clasps hands, hugs, and kisses everyone (while the audience claps and screams). I believe they serve liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/98 "2011-01-17T18:22:30Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Aren’t these MB irritations, as opposed to CS irritations? I took this thread to mean things that bug you in movies, tv, music and books. > > If we’re going to include MB irritations, I cannot stand uber-pretentious pluralizations. “Fora” instead of “forums” makes me want to rip somebody’s teeth out with pliers. “Penii” is up there as well, but thankfully the number of times this comes up is much lower. Add to the list “octopi” and “platypi”. So fvcking wrong. It should be “octopodes” and “platypodes”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/99 "2011-01-17T18:57:05Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I just gritted my teeth through [this entire thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592723). Here is every single (unattributed) use of both fewer and less in that thread: > > “fewer games” > > “less discrete strategic points” > “far less cases” > “less racist” > “less than accurate” > “less players” > “less [players] on a team” > “a lot less parity back then and a lot less teams” > > Of the 9 uses of fewer/less in the thread, 5 were incorrect. We’re rapidly moving to where less will become correct through widespread usage, since that’s how language evolves. You understood what they were saying, and it’s a common usage, thus none were “incorrect”. Thus, we’re not rapidly moving to where less will become correct through widespread usage, it’s already there. In fact you have proven it so. My CS irritation is those stupid fucking Zagat reviews. First- voting does not make it so- KFC does not make the best fried chicken. Not by a long shot. Next, all those “quotation marks” hurt “my brain”, the “reviews” are “unreadable”. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318/100 "2011-01-17T20:13:33Z")
There is (apparently) a show called Tosh something on Comedy Central. Once of the worst things about watching the Daily Show live is not being able to skip commercials for this show. I can’t get through them without severe anger, and now mute if I can’t fast forward. Maybe the show is good, I don’t know. The commercials,however, are insufferable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-things-that-irritate-in-a-big-way-cafe-edition/567318.md?page=6)