Opera singers; specifically female, who insist on ruining an otherwise pleasant tune by adding so much vibrato it’s practically impossible not to wince. Any other member of the orchestra - even solo violin - putting on so much, and so consistently, would be shot.
There. I feel so much better now.
Brace yourselves… I don’t like going to the movies. It’s too loud and since I’m pretty short I always end up sitting behind some giant man who keeps moving around all the time. I don’t find the chairs very comfortable either.And the things people eat!! With their mouths open! That really irks me. No, I prefer to wait until a movie is released on video, and cuddle up on my own couch with a favourite blanket.
Driving - It’s not that I can’t, or won’t do it. It’s just that given a choice between riding with someone else or driving on my own, I’ll let the other person have at it every time.
Cooking - The microwave is my best friend (of course, part of this may have something to do with the fact that I’m an abysmal cook! 
)
Kids - Ok, let me qualify this before I’m made out to be some kind of a monster. I like SOME kids. After I get to know them. After I’ve taken a long TIME to get to know them. But throw me in a room with 5 or 6 8 year olds, and I go nuts. I just don’t feel comfortable with them. Especially now adays when you have to be overly careful of every word you say because you never know when an angry parent is going to come down and lop off your head for saying something innocuous to their child like “So, do you like peas?” because peas just aren’t discussed in their house.
Those are the only ones I can think of at 5:30 in the morning. Maybe I’ll think of more and add to it…
I’m embarrassed to admit this. I don’t like Bob Dylan. I feel really bad about it. I like the lyrics when they’re written down, but I don’t like to listen to the songs out loud. In many people’s eyes (including some here, I’ll bet) that makes me a philistine.
Is it alright if I like Leonard Cohen instead?
There’s hope for me yet here if Nym and I agree on something!
Ooh. Bob Dylan. ICK I despise everything he’s ever written, performed, or otherwise disgraced with his foul presence. I don’t understand why people worship the fool. You can sing like him too, his nasal whine is easy, and lyrically I can do better when 3/4 asleep!
Eric Clapton: Why? He’s not great. And if I hear “Tears in Heaven” one more time I’m going to club him.
Pearl Jam: Ugh.
Nirvana: I taunted kids when Kurt Cobain copped out and blew his brains out. I can’t see what they did for music other than ruin it.
Any “Great” Philosopher: Look, I’m sure it took you a long time to think up that pretty sentence. However I thought of the same thing in 5 minutes, 3 of which I spent wondering where the guy in front of me in a left turn lane was going with a right turn signal on. You’re not impressing me.
Tea and coffee - I never had them when I was a kid, so I don’t need a caffeine hit every day.
Jane Austin and Dickens and I tried really hard to like them, they just left me cold and bored.
Blade Runner - Yeah, it’s a masterpiece and I picked up on the themes and how it’s influenced other films but I really didn’t like it.
Mushrooms, onions, peppers and any type of fish just leaves me with a desire to vomit.
Well, I’m not particularly embarrassed about any of my opinions. However, I am always willing to share them…
History. I don’t really care. Its not even that I know it already, or I’m not interested in knowing it. I’m just not going to read about it by choice.
Television. Don’t care for it. Movies are fine, but I haven’t seen that new commercial and I doubt I ever will.
Music without words. I’m a singer. Instrumentals are very long intros.
Add me to the sports can disapear without disturbance pool. Football day on campus last year (before they tore down the stadium) was the day all the parents come and make it impossible to get food.
Seperating thoughts. I’m majoring in Chemical engineering and Philosophy. Dual majors aren’t uncommon at my school, or really even anywhere. If it was Chem E and Math or Philosophy and Music, I doubt I would get the “How interesting!” comments that mean “What are you, some kind of fruit?”. I know lots of people say that they have always been good at math and science or English and the arts. Fine. That’s them. I’ve ‘always been good at’ everything academic except spelling. I love my majors. Please don’t limit me to one ‘side’ or the other because you classify the world in a way I can’t fit in.
Oh please, can I come sit by you? I feel exactly the same way. I mean, I have this awful feeling that I’m really missing something because I just don’t get into Bob. But I do like Leonard.
I never got Nurvana. And I’d be extremely open to someone explaining it to me…I’d very much like to really appreciate their music.
I don’t like Shania Twain. Or Whitney Housten. Or Mariah. Or…Faith (no more) Hill. And I can’t even feel bad about it.
There are others…but I’m too ashamed and embarrassed to mention them. Golly, am I pitiful or what?
Lobster. I’ve tried lobster 6 or 7 times, with people telling me, “Man, this is good lobster!” and I spend the whole meal thinking, “Why am I spending $22 to eat a sea-going spider?” I don’t find the flavour foul or anything, I just don’t don’t see the point. It has no taste, as near as I can tell. When I mention this to people, they invariably say, “You have to dip it in the melted butter.” Well, fine, then I can taste melted butter, but…
Anyway, I’ve stopped even trying to like it now. I’ll have the chicken instead.
I don’t like the movie A Christmas Story. I love Christmas. I love stories. I even love movies. But dear lord, that movie annoys the crap out of me, and every person I’ve told that to looks at me as if I’ve killed their mother.
I’m not really embarrassed that I don’t like certain things. There are some things that I won’t volunteer that I don’t like, though. I consider myself to be cultured, posh, sophisticated and hip. Keeping that in mind, the following things I don’t like kind of clash with how I think of myself.
Red Wine
I just tell myself that my palette is still maturing.
Opera
Whatever Tom Hanks was listening to in Philadelphia when Denzel Washington came to visit him was beautiful. Other then that, I can’t stand it!
Musicals
I can’t even watch some Disney flicks because there’s too much singing. The Wedding Singer? Too much damned singing. So you expect me to sit through a production whose entire purpose is to segue into the next song? I don’t think so.
Hard Liquor, Neat
If you mix it in a Margarita on ice or straight up, I’m there. Alone or on the rocks? Blech! I can’t even get pass the smell. It burns going down and all tastes the same. Yeah, single malt whiskeys may be in style, but I’ll pass.
Martinis
See above.
Already mentioned - coffee and beer.
Didn’t see in this thread yet:
cats - not the musical, the animal. Don’t care for them, don’t want to hear stories about yours, don’t want to see pictures, don’t want to pet them, don’t want them rubbing against my leg or jumping in my lap.
Cindy Crawford - Take your mole and go away. I do not find you attractive even though I am a heterosexual male.
Seems like some of you are missing the point. I’d be embarrassed to admit I DID like MTV or Adam Sandler. Anyway…
I can’t stand most art movies. I need entertainment! As an Asian cinema devotee, it’s pretty damaging to my credibility to admit that most movies from Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-Wai drive me up the freaking wall.
Actually, I am usually turned off by art, poetry, philosophy, and so-called “high culture” in general.
I can’t stand alcohol. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, and I’ve tasted soap… If someone concocted a beverage that tasted exactly like the average human urine, I’d just as soon try that as alcohol. Plus, getting drunk makes me slow, stupid, and miserable. Being a college student and not drinking means no social life.
Embarrassed is perhaps not the word, but there are things that I’ve never developed an appreciation for, such as:
Soccer Yes, I probably should be cheering for a local team or, at the very least, the national one. Won’t happen. Actually, this goes for almost all spectator sports - I’m not entertained and I don’t friggin’ care who wins.
Cigars They’re currently all the rage, but I’ll pass. (Although some of the paraphernalia involved is very cool).
Most cocktails - apart from a few inspired ones, it’s a waste of perfectly good liquor. I do bow to Dry Martinis, GT, Bloody Mary and one or two others. But stay away with the little umbrellas & the straws, the layered multicolour drinks and the those with humorous names. Yecch!
Cars - well, that’s not entirely true. Let’s say 95-98% of all cars, then. I get a kick out of admiring cars like Lotus, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Viper etc. But whether my neighbours new family car is a Toyota, a Honda or a Daihatsu is a matter of extreme indifference to me. Feh.
Ballet - like soccer, I’m just not entertained. I’m impressed by the skill displayed, but - feh again.
Hmm - that list was shorter than expected.
S. Norman
Things I hate:
This was just a start.
Pasta.
I just really can’t get excited over it. It always seems like a way for restaurants to skimp on the real food–just give 'em three shrimp and half a bushel of fettucine.
Once in a great while I enjoy making my own noodles or ravioli, but the generic red-sauced spaghetti/lasagne/whatever–no thanks.
My husband is probably the only man in America who has to go to a restaurant when he wants plain old sphagetti.
Oh goodness…food hates.
Onions, tomatos, mushrooms, spices (I do like flavor. I like the flavor the food already is and my mouth hasn’t been desensitized so put the pepper/curry/whatever down.)
Seafood, any of it.
Most people may think I’m a freak, but apparently I’m not alone, as someone else has mentioned everything on my list so far.
The biggest shockers:
Kids
I don’t want them around me. They do nothing but irritate me. I don’t ever want to have kids of my own. People used to tell me that I’d feel differently when I got older, but I’m pushing 30 and my feelings have only grown stronger. My girlfriend has two teenagers and I’m okay with that because at least I can relate to them as proto-adults. Just keep yer friggin’ kneebiters away from me.
Dogs
I hate dogs in that “I wish they were all dead” way that a lot of people hate cats. In fact, I really don’t care for animals in general and I’d definitely prefer that they stay outside in the wild. I love cats, oddly enough, but I’d still prefer not to live with them. My idea of pet ownership is a fish tank.
Alcohol
I have never liked alcohol in any form. I’ve never been truly drunk. There were a couple times in high school when I choked down enough alcohol to see what all the fuss was about (but never enough to get drunk), but the more I drank, the more it made me gag. I’ve tried hard liquor, wine, and beer, and it all just makes me want to puke. I don’t care for the fact that it makes people stupid, either.
Pizza
This isn’t quite the offense that disliking chocolate is, but it still gets some “what the hell’s wrong with you?” reactions from people when they find out.
Sports
Football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer - can’t stand any of 'em. This attitude extends to the Olympics, too. I loathe the Olympics, and spectator sports in general. Sports just seem so utterly pointless to me. “Hey, look, I can take this ball and do something with it?” Yeah, so? If I want to be entertained by athleticism, I’ll watch pro wrestling (no, I’m not kidding.)
Like several other posters here, I’m not a huge TV fan (I never saw a single episode of Survivor, for example), but I do watch the occasional show that doesn’t suck. What seems to freak people out is that I hate commercials and don’t watch them. I mute the audio and pay attention to something else when the commercials come on. I can never participate in those “have you seen that commercial where…” conversations. No, I haven’t, and I’m not likely to.
I’m sure I’m leaving some out, too. I’m a pretty contrary guy.
I think everyone’s said mine, but what the heck.
Don’t like coffee (coffee ice cream, Frapuccinos are fine, but they’re not really coffee- they’re desserts, which I like).
Beer, or wine- ick. No, I don’t need to try the ‘right’ one, consarnit.
Kids. I can put up with one, for a short period of time, in certain situations. But that’s about it. My husband hates them, so I guess we’re well-matched.
I have a leg rule about what animals I’ll eat- it has to have started out with either 2 or 4 legs. That means no shrimp, no oysters, no snails, no lobster, no fish of any sort. I tried saying ‘I don’t like seafood’ but people then go on to say ‘well, but you like shrimp, right?’ Wrong. Yuck. Some smart-ass always has to ask me about three-legged cows, too.
I would say football, but I don’t really dislike it, I’m just indifferent to it (which is pretty awful in Texas).
or they’ll take my Texas citizenship away.
I don’t like beans (except pork&beans and lentils) and I don’t like iced tea (or hot tea for that matter)