Pet Peeves

Someone on Facebook mentioned pet peeves a few days ago, and it made me start thinking about my own pet peeves.  As anyone who knows me can attest, I have many.  In fact, one of my husband's favorite phrases with me is, "Don't hold back babe, just tell us how you really feel."  I wish I was one of those people who could love everyone exactly as they are, seeing each little idiosyncrasy as endearing, but I'm not that person.  In fact, people who can do that annoy me.  Go figure.


So I'll give you my Top 5 Pet Peeves.  For better or worse, they make me who I am.


1.  Butchering the English language.  


One of my biggest pet peeves, the one that makes me physically twitchy, is poor grammar, spelling and punctuation.  I don't expect everyone to be able to write perfectly, and I certainly don't think that I do.  All I really ask is that you use an occasional comma, period and capital letter.  OH!  And please, if you're going to write a 5,000-word essay on what's going on in your life right now, make it more than one paragraph.  I've seen full page posts from people where it was all one paragraph and there was only one period in the whole thing.  Seriously?  It isn't that difficult people.  


Another thing . . . if you want to use big words, please make sure you know what they mean.  I once knew someone who loved to throw out big words but she never used them correctly.  It was the hardest thing in the world not to fall down on the ground laughing when she completely misused a word.  Example: to say that someone personifies something does not mean they blow it out of proportion.  Really.  Look it up.


While we're on the subject of language, I have to also say that mispronunciation of English words is a little irritating.  Example:  I am an American (uh-mer-i-kuhn).  I am NOT an Amurcan.  Nuclear is pronounced noo-klee-er, NOT noo-kyu-ler.  


Library, not libarry.  


Supposedly, not supposably.  


Jewelry, not jewlery.  


There are so many . . . but you get what I mean.  I could also write pages and pages on phrases that bug me also, like "fixin' to" and "right quick" but I won't.  Yet.  I'll save that for a later date.


Moving on  . . .


2.  Annoying Americans


Since I mentioned "amurcans", this is probably the best time to talk about those Americans who think that, as Americans, they are better than everyone else in the world.  I get it, America is great.  We're a superpower.  Blah, blah, blah.  I live in a foreign country right now though, and seeing American military members walking around wearing "America is great" shirts, complaining (loudly) about the local nationals, whining about having to be "stuck on this godforsaken island" makes me want to grab them, smack them around, and then throw them on a slow-boat back to the States.  It's embarrassing.  You think America is the be all and end all of the universe.  Fine.  You do not need to intentionally offend the people who live here and are just as happy to be from Okinawa as you are to be from America.


With that said, tell your wives to stop being so loud and whiny about being here.  No one made them marry you.  No one made them move here with you.  Suck it up and show a little respect for our host nation.  This especially makes me crazy when it is the wives of high-ranking officers complaining about the locals.  It's shameful.


Let me see, what's next . . . ?


3.  Bad Parenting  


Good parenting is a lost art form.  At least that is the message I get every time I go into the Commissary or Base Exchange here.  When a child is screaming in a store, take them out of the store.  It really is that easy.  The same goes for that behavior in restaurants.  Does it mean you might have to come back at a later time to buy what you want, or you might have to get your food to go?  Why yes, yes it does.  But the child will learn that they cannot get away with that behavior.  Ignoring them, letting them scream like little hellions and annoy everyone else in the establishment, reinforces in their minds that the behavior they are exhibiting is acceptable.  It's not.  




Personally, I think the parents of those screaming brats should be (very publicly) asked to leave.  Maybe then they would correct their own behavior and start actively parenting their children.  Better parenting of these young screamers might even help with one of my other pet peeves - rude children - which is yet another subject that I will leave off for another day, because if I get started on it now, I'll be at the computer for hours.  


4.  Cancer BFFs


Facebook has brought a whole new pet peeve to my attention.  I am a cancer mom.  My son died at 12 from a brain tumor.  There are a lot of cancer parents on Facebook.  A lot.  I know this because I have received friend requests from a gazillion of them.  When I first started getting the invites, I accepted every single one.  Big mistake.  HUGE.  Why?  Because cancer has no biases.  It can hit anyone.  Therefore, just because your child had cancer, and my child had cancer, does not mean that we are just alike and should be best friends forever.  I learned this the hard way, having added many people as friends on Facebook who were not at all compatible with me.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them.  They have every right to have different political views, religious views, etc.  But we need to be able to say, you know what?  Yes, both our kids had cancer, and that sucks, but we really don't make very good friends.  Thinking that we do based on that one connection is naive and extremely annoying.


5.  People who think handmade = cheap.


I make jewelry.  I take pride in what I make.  I like to sell what I make for two reasons.  The first is that it is a way for me to raise money for childhood cancer research, something that is very important to me.  The second reason is because I like to make jewelry, and the only way I can keep buying more supplies to make new things is if I sell the pieces I've already made.  I can only wear so much jewelry, and truly, the joy for me is in the making of it more than in the wearing of it (although I do try to always wear something I've made).  My pet peeve in all of this is the people who look at what I've made, look at the price, and then make comments like, "Oh, it's pretty, but way too expensive."  


Really?  I spent $40 on the supplies to make it, and then anywhere between 1 and 15 hours of my time (depending on what type of piece it is) and you're going to tell me that what I'm charging is too much?  Handmade does not mean cheap.  Something that is one-of-a-kind and handmade is worth more than the costume jewelry you find in the mall, and when you imply that what I make is the same as that stuff, you offend me.  Take your money to the mall and step away from my jewelry.


I have so many other silly little pet peeves.  Music without melody.  Snobs.  Pilots.  Sitcoms.  True TV.  White meat chicken.  Extreme side parts (in hair).  11-year-olds.  The list goes on and on and on.  But these are my biggies.  


What are yours?