• People who ride a bike on the sidewalk and expect you to move out of their way.

That’s all that readily came to mind for intense annoyances. I’ll have to put more thought into it.

Influencers.
No matter what they are trying do influence you to do, they are all a bunch of self interested assholes.

[1]

Influencers. — Sir2u

[2] people who go to concerts so they could hear themselves talk nonstop. They do this intentionally.

[3] Drivers who hit pedestrians. WTF, man! :scream:

[4] Drunk drivers. There should be a breathalyzer device in the car to start the ignition. But it wouldn't take long before people could fool the breathalyzer. So, I don't know.

[5] People who eat ramen everyday. Look, it's good. But everyday? We're not in apocalypse yet.

[6] Animal abuse

[7] Dragon fruit.

Attention spans are down to 5 seconds.
Being interrupted or talked over.
No one reads anything greater than 3 or 4 sentences.
No one will read, watch, or listen to what you recommend - no matter how enthusiastically.
People who, when describing what person X said, does a voice impression that reduces that X to a blithering idiot.
Anyone who thinks "Saving Private Ryan" is a great movie.
Reaction videos.
The phrase "YOLO." — Mikie

I share your intense annoyance at being interrupted or talked over, but the others don't bother me much. To be sure, I'm annoyed at how addictive reaction videos can be--I've even watched reaction videos of reaction videos--but I can't say I experience intense annoyance; I've never seen Saving Private Ryan and have no interest in seeing it (I suppose the one that annoys me that everyone goes on about is the Shawshank Redemption, which I dislike); I had to look up "YOLO".

Recommendations are quite interesting and I know it can be frustrating when people ignore yours. I've followed up on a few recommendations I've been given that have shaped my life importantly. However, you learn from disappointed experience to ignore most of them. Obviously who gives the recommendation is important, but also I think how the recommendation is given matters. I think the recommender has to make a case for it, rather than just "check out x, it's cool". It also has to come at the right time for the recommendee.

Current intense annoyances of mine:

• Liars and bullshitters: the reason this is intensely annoying to me and not just a bothersome but ordinary fact of life is that I didn't know until recently just how many of them there are. There are a lot of them. Disappointed!
• The bureaucracy of national residency, visas, taxes, etc.
• The punishment of ordinary Russian citizens by EU sanctions, banks, etc.

• Being held responsible/reprimanded for an outcome that isn't my fault.
• Not being able to contact a service representative for poor/absent service as a customer.
• Managing passwords
• Folks in stores who are looking at their phone while blocking isles with their cart/bodies.
• The gratuitous concrete features/surfaces at my job which are functionally useless and have to be pressure washed multiple times a year.
• Pressure washers ( one of mankind's worst inventions, as they are pieces of fucking shit!)
• Discontinued or unavailable manufacturing parts or planned obsolescence (should be laws against this bullshit)

Being held responsible/reprimanded for an outcome that isn't my fault. — Nils Loc

Yeah, that really gets under my skin, and worse, if the matter is more of a subjective sort of thing trying to defend yourself can just make you look guilty.

Folks in stores who are looking at their phone while blocking isles with their cart/bodies. — Nils Loc

Very annoying at the gym if someone does this while “resting” between sets for an inordinate amount of time and hogging the equipment.

Related to this:

• People who place a water bottle or towel on gym equipment to reserve it and then wander off.

Doesn’t happen that often but when it does I will sometimes move the item and use the equipment and that usually results in an annoying confrontation.

Influencers — Sir2u

:up: Yes.

Dragon fruit. — L'éléphant

:lol:

I like dragon fruit! What’s annoying is how expensive it is.

the one that annoys me that everyone goes on about is the Shawshank Redemption, which I dislike — Jamal

In the past I would have taken umbrage with that — but after seeing it again, I get it. Especially when people go on and on about it. Becomes such an obvious, cliched choice. I used to love that movie, too — but now I think mainly because of Freeman’s narration.

It’s also syrupy.

Discontinued or unavailable manufacturing parts or planned obsolescence (should be laws against this bullshit) — Nils Loc

Yes!

Driving down a two lane one direction street when two bicycle lanes appear, sending you into a single lane. No matter how often you drive this street you never see a bicyclist.

What’s annoying is how expensive it is. — Mikie

Exactly.

I just read an article and it reminded me of something else that I really don't like.

Righteous deservers People that think that their rights go over and above the rest of humanities. Just stop oil, over zealous trans people, car parking space hoggers, queue jumpers, anyone that thinks they they deserve more just because they are who they are.

I was wondering why I had not thought of this when I posted earlier. I think it is probable because I rarely go out and about nowadays and have not had much personal experience with it lately. Funny how the mind works

Several years ago I was in a long line for a popular blockbuster film in a small-town community on the islands where some white kids, looking early twenties and from affluent backgrounds, went to the front of the line and talked a local couple into letting them cut. I think they picked the couple because they looked like they had the most *aloha spirit*. Creepy and annyoing as hell to watch.

I agree, annoying bastards. :lol:

Supermarket music. (most contemporary music)
Soundtracks so loud you can't hear the dialogue.
Bait-and-switch advertising.
Unopenable packages.
Tailgaters.
Bad spelling on signs.
Inconvenient, poorly designed DVD cases.
People who stand in doorways.

Supermarket music — Vera Mont

In my middle age I have begun to positively enjoy shop and restaurant music. When it’s good I enjoy it because it’s good, and when it’s bad it amuses me and gives me something to wryly rant about. It’s the same as the enjoyment of watching a bad film.

On the whole though, this attitude of mine is driven by a spirit of determination to enjoy things about the world that I don’t really like, but cannot change.

Soundtracks so loud you can't hear the dialogue. — Vera Mont

Agreed. I watch most films with subtitles these days, even when it’s in English. I don’t think this is entirely due to age-related hearing loss, but I guess that’s part of it. Relatedly: annoying and unnecessary background music in documentaries and YouTube videos.

Just thought of another one: people who put on the car radio very quiet just so that there’s some background music to stave off their dark existential angst.

And people who put the TV on when there’s nothing they particularly want to watch and you’re trying to have a conversation.

If I am being really honest, women, who I find very attractive, who find me not so.
I can live with such, and I am very suspicious of the primeval source of such feelings but I do nonetheless find such reality, intensely annoying. :yikes: does this mean I have an internal patriarchy gnawing at me? Pesky reproductive imperatives. I find all 'Pon Farr' style imperatives, understandable from the standpoint of species survival, but very intensely annoying!

Also young women with squeaky voices speaking very fast on the telephone. Nearly everyone speaks fast now; you get the feeling they want to get their lines uttered before the microphone is snatched away. I guess a lot of my annoyances are auditory, even though my hearing is still normal, because the world has become so very noisy, even while I've been sequestered away in my quiet country home for three years.

A List of Intense Annoyances

Yes, these are sweeping generalizations. I don't care.
Also, this is a living document. — Mikie

Yay. Living and word-flowing. Good to get it all out and great to read!
I thought of the thread today when I read this:

In these troubled times we all get the ‘bothers’ but I have a surefire cure: write them down
Michael Rosen
The sentence was created to make sense of the world, but some things are beyond logic. Forget what you learned at school, let the words out.
Treat yourself. Instead of reading the rest of this article, first go and write down something that’s bothering you …
[...]
Here’s the experiment:
Whatever word or phrase comes into your head, write it down. Don’t worry about whether it fills the whole line (part of the tyranny of the sentence!). Don’t worry if it sounds unfinished.

Now wait.

Whatever next thought comes into your mind, write it down underneath that previous line. I call this “unfolding”. Now repeat this unfolding for as short or as long a time as you want. Remember that you can nick anything you want from songs, poems, plays or films that help you express this bother.
Mine, today, might look something like this:

Losing
Losing the way
Losing my grip
Losing the sense
Losing it
Losing him
Lost

But don’t worry about what mine look like, or about getting them right. They’re yours.
The point of this is whether it’s doing you good. The best response is if people wish to have a go themselves, because in sharing bothers we start to find that we are less alone than we’re inclined to think we are.
We find company and help in our similarities and commonalities...Writing might not be an instant cure for all your bothers, but it can be a way of feeling less in a hole alone with yourself. — Michael Rosen - The Guardian

I think all at TPF pretty much know about the benefits of writing.
Until now, I haven't made a practice of writing my 'bothers' down.
I prefer phone rants!
OK, Rosen, here goes nuthin':

'Winners'
Winners and losers
Winners at the expense of 'losers'
Whiners at diners
Dining sans wine
What? When people are starving and worse!?!
Fining the wording
Freeing the words
Free to be seen and heard; to touch and taste, if not smell
To win and lose, fair and square.
Why should I care?

Why should I care?
I
Really
Don't
Care
Do U?
Trumps, trumpers, trumpeters
with guns and muddy boots
on other people's carpets
breaking things
broken things
fragmentation

No, that's too heavy for an annoyance. But i did, for fun, paint on the back of a jacket:
I Care
Don't
You
?

But i did, for fun, paint on the back of a jacket:
I Care
Don't
You
? — Vera Mont

Careful
You might set a trend
Seeing the back of somebody
Like Melania
Wearing on the mind
'No hidden message'
Fake news
Until it isn't
The timing
And the lies turning
Back to front and round again
To be continued...

Just thought of another one:

- The apparently millions of people, including those who know how to spell other words quite well, who constantly spell LOSE wrong. The way it actually gets spelled? “LOOSE.”

Good god that’s maddening. How can you go decades and not know how this is spelled?

What’s funny is that it never gets auto-corrected because “loose” is, of course, a word.

“Win or loose, it’s gonna be a great game.” Oh? FUCK you!

Sorry to LOOSE my temper.

That's funny, because I'm often annoyed by people losing letters that are supposed to be there or substituting them - helmut for helmet.
It's not nearly as intense, however, as using 'I' as object of a preposition. "This means so much to John and I!" Urrgghhh! If John were out of the picture, would you say "This means so much to I!" ? Or the phrase "try and" instead of "try to".

It's not nearly as intense, however, as using 'I' as object of a preposition. "This means so much to John and I!" Urrgghhh! If John were out of the picture, would you say "This means so much to I!" ? Or the phrase "try and" instead of "try to". — Vera Mont

I agree with you about “John and I”, but not about “try and”. In my opinion, “try and” is much smoother and more stylish. And it’s totally standard, in fact probably older than “try to”.

Not only do infinitive verbs not require to, but and is a long-established partner in the same position—that is, between a verb and an infinitive following it. The construction has been around since the 13th century, when it mostly occurred with infinitives following begin, take, go, and come. Today it's used with go and come ("Go and ask them," "Come and see"), as well as with other verbs: "Wait and let me finish," "Stop and chat for a while." — Merriam-Webster

Oxford and other dictionaries also treat it as standard (in case you think this is an American eccentricity).

Sorry to LOOSE my temper. — Mikie

Better to keep the heid than lose it!
Sometimes
Cool is when you lose
the "OH!" of loose teeth
All the better to bite

The plumber advised:
"Lefty loosey, righty tighty"
To turn the sink stopper
To loosen and lose the yuck

The st/ickiness of bathroom bits
Flushing loos lose
Loose stools
In or on the bowl
Mostly

Vaping
Harmful and dangerous
First and second-hand
Money making
Lung destroying
Air polluting
The planet
Toxic waste
Why?

Vaping
Harmful and dangerous
First and second-hand
Money making
Lung destroying
Air polluting
The planet
Toxic waste
Why? — Amity

It is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about annoyances. But, I didn't want to post it because my intention was not to disrespect the smokers of this forum (if there are actually any). It is literally a waste of money and toxicity for the environment. You know, it is bollocks how the state makes advertisements against smoke addiction, but at the end of the day they collect a lot of money in taxes thanks to all sold cigarette packages.

My mother is a smoker. I always give my best to help her to get rid of smoking. It is not an easy task. We have already reduced the consumption of packages and she "only" smokes half of the cigarette. I will be pushing forward until she definitely stops smoking.

It's not nearly as intense, however, as using 'I' as object of a preposition. — Vera Mont

Agreed. This is very irritating for you and I.



:clap:

Today it's used with go and come ("Go and ask them," "Come and see"), as well as with other verbs: "Wait and let me finish," "Stop and chat for a while." — Merriam-Webster

Not quite the same. In those examples, it's reasonable to assume that the recommended action will result in the predicted outcome. In the case of making an attempt, it isn't.

That’s entirely arbitrary. It only seems to be relevant because it is in fact quite common to use try to. I recommend reading the whole article if you haven’t.

That’s entirely arbitrary. — Jamal

I thought it was logical. Guess not, then.

Maybe the trouble is expecting grammar to be logical in the first place, when mostly what matters is what’s conventional, i.e., standard.

I only responded because one of my own, sometimes excessive, intense annoyances, is being criticized for breaking “rules” of grammar and spelling that are really just popular prejudices or fashions. Oddly enough, it is this attitude that leads people to say “This means so much to John and I”—having misunderstood the grammar, they think using me is incorrect, uneducated, etc.

I wouldn’t criticize you merely for preferring try to; it’s the implied criticism of my way of speaking and writing that I cannot take. :wink: