# 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:** 50
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/981 "2024-12-24T15:04:47Z")
I use “poop” and “pee” as the explicit, but emotionally neutral words for those functions. 🤷‍♀️ If I’m trying to be polite and avoid using explicit words for bathroom stuff, i use other words. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/982 "2024-12-24T15:08:13Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > The guy with a full grocery cart who had to go through the self-checkout at the supermarket today. > > A full cart, My grocery store has an item limit for the self checkout area. And an employee to wave you over to the cashiers if you obviously have more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/983 "2024-12-24T16:24:36Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I use “poop” and “pee” as the explicit, but emotionally neutral words for those functions. Ditto (for both the noun and the verb). I’m wondering what terminology @Strenger finds acceptable. “Crap” and, especially, “shit” are so rude and potentially offensive that I’d heistate to use them around children or people of delicate sensibilities (or on TV). Plus they’re less likely to be taken literally: I’d say “Who left their poop on the floor” if I wanted to be clear I was referring to actual feces. “Defecate,” “have a bowel movement,” and “feces” are too formal and clinical-sounding. And “poo-poo,” “ca-ca,” and “doody” genuinely are childish and cutesy. So “poop” seems to me the most neutral and, in certain situations, appropriate terminology. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/984 "2024-12-24T16:30:18Z")
You wouldn’t be pleased with how the Brits take it further with “poo.” I was never a fan of their infantilized slang: “wooly-pulley” for sweater, etc. especially from a culture with a genius for inventive slang (“curtain-twitcher” for a nosey neighbor) ---
**Author:** ![Mongoose3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@Mongoose3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongoose3)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/985 "2024-12-24T17:04:02Z")
Here in britain, poop is definitely seen as more childish than poo ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/986 "2024-12-24T17:16:59Z")
Huh, in my dialect, “poo” sounds far more childish. It’s what you’d say to a baby, not a word adults would use talking to each other. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/987 "2024-12-24T18:28:17Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “Defecate,” “have a bowel movement,” and “feces” are too formal and clinical-sounding. Which is why “poo” has become more or less official in the UK [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZwjxnXH0JEQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Bowel cancer screening: Your next poo could save your life | NHS | BSL version") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwjxnXH0JEQ) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/988 "2024-12-24T18:33:17Z")
And I (an American) am with @puzzlegal in finding “poo” childish. But of course this is exactly the kind of thing that can vary depending on country, region, or dialect. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2024, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/989 "2024-12-24T18:45:35Z")
Some Americans are not exempt: imagine a fully grown man referring to his father as “Daddy.” Weird, except for Texans. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/990 "2024-12-24T18:48:41Z")
I’m watching a video wherein the person is talking directly to the camera, and by extension, me. Then, for no apparent reason, they switch to a camera giving a side view of the person talking. The person is no longer talking to me. The spell is broken. This person is dead to me. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/991 "2024-12-24T19:31:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “Crap” and, especially, “shit” are so rude and potentially offensive See, that I find puzzling. “Shit” is certainly rude and potentially offensive. “Crap” is what you replace “shit” with when you’re trying to avoid being rude and potentially offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/992 "2024-12-24T19:41:22Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > “Crap” is what you replace “shit” with when you’re trying to avoid being rude and potentially offensive. It’s certainly true that “crap” is milder than “shit.” But all the online dictionaries I found still label it as “rude” or “vulgar” (sometimes qualified with “mildly” or “somewhat”). ---
**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:** [December 24, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/993 "2024-12-24T20:13:55Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > Also, people who say “poop.” I thought that was just me. It appears to have recently become the standard term in news articles and so on; and always makes me think that they think we’re all in second grade. Or maybe kindergarten. Yes, I know they don’t want to say “shit” in the news article. What on earth is wrong with “feces”, “dung”, or “manure”; “coprolites” or “human waste” when one of those is relevant; or if you’ve absolutely got to even “BM”? > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Is it okay to remind our dog when we are out in the freezing rain at 6 am that we “ventured out in this foul weather for you to poop and not sniff around endlessly” or do I need to say “defecate”? I think that’s a situation that definitely calls for “shit”. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “poo-poo,” “ca-ca,” and “doody” genuinely are childish and cutesy. So is “poop”, to my ears or eyes. And I don’t think I ever saw it in news stories until the last decade or so. (Though I expect somebody will promptly come up with a cite to contradict that.) ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/994 "2024-12-24T20:27:16Z")
Ugh. You people! That’s why one would have to say something like “Who left an actual pile of fucking crap, like as in shit, as in someone actually took a fucking dump, in the middle of the room?” C’mon now. How often does it come up in “polite society” that one needs to point out someone or some thing’s solid (?) waste? Probably if one has children the topic is broached. One would hope a brief conversation would suffice, but who knows. Or, if one is stepping in or remarking on someone else’s furbaby pet of a snarling hellhound who just dropped a deuce in one’s path. In that case…“pet dander” or just plain “dogshit” or “cat shit in my sandbox” seems fine. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I thought that was just me. It appears to have recently become the standard term in news articles and so on; and always makes me think that they think we’re all in second grade. Or maybe kindergarten. That’s exactly right. It’s been about ten years or so that “poop” has been normalized as something adults say when speaking to an adult audience. It’s offensive, and it’s wrong. Just say “stool” if one must. “Goddammit, that Scooby Doo left another stool sample on my porch and I’m not happy about its composition: what does that damned hippie fool feed the beast, anyway? Needs more fiber.” I’m so unhappy I could just pee a little bit, or maybe a small tinkle! Oh! I might have to make bears in a moment…my word, laws, garsh. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/995 "2024-12-24T20:39:18Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > How often does it come up in “polite society” that one needs to point out someone or some thing’s solid (?) waste? You’d be surprised. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/996 "2024-12-24T20:41:20Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > You’d be surprised. LOL. Dung is also acceptable. We judges have ruled that it’s allowed. “Poop” is not. Also, the term contaminates longer standing traditional phrases and names. Poop deck. Poop Deck Pappy. And others…well…just that one, but it is robbing the language of its dynamic qualities. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/997 "2024-12-24T20:51:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > > [@Spoons](#): > > > > The guy with a full grocery cart who had to go through the self-checkout at the supermarket today. > > > > A full cart, > > My grocery store has an item limit for the self checkout area. And an employee to wave you over to the cashiers if you obviously have more than that. My local Safeway started with an item limit a few months ago. I usually don’t like to be “that person,” but in this case, I am. I am fast and efficient at the self-checkout. It would take a lot longer to go wait in a cashier line, and I’m not gonna do it. They haven’t said anything to me yet. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/998 "2024-12-24T20:56:11Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > Just say “stool” if one must. Oh, yeah, I forgot about “stool”. Which has the advantage, unlike some of my other suggestions, of being one syllable. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/999 "2024-12-24T21:01:23Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > Maybe the word “poop” has some sort of attraction for certain people. Perhaps those who are attracted to childlike behaviors or those who have fond memories of, say, a teacher or parent using that word in early childhood. You are so wrong, Dr Cox had to weigh in [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FPD5q6DC43M/hqdefault.jpg "Dr. Cox Wrong Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPD5q6DC43M) We use “poop” for what the cats do, not what we do. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > So “poop” seems to me the most neutral and, in certain situations, appropriate terminology. It’s okay for some uses at least. ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712/1000 "2024-12-24T21:04:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It’s okay for some uses at least. But not by adults speaking to adults. Agreed. _ **ANYWAY.** _ Another thing. In vehicular traffic. How exactly does one “forget” to use one’s turn signal? Or “forget” to not tailgate? Or “forget” to never **ever** pass on the right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-infuriate-you-well-beyond-their-actual-importance/1006712.md?page=51)