Pretty self-explanatory. However, I’m not talking about nails-on-a-chalkboard sound, I mean sounds that most people wouldn’t think twice about if they heard it but drives you nuts, maybe because you associate it with something bad or unpleasant from your past or something. Maybe it just gets on your nerves.
I’ll start: Human whistling, like whistling for a dog, drives me mad. Causes feeling of murderous rage.
Tractor engines, especially combined with the rhythmic squeaking and clunking of an implement being used. Argh!!!
:mad:
I tend to have a weird and exaggerated response to all sudden loud noises, but balloon-popping is the worst, for some reason. To the point where I start to get a little antsy if I’m in even the presence of balloons just because I can’t help but anticipate that one is going to pop.
Another one for me is human voices. Not in all contexts, of course, but one voice incessantly chattering on. Oddly, the quieter it is, the worse it is. A perfect example is some people In the building next door chatting while they’re out on the porch smoking at night. They talk in a normal tone of voice, but one woman has a voice that cuts though anything. Even if I have the TV on, I can hear her, and it’s like an insect buzzing around the room.
Fortunately I taked to them about it and they were very nice and stopped.
I was going to say “the slam of car brakes followed by an agonized yelp, then silence” but then I noticed the that most people wouldn’t think twice about part, so I’ll have to scratch that.
I find the noise rainsticks make to be both creepy and off-putting but no one else seems to. And I don’t usually like windchimes either (this time not creepy, just unpleasant), which sucks because people buy them for me.
Car horn sound at Oakland A’s games (maybe it has another name,but I associate with loud car honking). They play it over the loudspeakers, so I’m guessing it’s not universally hated.
I’ll come back later with more, I’m just blanking right now.
I hate, hate, HATE the sound of a fist knocking on a door (followed, inevitably, by dog barking.) It makes me jump out of my chair every time I hear it. I’m eventually going to install a doorbell here and put up a sign specifically instructing visitors to NOT knock on the door but to ring the doorbell instead.
Neighbor’s weedwacker, often accompanied by another neighbor’s lawnmower. Not just the noise, but the timing. It’s like they watch to see if we’re out on the deck with visitors, on a beautiful summer evening, and that’s their cue to start their engines.
I am plagued by many bad sounds. The circular saw came up right away. It’s not the saw sound itself and of course I use one all the time. When I hear others using a circular or cross-cut saw I always expect to hear the scream of someone who had an accident. I’ve seen my share of accidents and they haunt me at these times.
The sound of someone cracking chewing gum, the ringing of a telephone, the sound of shuffling shoes or, dear god, the slapping sound of flips flops. Along those lines, when people are trying on shoes and they’re too lazy to set them on the ground so they just throw them down. Most American accents.
You’d better stay away from me then, because I’m a big fan and have been listening to her a whole lot lately. Only 44 more days until i see her in person!
Obviously there are few people out there who would say they like to hear this, but I include it because for me it taps into some sort of primal well of anger and hate that is otherwise inaccesible.
My roommate (who I’ll even admit doesn’t eat particularly loud) used to know that if I was anywhere in the house, chips were a no. I could be in my room watching pornography with the headphones on, but if he started eating chips in the main room it was like instant RAGE RAGE RAGE.
Only the idiots blowing the vuvuzelas are unbothered by them.