# Things that infuriate you well beyond their actual importance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712 "2024-09-04T02:18:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 146
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2901 "2026-04-14T15:17:10Z")
I’m often working on two documents at a time, copying and pasting between the two. Both documents are 9pt Times New Roman, but when I copy from one and paste to the other, it usually pastes in 10pt Courier New. It has recently begun using 9pt Aptos, too. It very rarely (less than 5% of the time) pastes as 9pt Times New Roman. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2902 "2026-04-14T20:30:53Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > That’s my husband! We’ll be watching TV or sitting outside, and all of a sudden he’ll blurt out something like - so when I do that, I’ll have to buy a new hammer. I look at him and say - I don’t even know what you’re talking about. He looks at me like, how can you not know? I used to work with a guy like this. He’d be sitting next to me, on the phone, hang up and continue the conversation with me. Like, I’d have heard everything the other person said. Actually, I hadn’t paid any real attention to what he was saying in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2026, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2903 "2026-04-15T11:21:13Z")
I have horrific tinnitus, hearing aids help, but I don’t always wear them for reasons. Don’t mumble to your computer screen and expect me to know what you are saying, or even that you are talking to me. When I say “what?” all you need to do is speak to me and enunciate. You don’t need to fucking YELL. Actually, this is a pretty important one. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2904 "2026-04-15T18:06:54Z")
Mrs GargoyleWB does that all the time, drives me up the wall. If she’s on the phone, she somehow assumes that I’m wanting or trying to follow what she’s talking about on the phone, when I can’t even hear the other person anyway. If you deliberately want me to be pulled into your phone call, then do that or put it on speaker, but otherwise I’m tuning it out am not involved in your phone call. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2905 "2026-04-16T14:20:55Z")
I might have already mentioned this somewhere in the over 2000 complaints. But it just happened again, and I need to vent. My husband likes to listen to music through earbuds while he works on mundane tasks around the house. While he is wearing them and still listening to music, he’ll ask me a question. Usually, I don’t notice the earbuds and will answer him. Then he will ask me again because he can’t hear me! Then I notice the earbuds and just walk away. UGH 😖 😵‍💫 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2906 "2026-04-23T20:50:10Z")
Gahhh. My Wife just did it again. Saying “I’m going to that pet store” Point to the North East. Umm, “What pet store” “The one where I bought dog food” She assumed I knew exactly what she was talking about. Turns out, the pet store that she went to is to the south, not the NE. I think I was there once about 8 months ago. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2907 "2026-04-24T01:22:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s what you think, but you’ve been fooled by the wily polar bear’s incredible skills in disguise. So _that’s_ why _Pinguinus_ are extinct… ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2908 "2026-04-24T01:26:51Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Saying “I’m going to that pet store” Point to the North East. My wife has absolutely no problem _getting to_ the pet store, or any other place, but in spite of the fact that the sun has been rising in the east _every day_ for the 30+ years she has lived in this house, she has no idea how the map relates to East, West, the sun, our house, and our city. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2909 "2026-04-24T01:32:47Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > And all the women’s outer clothing mysteriously fell off? Hmmm. Benny Hill, more likely it was Jackie Wright’s clothes falling off. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2910 "2026-04-24T04:52:58Z")
I don’t find that terribly strange. When I lived in Chicago, which has an almost completely regular grid layout of its streets, I had a very strong sense of how the world relates to the cardinal directions. Now I’ve lived for 30 years in a town with a weird street layout: some streets radiate from a central point, and other streets are semicircles that cross the radial streets at right angles. I know the town very well and if plopped in some arbitrary point I could find my way to anywhere else, but I might not have a good sense of where north is, since most streets are curved and knowing the compass direction is of almost no use in finding ones way around. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2911 "2026-04-24T11:32:09Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I don’t find that terribly strange. Well, yeah. But we are in the front range of Colorado. "Those mountains right there? That we can see from our patio? That huge fourteener call Longs Peak, is to the West. But I do understand. She’s from Pittsburgh. There is no grid layout to that city as far as I can tell, and it’s often overcast. Nobody in her family used cardinal directions, you really couldn’t, it was always left or right. Never go east or west. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2912 "2026-04-24T13:34:54Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Nobody in her family used cardinal directions, you really couldn’t, it was always left or right. Never go east or west. My guess is that’s common in cities - I can tell north from south etc at home or another place I know well or if it’s sunny. But the only time I use those words is for highways, where I’ll say “take the Belt Parkway west”, mostly becasue the signs at the entrances actuall say “west”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2913 "2026-04-24T13:57:30Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > My guess is that’s common in cities - I can tell north from south etc at home or another place I know well or if it’s sunny. I sort of have a funny story. I was in Pittsburg. My SIL was driving, nighttime, rainy (she is a… questionable driver). My SIL born and raised in Pitt. But has trouble finding her way. Her husband, my BIL was in the passenger seat. He’s nearly blind. He’s reading the map on how to get home. Now there is a problem here, we did not know where we where, so a blind man reading a map does not help. I’m a GIS Cartographer, maps are my thing. But since we did not know where we where, I can’t help. Ya sort of need a starting and ending point. My niece and I are in the back seat (she understood that we where kinda screwed too). My niece and looked at each other and sighed, gonna be a loooong trip, wandering around Pittsburgh until someone recognizes something. We just tuned everything out and had a nice long conversation. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2914 "2026-04-24T13:58:44Z")
IME a highway that has a sign saying N probably goes north overall; but may at any particular point be headed north, east, west, points inbetween, or even due south. So in terms of finding one’s way locally, a good sense of where north is may actually be a handicap with regards to such roads. ETA: Oh Pittsburgh. I’ve been to Pittsburgh. I can’t imagine how anyone finds their way around Pittsburgh, other than by rote memorization of routes they ordinarily take. A sense of direction won’t help a bit, it’ll just bring you up against a river and/or a one way street going the wrong way. I suppose these days almost everybody uses GPS. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2915 "2026-04-24T14:09:29Z")
Case in point: I grew up in San Jose. You can get on I-680 South. Shortly before you get to US 101, the freeway turns west, then at 101, I-680 South becomes I-280 North. Which then proceeds to run more west than north for many miles, until it heads up the peninsula. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2916 "2026-04-24T14:27:33Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’ve been to Pittsburgh. I can’t imagine how anyone finds their way around Pittsburgh, other than by rote memorization of routes they ordinarily take. A sense of direction won’t help a bit, it’ll just bring you up against a river and/or a one way street going the wrong way. Don’t forget the only highway in the U.S. that goes north and south at once: > **[U.S. Route 19 Truck (Pittsburgh)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_19_Truck_(Pittsburgh))** > > U.S. Route 19 Truck (US 19 Truck) is a truck route of US 19 located in Western Pennsylvania in Greater Pittsburgh that has a length of 19.4 miles (31.2 km). It is a loop off US 19; the southern terminus located in Mt. Lebanon and the northern terminus in McCandless, connecting to US 19 at both ends. The route is notable for a large, unorthodox interchange with the Penn–Lincoln Parkway (Interstate 376 \[I-376\]/US 22/US 30) just west of the Fort Pitt Tunnel, where the route joins the parkway and ... ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2917 "2026-04-24T14:32:52Z")
I’ve seen in other locations, including one somewhere en route between the Finger Lakes and State College PA, stretches where two highways are running together and the signs say simultaneously Highway X East (or North) and Highway Y West (or South). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2918 "2026-04-24T14:35:18Z")
Are there any others like Route 19 Truck where the same stretch of road is signed as Highway X North and Highway X South? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2919 "2026-04-24T14:42:42Z")
Not that I know of. I was just adding an additional point. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/2920 "2026-04-24T14:54:18Z")
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