rebness | Angry!Meme

I was tagged by wiebke, and I'm a short, angry person, so why not?

1. Write down 7 things that piss you off
2. Tag 5

1. Chuggers
Apparently, charity muggers don't want my precious gold these days. They want me to sign up for an indefinite direct debit payment plan and curl their lips in disgust when I don't think I want to give money to the Give Monkeys Sugar Treats charity or somesuch charidee for the rest of my life. I'm irresponsible and in my twenties-- I can't guarantee I'll have enough money in my bank account each month, and will they help me out if I get overdraft fees? Then, even after five minutes of explaining myself away, they want me to call out "gouranga" for some condescending reason. What's worse is that now I have to storm past them with "I'm too busy!" or "je ne parle anglais!" or some such rot, when I despise being rude in public. Curse them and their politeness-eroding ways!

2. People throwing litter from cars
Raaaaaaaage!

3. Stepping on plugs
For some reason that obviously some technical bore will be able to relay to me, British plugs come with three prongs. Now, I know that this means our plugs should hurt less when stepped on, given that there are more prongs with which to carry the weight of the foot, but it doesn't seem like it. That early morning wake-up call which results in an agonised girly scream is perfected by the plug; a nail would be less painful (given that our floorboards sometimes relinquish a nail, I can attest to this.) The first two prongs impale your foot on either side, crippling you in the second it takes you to realise your folly. The third prong, like some prongy cyclops, impales the tender flesh beneath your toes. There is nothing on earth worse than that feeling. Except stepping on a plug in cotton socks: impalement and chafing. It's like a badly-written slash story.

4. Inaccurate pub!trivia
No, she/he/that guy didn't/couldn't/most certainly did not say/didn't/write "Let them eat cake"/meet Eva Peron/Greensleeves, you nuts. Oh, you're going to make me Google it, are you? Your loss, my fiver.

5. Off of
Where on earth did this come from? Harry got off of the chair, or Holden said piss off of.* What is this, tautology for the insane? Why is it prevalent in about 90% of fanfiction, thus making me want to spork my eyes out approximately twice a day?

6. Coup de Lait
Now, a couple of entries ago, I waxed lyrical about making the perfect cup of tea. When I wake up of a morning, after washing and dressing, I usually have about six minutes to have a cup of tea and eat some Shreddies at the same time. Nothing, but nothing, throws me off more than brewing my tea, preparing my Shreddies, only to realise that the milk has thick, decaying clots in it. And stinks of old socks. Cheers for that.

7. People who get the window seat on a plane that flies over the Alps, or gleaming Canadian ice sheets, or... or... anything gorgeous...
And then promptly close the blind. And fall asleep.

*I may have made up that second example.

Tagging: zhonghua2000, patchworkgirl_, wig_maker, avariecaita, ladydaydream.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Re Pet Peeve 7, as you know I fly a lot and almost always get the window seat. What I find bizarre is that often I seem to be the ONLY person looking out!!!!! One of my favorite things to do, on night flights over the Atlantic, is to look up at the stars, which are damn clear when it's night and you're OVER the clouds. Meanwhile all the other suckers are asleep. I can't sleep on a plane. I also love looking at the clouds, which nobody seems to appreciate, as they're too busy reading The DaVinci Code.

Oh, man. The clouds and the sky of a night-- I remember, returning from New York, there was a full moon that gleamed across the Atlantic, and the sky was so beautiful, so remote. Everyone else was falling asleep or watching Maid in Manhattan. Me, I was glued to the window all the way until sunrise gave way to Ireland. And then I think I looked some more. Hee.

I can never read on a plane. I always start off with some novel or paper, but the moment I'm over the channel or the Irish sea, I have to keep an eye on what's going on below. I mean, we're so lucky to see these things... why would we want to miss a minute of it?

#5 - 'Off of' --I would venture to say that when you read that in a fic, it's written by an American. People say that all the time; at least I've heard int both on the east coast and now here in the midwest. "I got off of the ladder to get a drink'. It's a colloquialism, I guess; I say it myself sometimes, though I don't write it. It never looks right!

I don't really mind it in spoken language (God knows I mangle some things in speech), but it smacks of laziness to actually write it. As you say, it doesn't look right. Depressingly, though I've always thought it as an Americanism, it's becoming more and more prevalent in works by people from other countries. I blame the internets-- they can be blamed for just about everything. ;)

Just a comment to say that this post, and your symbols of Britain post, have been favorites of mine-- I made my guy read them and everything. Funny stuff! :D

Well, it was that or talk about the phlegm situation for the next few days.

Glad you enjoyed it! Wow, it felt good to vent. >:)

What an exceedingly ill-tempered meme.

1. I do agree. You're never allowed to make a one-off donation anymore.

3. The third prong is to earth the electricity. I think. Your plugs are different shaped. But the real point is, HOW CLUMSY-SLASH-LAZY ARE YOU? Pick the plugs up off the floor and clear them away before bed. And you know what really hurts to step on? Those Christmas tree lights with the spiky bulbs. Ouch.

7. Flying in Australia is tres boring. It's all brown and flat.

Well, I don't do things by half. Wait, yes I do. But I do anger well.

Oh, you know. I just... I have one double adaptor and a second plughole, right? And I have two lamps, the computer, my mobile phone, my ipod and my alarm clock to contend with, and one of them loses the fight for plughole space each night. And nearly every morning, it takes its revenge on me by impaling my feet.

On second thoughts, yeah. It's the laziness factor.

It can't all be brown and flat, surely? Even trees are more interesting than the Da Vinci Code.

Oh yes I hate the chuggers too. "Off of" winds me up too.

I haven't yet trodden on a plug. Havintg said that, I often walk round barefoot and just as I'm think to myself that I should put some shoes on as I might stub my toe, I then promptly go and do so.

I have duly done the said meme btw.

Why is it always the little toe that gets stubbed? Does it just stick out, waiting for a kamikaze moment?

A plug'll get you one day. You wait.

Hurrah! More angriness! I head off to your journal now.

I don't understand the 'off of' hate. Perhaps this is due to the fact I am a stupid Americaine (say it with a french accent!). You don't get off a chair. Unless someone's yelling "GET OFF THAT CHAIR, ASSTART!" and then you do. (Plus there's the 'that' modifier for which chair you're yelling about, I guess.) If you just 'get off' then ... well ... it's dirrrrrty. I've seen: 'get off of the phone' and it jives with me.

Then again, we're too lazy to spell colour right, so what do you want from me?!

So I've been thinking about this (a lot more than the stack of work on my desk) and I'm still perplexed. Here's another example:

Right - Get out of the house.
Wrong - Get out the house. (Unless you're speaking some kind of slang.)

Yes, there is a difference between off and out, but I'm still trying to figure out why, exactly, the former (off) is wrong where the latter would be right. Oh, and I've been asking co-workers (why else are they here?!) and they agree that both work here. Who can say what they're teaching in 'Ricain schools these days.

I think the general consensus is that's an Americanism (granted, an informal one), so although technically grammatically incorrect, it will probably seem less "wrong" to you than to other English speakers. That said, gotten is verboten usage over here, so eh... separated by a common language, and all that.

The "out" example is interesting. I don't know why we have differing rules for out and of, but English likes to make up stupid rules, so there. Nur.

Also, putting a comma before "and" is also considered incorrect in my prissy dialect of English. Woes. :(

Angry!Meme

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