Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4!
Life can be tough. Especially when dealing with traffic, government or just people!
1. What pet peeves bother you the most?
Lots of little things annoy me, mostly things I see or hear. For example, people who wear pyjamas and slippers in public & people who go out in public without combing their hair. This is mostly women with long hair who don't even bother to try and tidy themselves up, people that look like they don't shower and put on tidy clothes when they go out in public. Another turn off is women and men who wear tight shorts or leggings showing all their private parts. Really, some people seem to want everything on display for others but personally I don't want to see it and I did not consent to having my eyes assaulted.
Actually there was a story on the local news a few weeks ago about people who wear pyjamas and slippers when travelling. A journalist went to the airport and interviewed people. It was clear that I am not the only one annoyed by people and how they dress in public. I tried to google the news clip but couldn't find it. I did however learn that this issue is global. There are many stories about the issue in the USA, England, Africa and even China. I've heard it said that this all started during the last big pandemic but I think it started before then and I think it started when celebrities, especially women started wearing inner wear as outerwear in public.
Other things that annoy me are people who mispronounce English words when they are well educated and should know better. I've heard so many prominent people on television and on You Tube who pronounce certain words incorrectly. Two examples stand out to me. One is when people mispronounce the "Sc" in words like 'school' and say it as a 'Ssskkool" or they say 'ssshtrenth' instead of 'strength'. Michelle Obama comes to mind as one prominent person who mispronounces 'strength' and a few other words starting with the letter 's'. Many other prominent people do the same but their names don't come to mind right now. Other examples of commonly mispronounced words are 'bedroom', often pronounced as 'beh room" or 'Manhattan' as "Manhaa-en", in these examples the letters 'd' and 't' are dropped. This is particularly annoying because it's done so frequently and by people who are native speakers of English. However I've recently come to discover that people from Manhattan do drop the t though I'm not convinced it's a complete drop of the letter such as what I hear a lot of non New Yorkers say.
Does anyone else notice these particular errors or is it just me? I'm not a linguist so I hope you can understand the sounds I'm trying to share.
I'm also very aware that there are a great many words that are mispronounced by newcomers to North America. You can find lots of You Tube videos on the type of pronunciation errors people make. I'm not annoyed by these kinds of errors because a lot of newcomers are only just learning English. It's a difficult language to learn with all its rules and exceptions to rules.
2. Do you air your grievances or keep things to yourself?
Sometimes I mention them to my husband or to a friend. Mostly I just keep my opinions to myself. No one can solve these issues even if I share them so there's no point in making them into huge issues or topics of discussion. But, given that this week's questions are about annoyances, I had to think about the little things that can annoy me, lol.
3. What government ordinances, city requirements or mandates or just plain red tape annoys you?
Too many to count; especially laws and policies those that don't seem to make sense. However, what is even more annoying is government waste and inefficiencies. This is more annoying in difficult economic times as were are currently going through globally. Elected and staff officials should never spend tax money in a frivolous way but especially when the taxpayers are truly struggling to survive.
4. When the annoyances of life gang up on you do you take it to the Lord in prayer? What else helps you gain your equilibrium...music, a movie, a treat? How do you deal with it?
I honestly don't like focussing on these little annoyances that I've gone into great detail about above. In fact just the other day I prayed that God would remove these irritants from me & change my heart and outlook so I can focus on positive things or larger issues. It's not good emotionally or mentally to dwell on negative things or give them too much time. This is particularly true in dark times globally and at home. We all have so many negative things to contend with in life. I actually don't typically dwell on these annoyances but I probably still give them too much time when I see or hear them out in public, on line or on television. The nice treats like a movie, a treat, good music, etc. are saved for times when I might need real stress relief or I want to spend time with a friend or family member and do something fun. If I catch myself dwelling on small, negative things, I simply try to think about something good and positive instead.
