Linking up with Erika and Shay for their monthly Let’s Look!  The topic is pet peeves.  I think I’m a fairly positive person for the most part.  The one post that I do on a regular basis is my monthly favorites, in part because it helps me look back and be grateful for the happy times.  I do think we all have our personal pet peeves, though, and here I’ll list a few of mine in no particular order.

MISSPELLING OF MY NAME

Most people with my name spell it Gail or Gayle, unless they are male.  Ha!  Just realized that rhymes!  When I was growing up, I didn’t like the way my name was spelled for that reason.  I didn’t want people to think I was a boy!  My mom told me she got my name from Gale Storm, who was an actress. Later, I liked it BECAUSE it was different.  It doesn’t bother me when someone who doesn’t know me misspells my name (unless, of course, it’s right there in front of them when they do it).  But if you claim to be my friend, and you misspell my name, I might wonder if you really ARE my friend.

 

TALKING ON PHONE VIA BLUETOOTH IN PUBLIC

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been somewhat embarrassed because I’ve looked up expectantly thinking these people were talking to me, only to realize they’re talking into their phones.  Plus, I really don’t want to hear their conversations.  I do my best to ignore them, but SHEESH!

 

GRITTY SURFACES

The feel and sound that occurs when placing glassware or dishware on a gritty surface is kind of like fingernails on a chalkboard, if you ask me.  I can’t stand it!

This is our patio table.  I swiped my finger across it before taking this picture, so you could see that it’s covered in a thin film of grit.  If I wanted to sit here to drink coffee in the morning, there’s NO WAY I would do so before cleaning the surface.  Big Eagle, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.

 

MISPRONOUNCIATION OF WORDS

I’m sure I don’t know how to pronounce everything correctly, but there are some words that deserve to be pronounced right, but commonly are not.  Whenever I hear one of these mispronounced, in my mind I correct the person.  When someone says jew-le-ry, instead of jew-el-ry…li-barry, instead of li-bra-ry…re-la-tor, instead of re-al-tor… nuc-u-lar, instead of nu-cle-ar.  I’m pretty sure there are others that are just not coming to mind right now.

 

ACRONYMS

In my opinion, acronyms are WAY overused!  Nobody likes to ask what they mean, but I can tell you that I have had to Google some to find out.  They DO have their place, especially in work settings.  But if someone is not in your line of work, you shouldn’t use your work acronyms with them.  As an example, I was a teacher.  IEP was a widely used acronym in that field, meaning Individualized Educational Plan.  Yes, this is a pain to say or type out every time you need to say it.  So it serves a purpose in that setting.

There are also a lot of socially used acronyms that not everyone knows.  I used SIL in one of my blog posts not too long ago, and Big Eagle thought I had made a mistake.  He didn’t know it stood for sister-in-law.  I don’t think I’ll use it again.  It can just make people feel like they’re not in the loop, and that’s not nice.

 

OVERUSE OF CERTAIN PUNCTUATION

Specifically exclamation marks and sometimes question marks at the end of a sentence.  I’m probably in the minority on having this as a pet peeve, but I had an amazing English teacher in 8th grade named Mrs. Oelz.  I loved Mrs. Oelz!

She taught us that ONE exclamation point or ONE question mark is enough to communicate excitement or questioning.  Any more does nothing to truly make the case any stronger, and is grammatically wrong.  And since I love Mrs. Oelz, I agree!  In fact, sometimes too many exclamation marks can make it almost seem like an insincere amount of excitement.

Now, if you are a friend or relative of mine, and you ascribe to excessive use of these punctuation marks, I love you no less.  I just get a little annoyed.  It’s even a joke with my daughter and granddaughters.  They will do it sometimes just BECAUSE they know it annoys me.  I just got a thank-you note from Edie today in the mail, and she explained to me that a sentence which she ended with 3 exclamation marks was WORTHY of all 3. 😂

 

SHORTENING OF WORDS

This is another one that is happening too frequently for my taste, and it annoys me.  I mean, really…a commercial that says, “Talk to your gastro…”.  Oh, because it’s SO HARD to say gastroenterologist!

 

STICKERS ON VEGGIES & FRUITS

This is another one that I may be in a minority on.

But THESE things!  I will admit, most of the time they’re no problem.  But I’ve had some that are so stuck that I had to bruise my fruit to get them off.  Or the skin on the fruit peeled off with the sticker!  I’ve also had them stuck so much on a cucumber that my vegetable peeler gets gummed up having to try to peel the cucumber.  Ugh!

That’s it!  I’m done griping.  But, come on…YOU know you have pet peeves, too.  In fact, you may share some of mine.  Or maybe you have some that I agree with, but wasn’t thinking about today.  You might have one that is pretty unique to you.  Whatever the case, I would love for you to share your pet peeves in the comment section.   Or comment on anything else your heart desires.

One more note…today was the due date for my grandson’s birth.  It didn’t happen today, but gosh…it will be any time now!  I’m SO EXCITED!!!  And that was WORTH 3 exclamation points!