You’re right. I’ll move this thread to MPSIMS, which is our forum for Mund- waitaminnit…
And yet, here you are.
Caught that, did you?
Out of curiosity, is it the question-asking, the answer that dismisses the question, or the combination of the two that you find annoying? I think I find the answer in your example above more annoying, but having read numerous VCO3 threads/trainwrecks that began “Why does X do Y?,” I can kind of understand why people feel compelled to do that.
From ‘Cheers’
Diane: “Methinks he doth protest too much.”
Woody: “Shouldn’t that be ‘I thinks,’ Miss Chambers?”
Simple - it’s easier to spot that someone has addressed their post to you (or has mentioned you in their post for another reason) if your username is bolded because it jumps out from the rest of the text. You’d probably be quicker to notice Mosier in a large block of text when it’s bolded, as opposed to if I’d just left it as-is.
Of course, it’s totally redundant if you’ve quoted that poster as well, since the quote should be enough to catch their attention.
I have been told that thousands of years ago, the Romans had a language in which the plural of ‘forum’ was ‘fora’.
However modern English has acquired words from many languages and cultures and does not need to refer back to the original (especially if it’s a dead language).
‘Curry’, ‘schadenfreude’ and ‘laser’ are all now English. It is silly to use Latin rules to make the plurals of any of them.
So the plural of ‘forum’ is ‘forums’. The plural of ‘bum’ is ‘bums’.
Per ardua ad astra!
Per ardua ad astrums?
My thought is that the phrase implies that the reason is unknown to the person making the statement. At least, that’s how I use it. Often, someone will volunteer the reason they believe for the statement at which point, I can decide whether to adopt the belief as my own. For *that *reason, I have no issues with it.
The thing is, I often find myself using meaningless filler phrases in real life* and they sometimes carry over into the words I type here. Isuspect that’s how some people interpret “for some reason”.
*such as “the thing is”
Said/typed: “For some reason…” Implied: “…but damned if I know what it is.”
Using Hi Opal! for a list is way overused, but only bothers me slightly when used to fill out a list. What really pisses me off is this:
[ol]
[li]Carrots[/li][li]Apples[/li][li]Hi, Opal![/li][li]Bananas[/li][li]Cheetos[/li][/ol]
Her original complaint is that a list needs to be >2 things, right? It you already have 3 or more, it doesn’t make sense to just stick it in the third slot.
A common SDMBism is believing that most internet memes are SDMB originated. It wouldn’t be of note except for the fact that this often comes from those members who think this is the gathering of the internet’s best.
A fun link:
http://www.dipity.com/user/tatercakes/timeline/Internet_Memes
Ok, I see what you mean.
Even I am guilty of using “in real life” despite the fact that conversing with relative, but fascinatingly alive, strangers on an internet message board is a distinctly real–as opposed to imaginary–experience. 
And let’s not forget viriiiyiiii. Nothing wrong with viruses.
It’s the answer that dismisses the question, because it totally dismisses what could be a very real phenomenon.
Another example:
Q: Why are black people more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than those who aren’t black?
A: I never heard of or met any black people that smoke menthols. In fact, all of the people I know or have met who smoke menthols are upper-middle-class WASPS, and I live in Harlem.
I can understand that it’s a natural reaction to VCO3-type posts (“Why are black people so loud?”, etc), but I’ve seen the response to more legitimate, sensitively-worded questions as well.
I dunno if this post is addressed to my OP specifically but I will defend myself by saying that the only other messageboard that I regularly read and post to is Irish and none of the three things I posted that irk me have I ever noticed there.
This is why the thread has become a more general ‘things that irk you online’. If it just covered proper, unique SDMBisms then it would only take three posts to cover 'em all.
I was reading through this, proud of my own tolerance, because none of these things really bother me. Then someone mentioned cats. I hate cat threads, and I don’t even read them. They just irritate the crap out of me. That’s another one that carries into real life, though. There was a woman at work with a picture of her cat on her wall with a caption that said, “Percy is purrrrrfect” and I wanted to stab her.
I, for one, welcome our <insert whatever here>.
Just bloody stop it, it isn’t funny
Similar to this, finishing a dismissive comment with “didn’t think so.”