Things that make you go... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!! Mk. II

[Clockwork Lemur]

Whatever happened to the chars going upstairs and shutting the door.

You know, for a moment that gave me a rather perplexing mental image of elderly cleaning ladies scurrying around slamming doors to conceal the goings-on behind them...     

Although it probably makes me a villain in a Roald Dahl story, at the moment mine would have to be babies - those sinister little shaved-monkey things that most of my friends seem to be acquiring these days...

[Kaljaia]

Caffeine hates me.

Cocoa is enough to keep me awake for the day, and if I have regular coffee or dark chocolate after lunch, I'm awake until four. Not nice. Now, I check and recheck when I buy mochas or fraps. Is it decaf? Really? Are you sure? No? Ok, sorry, can't drink it.

[SteamBlast Mary]

Big Brother, indeed virtually all Reality TV. "Sleb" culture over-saturation. Music/films/media in general, that subtly or blatantly glamorise violence/misogyny/racial stereotypes (yeah, you know what I'm referring to). Most of modern culture in general, in fact.

And you know what? I DON'T feel guilty about hating it, does it still count as a guilty anti-pleasure?

Oh, and chocolate ice-cream is horrendously over-rated.

[The Kernel]

And football, I loath football.

Me too, sport is to be played, not watched (as far as I'm concerned the only real spectator sport is Ladies Beach Volleyball, although I will fully understand if others hold a differing view) and the approach many take towards football (soccer in the US) is considerably "over the top".

On the other hand events at work concerning the World Cup have been amusing today - the building has been decorated with England flags and ballons to such an extent that we had to reassure a Scottish member of staff and that she should not feel intimidated.
However one of my close colleagues is American although resident in the UK and for the run-up to the first England match on Saturday against the USA he has brought in a full size Stars and Stripes, a family heirloom evidently - silk and with a golden tasselled fringe, which he then fixed to the wall above the St'George's Cross.
There followed a great deal of banter, including the suggestion of a re-run of the War of 1812 finishing with several staff members of Middle-Eastern origin wanting to hold a "flag burning ceremony" in the car park but they were persuaded otherwise.
Ultimatly it all depends who wins in three days time.

Please note the referrences to flag burning etc were good natured banter between friends and colleagues and should not be taken as  offensive or disrespectful in any way

[qui est in literis]

Lady Gaga. She's a moderately talented musician with no lyrical talent whatsoever. I'm quite pleased with her activism, but I don't understand how she claim to be an advocate of womens rights (and celibacy! WHAT?!) when her exhibitionist costuming proclaims her nothing but a cheap (and likely non-human) trollop, to whom there is nothing more than sexuality.
There is a difference between art that is weird and the idea that something must be weird to be art. Being bizarre does not make her music videos good. It simply makes them bizarre.
There is also this pervasive belief that she is incredibly original. I have yet to see her do anything that hasn't been done previously by either an '80s artist - by most '80s artists, actually -  or by a Power Rangers villain.

/endrant

[helios]

However one of my close colleagues is American although resident in the UK and for the run-up to the first England match on Saturday against the USA he has brought in a full size Stars and Stripes, a family heirloom evidently - silk and with a golden tasselled fringe, which he then fixed to the wall above the St'George's Cross.
There followed a great deal of banter, including the suggestion of a re-run of the War of 1812 finishing with several staff members of Middle-Eastern origin wanting to hold a "flag burning ceremony" in the car park but they were persuaded otherwise.
Ultimatly it all depends who wins in three days time.

Please note the referrences to flag burning etc were good natured banter between friends and colleagues and should not be taken as  offensive or disrespectful in any way

That is rather rude. It is standard international procedure to place flags beside each other, at an equal height.

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

If I were to go through a list of things that raise my ire, I'd have to lock the thread and ban myself, as an example to myself.

Here's the shortened list, to say nothing of the causes:

• The iPad
• People who, when talking to you, recieve an email on their iGadget, whip it out and spend the next 5 minutes playing with the shiny toy.
• Apple in general
• Mountains
• The Welsh
• Gordon Brown
• The previous Labour government
• Politics in general
• The Lonely Gear
• The fact that I've got a funeral to attend tomorrow
• The fact that my oldest freind's been kicked out of his house for alcoholism and drug-takin'
• Apple in several particulars
• Foxes that chew on babies
• People who think that foxes are cute, and pretend that the above didn't happen

[The Governess]

tea, coffee, ice cream, beer.
Soap operas.
Harry Potter (people, it's a children's book!)
Terry Pratchet books (although they film quite well, it seems).

[Sir Nikolas of Vendigroth]

Hang on... We've got a thread for this.

[arcwelder]

Hang on... We've got a thread for this.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!

[Alptraum]

AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH! I didn't even know you could amalgamate threads....

At the moment... GCSEs. They are so irritating, and pointless, and not-at-all-a-valid-test-of-someones-knowledge. They are also massively easier than I thought they would be... for instance, my chemistry paper which I was up most of last week and this week revising contained none of the hard (and thus interesting) stuff, but loads of the boring, niggly and generally evil things that all stem from the same basic group of concepts which require no thought whatsoever.

Needless to say, most of the people in the exam room left early. By about 50 minutes. An hour in Biology.
The language papers don't test anything relevant, lest they accidentally allow you to use language which would actually be used by a native (shock horror!). Instead, you have to sit through an hour and a half of "letztes Jahr war ich in Deutschland weil ich mein Brieffreund besucht habe" and other irrelevant phrases.

It makes me want to strangle babies.

</rant>

[Flynn MacCallister]

Coffee.   Hard to understand what other people see in it.  Dont even like the smell.

I used to think so too. It grew on me. Most drip coffee is flat vile, no matter how much cream and sugar you add to it. French press can be quite nice depending on the beans you choose. I like to add some spices (generally cinnamon plus others depending on my mood) and alternative sweeteners like honey can be very interesting. I also usually use milk or cream and not "creamer" of any sort. Good coffee versus bad is a world of difference.

Mate, what gets called coffee in the US and what gets called coffee in Australia are not even vaguely similar.

Heck, for starters, many of us are outright disgusted when we find out that when you say "cream" you mean cream.

[Nikola Tesla]

Hang on... We've got a thread for this.

Erm...wasn't really intended as a "pet peeve" thread, because yes, we did already have one for that.  This was more a "things others seem to like that leave you cold" kind of thing.  Oh well, not a problem.

[Flynn MacCallister]

Lady Gaga. She's a moderately talented musician with no lyrical talent whatsoever. I'm quite pleased with her activism, but I don't understand how she claim to be an advocate of womens rights (and celibacy! WHAT?!) when her exhibitionist costuming proclaims her nothing but a cheap (and likely non-human) trollop, to whom there is nothing more than sexuality.
There is a difference between art that is weird and the idea that something must be weird to be art. Being bizarre does not make her music videos good. It simply makes them bizarre.
There is also this pervasive belief that she is incredibly original. I have yet to see her do anything that hasn't been done previously by either an '80s artist - by most '80s artists, actually -  or by a Power Rangers villain.

/endrant

Have you seen the Alejandro clip?

Interesting idea of, erm, women's rights there.

[arcwelder]

Noticing a major grammatical error in the introduction to an 18-page paper right after I sent it in. GAAAAAAH!!!

[darkshines]

Things I hate that everyone else loves?

Steampunk music and literature, indeed, any media labelled "steampunk"
The Matrix, Titanic, The Godfather triology, Star Wars films, Harry Potter, Twilight, Alice in Wonderland by Burton etc.
Drinking or doing drugs
Reality TV
Tea or coffee
Takeaway food
Hot weather
Derek Akorah
Nicholas Cage
Children

[Flynn MacCallister]

Absolutely!  Caffeine is the habit you absolutely never can kick because even if you do, it's in pretty much everything.  Want something other than ice water or sugar on a hot day?  Options are iced tea, diet coke, iced coffee.  Chocolate, anyone?  Comes with a dose.  Get a headache or a minor injury and if you want an analgesic, comes with caffeine.  Dry air in the workplace means you pretty much have to have something to suck down sitting at your elbow all day, and now that tap water generally tastes like soap that pretty much means coffee.  Decaf?  That weird taste it has...

My brother in law is diabetic and has been told he has to avoid caffeine as part of the management program.  This is in his case, seriously Not Good News.  Of course, he's not all that good about any part of the dietary management, a situation that makes my sister frantic.  There is always the odd worry that we'll get the news he's in the hospital or something.   But I totally understand.  If I ever get diabetes it's a death sentence, because I really doubt I'd be up to managing it well either.

People with heart and blood pressure ailments often get the same news about caffeine; one hopes that as our population ages, the plus side will be that with many more people in that health situation there will be more exploration of other options.

Odd thing: I think it's in more things in the US than here.

You can get diet soft drinks that are caffeine free (Sprite, Solo, tonic water, etc).

Caffeine-free coca-cola is pretty normal -- it's the one in the gold can.

Decaf coffee -- and often decaf tea -- are available everywhere. We're REALLY big on our coffee, and so many people drink decaf that most of the time, you can't tell it's decaf by taste alone, just by lack of buzz afterward.

Oh, and everyone drinks fruit juice, too. Freshly squeezed has slightly less sugar than fizzy drinks... ;p

Analgesics with caffeine? Nope. Only specific OTC migraine medicines.

[The Kernel]

However one of my close colleagues is American although resident in the UK and for the run-up to the first England match on Saturday against the USA he has brought in a full size Stars and Stripes, a family heirloom evidently - silk and with a golden tasselled fringe, which he then fixed to the wall above the St'George's Cross.
There followed a great deal of banter, including the suggestion of a re-run of the War of 1812 finishing with several staff members of Middle-Eastern origin wanting to hold a "flag burning ceremony" in the car park but they were persuaded otherwise.
Ultimatly it all depends who wins in three days time.

Please note the referrences to flag burning etc were good natured banter between friends and colleagues and should not be taken as  offensive or disrespectful in any way

That is rather rude. It is standard international procedure to place flags beside each other, at an equal height.

That's why he did it, hence the teasing and banter.
The flag (Stars and Stripes)  is now displayed on a pole behind the reception desk next to the English St.George's Flag which is pinned to the wall.
A kind of fragile peace is currently in force, I will keep you posted as to events (although flag burning in the car park has officially been banned on health and safety grounds and could get a little too religious/political even if the USA win on Saturday).
Possibly locating and flying a "Constitutional Flag of the United States" may represent a suitable compromise

Spoiler: ShowHide

[qui est in literis]

Have you seen the Alejandro clip?

Interesting idea of, erm, women's rights there.

Yes, I have. -__-
It was quite, ah... engaging. I've accumulated several hours of ranting time as a result of it.

[Indefinitive]

The alarm on my cell phone. I set it for 6:30. I remember setting it for 6:30. So why is it not there when I wake up at 8:00, when I know I didn't turn it off? Now I'm scheduled to work in thirteen minutes on the other end of the city, and can't get a hold of my boss.

[Thor]

It's amazing what you can do when you're half asleep, without remembering it afterwards.  I've done that a couple of times.  I've also had conversations with people (generally family) and then woken up fully and not realised I'd had a conversation until they brought it up later.

[Capt. Dirigible]

The Countess and I will be in Salisbury this weekend for the Aftermath Ball which we are both really looking forward to. However it starts at 7pm so there is no way I'll get to see England's opening game against the USA in the World Cup...well..not live at least. I may be able to catch highlights (assuming there are any ) once back in the hotel afterwards.
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!

[Rockula]

The Countess and I will be in Salisbury this weekend for the Aftermath Ball which we are both really looking forward to. However it starts at 7pm so there is no way I'll get to see England's opening game against the USA in the World Cup...well..not live at least. I may be able to catch highlights (assuming there are any ) once back in the hotel afterwards.
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!

Enger-Land,
Enger-Lose,
Enger-Leave.

And that's the edited highlights.

[Ezra Hogbin]

THings that make me say Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

A boss, who knows as much about computers as I do about the mating habits of the great crested newt, has asked, nay demanded, that I give him full administration rights on our server!!!

Looks like I'll be in for fun times!!    

[Nikola Tesla]

"We have here a modern beef harvest and processing facility."

With all due respect, there is a perfectly acceptable English word for what they have there.  The Government uses it - why can't they?  Why do they wince when you say it?  It's not like no one knows what goes on in there.