# Random pet(ty) peeve thread **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708 "2015-06-05T14:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/141 "2015-07-16T22:42:04Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > Regarding “pacific” instead of specific: > When I was in college and in the student government we frequently met with the Dean of Students who always said “pacific” instead of specific. One time we were being especially smart-assy and when she said “let me be pacific” and we started chiming in “sure, but I want to be Atlantic!”, “I guess I’ll be Indian”, “damn, do I have to be the Arctic?”. She had no idea what we were talking about. To be fair though, when you are a representative of a higher learning institution we really expect you to get words correct. > > … Oh God, malapropisms are The Best. I used to work with a woman who said archichoke (AR-ki-choke) for artichoke, presidence (not an actual word) for precedent, soth-more for sophomore, and she was the secretary to the Executive Director of a very big nonprofit. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/142 "2015-07-16T23:17:57Z")
Well this is truly petty: very lately I’ve noticed the news sites using the word “boffin” rather than, say, “researchers”, or “scientists”. I know the meaning of the word, but is this 1946? Just say NASA scientists or whatever. Yeah, I know, space constraints. So cut out something else. Boffin makes me want to read the headline as an old fashioned newsreel. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/143 "2015-07-16T23:51:15Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > Well this is truly petty: very lately I’ve noticed the news sites using the word “boffin” rather than, say, “researchers”, or “scientists”. I know the meaning of the word, but is this 1946? Just say NASA scientists or whatever. > > Yeah, I know, space constraints. So cut out something else. Boffin makes me want to read the headline as an old fashioned newsreel. Good-holy-grief. I had to look that one up. \ “Origin: Boffin was a common colloquial term used in Britain during WW2 for the technical experts, the backroom boys, who were helping to win the war.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/144 "2015-07-17T00:35:02Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Wind chimes. > > No explanation necessary. You and my father would have gotten along very well!😛 I disappointed him in that I rather like windchimes. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/145 "2015-07-17T00:48:23Z")
> [@Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](#): > > My boss says “pacific” instead of “specific” and it makes me clench my teeth every time. She’s SO sensitive about being corrected that I save it for really egregious errors but I don’t know how much longer I can go without pointing this one out. I had a professor in college who that! He had other verbal miscues as well. “Specific example” came out as “pacific eggshample.” ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/146 "2015-07-17T01:00:50Z")
I don’t like the scholarly pronunciation of “processes” to have an “eez” sound at the end. (“Scholarly” as in used by university professors, scientists, and the like.) It’s not incorrect, but it strikes me as pretentious. I started a thread about it once. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/147 "2015-07-19T00:31:48Z")
This isn’t really a minor/picky peeve but something truly annoying. Anyhoo I thought I’d stick it here. \*Reeeeealy \*short appliance cords. :mad: I mean, c’mon! Not all of us live in houses with brand-new modern kitchens and plenty of counter-top outlets. My house was built in 1936, and there is one outlet at counter level. The other ONE is in the baseboard. If a short cord is a must, it doesn’t have to be six feet long, but can it at least be long enough to reach from the average counter height down to the floor? But a two-foot cord?? Which means you have to use an extension cord or a power strip and that IMHO pretty much cancels out the safety feature. ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/148 "2015-09-08T20:21:54Z")
Thought of another one… The overuse of exclamation points in emails! On every sentence! What an astonishing way to lose emphasis!!! I hope this doesn’t sound sexist, but women are far more guilty of this then men. It’s the [Myrna Carter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfORisGdLPg) effect! ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/149 "2015-09-09T18:53:36Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I don’t like the scholarly pronunciation of “processes” to have an “eez” sound at the end. (“Scholarly” as in used by university professors, scientists, and the like.) It’s not incorrect, but it strikes me as pretentious. I started a thread about it once. Really? I am so sorry that I missed that! I must do a search! As far as I can tell, that is the only word in the English language the ends in “ESS” for which the plural can sometimes be pronounced as “EEZ”. We don’t say “recess-EZZ”. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/150 "2015-09-09T18:56:47Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#): > > Thought of another one… > > The overuse of exclamation points in emails! On every sentence! What an astonishing way to lose emphasis!!! > > I hope this doesn’t sound sexist, but women are far more guilty of this then men. > > It’s the [Myrna Carter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfORisGdLPg) effect! This is what eventually broke me from reading comic books as a youngster. At some point I realized that every sentence out of Batman’s or Superman’s mouth was either an exclamation or a question. Not a single period in the whole magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/151 "2015-09-09T19:00:58Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > Really? I am so sorry that I missed that! I must do a search! > > As far as I can tell, that is the only word in the English language the ends in “ESS” for which the plural can sometimes be pronounced as “EEZ”. We don’t say “recess-EZZ”. > > WTF? People who do that are usually trying to differentiate between the noun and verb forms. John /prɑsɛsəz/ the forms vs We have automated /prɑsɛsɪz/. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/152 "2016-08-21T12:46:56Z")
I dug up this thread to gripe in a petty way about “prayers to.” Prayers are offered **to** a deity or intercessor **for** an intention. Aurelia prays **to** Mars **for** the success of Caesar in battle. I pray **to** the Flying Spaghetti Monster **for** you to be blessed with many meatballs. Mom prays **to** Saint Anthony [that he will intercede with God] **for** Dad to find his keys. You don’t pray to the victims of a disaster, you pray for them. If they had power and omniscience that merited being prayed to, they probably wouldn’t be victims of a disaster. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/153 "2016-08-21T17:42:28Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > [Austin is debating whether to rename a street from Bruce Jenner Drive to Caitlyn Jenner Drive](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/05/bruce-jenner-lane-name-change/28531947/). I’m happy if Caitlyn is happy but renaming streets (and other cartographic/geographic features) is a huge pet peeve of mine. I think it is an obnoxious practice. I hate it about as much as I hate it when they rearrange the shelves in the grocery store. Just leave the fucking things alone. I recently heard a sports announcer (referring to Jenner’s medals), as “…when she won them”. If he’s a she now, that 's fine, but I think _he_ won the medals. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/154 "2016-08-21T20:28:23Z")
Thank you, **Barrett Bonden** , for digging this up, I enjoy this thread! But something very strange has happened in this thread. At least 3 of my posts are missing. A couple of other people’s posts are gone, too. I remember making a comment to **WOOKINPANUB** about her not taking the coupon off the item she was purchasing. I distinctly remember complaining about people handing me wet money while I was working at the dollar store. I remember saying it was bad enough if it was sweaty boob money, but even worse when the wet money came from their pants pocket. :eek: Someone addressed **EmilyG,** thinking she was the one being handed the sweaty boob money. **EmilyG** said it was not her. Someone else went and looked it up, then quoted my original comment, because well, you know… cite? I came back and reiterated that it was worse to be handed wet money from their pants pocket. Who knows how it got wet, and ew. There were at least two other comments about sweaty boob money. That’s about eight posts missing. I’ve read the whole thread twice, and **all** those posts are gone. 😕 Anyone from the first time around remember this? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708/155 "2016-08-23T14:13:45Z")
People who send emails without subject lines. At my workplace there are two or three people who do this constantly. Really bugs me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-pet-ty-peeve-thread/721708.md?page=7)