What are your biggest pet peeves?

[Jax]

... people who think they have the right to decide what's "best" for someone else's kids ...

someone can't control the urge to correct someone else's spelling.

People who have an exaggerated sense of entitlement - as above, or "your gear isn't as good as mine", or "you ought to tie your reg snap on with cave line, not zip ties" or, when not a member of the dive op staff, "you can't dive by yourself!" . . .

Precise words rarely have precise meanings ... it's almost always contextual, and often cultural.

Some years back, I was the sponsor for a British officer assigned to the US Army. When an Austrailian was assigned, the Brit had the Aussie and me over for a welcome dinner. After dinner, the Aussie asked, "All right if I have a fag* in here?"



*cigarette

 

[ScubaSam]

I have a few diving forum pet peeves as well.

At the top of the list are the drama queens. Why don't they take some responsibility for their own actions? Maybe they ought to man up (or woman up) and own their own ****, if you will. When you have a falling out with someone there is no need for public defamation and contumely.

+1



Amen!

 

[Wantonmien]

Gotta ask -- Were you afraid you were going to get wet???

Seriously - the pygmy shot is awesome!!! Thanks for sharing.

Jax -- Yes I can't stand wet water -- Not really, but in 'sub tropical' Taiwan we do tend to have monsoon style torrential rain that's so heavy it's hard work to keep your eyes open in it - helps wash the gear off of course, but after a dive - nah much nicer to come up into blue sky and hot sun.

The Pygmy - how buddy found it I don't know, only 1/4 inch or so long, wriggling around in same colour soft coral - but yep nice, even if it did take half the dive to get the pose right !! Some other nice pics from that trip to Boracay Sep 2010 in my photo store on here - 50/50 buddy and mine.

Cheers, and PS - I like the avatar

 

[Wantonmien]

Spelling retentiveness always amuses me. I write for a living ... so when I'm not doing it for pay, I enjoy taking "liberties" with our language. "English" is not a static language ... particularly not the way most internet users use it. Precise words rarely have precise meanings ... it's almost always contextual, and often cultural. For example, we don't speak "English" in America ... we speak a derivative language that combines English with several other languages ... words that were brought here by people immigrating from somewhere else, that found their way into our common lexicon. Many other parts of the world are similar ... and words that mean something innocuous in America may mean something completely offensive in Australia (or Hong Kong). Speaking of HK, as an American tourist, one particular source of amusement for me was reading their street signs. Who knew that cars had "lamps" ... or that when you get off a bus you "alight".

I think it's all rather humorous ... or would that be humourous ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Being corrected for language - yes amusing, and a peeve but one I also ignore or laugh at. I've mastered 'pigeon English' now having worked with so many nationalities, and picked up the basics of several languages - but still find it quite interesting how I can dive with Taiwanese that often don't speak a word of English - but underwater, can communicate perfectly well with sign language - as language itself is just a way of communication right, no matter how different cultures may mis spell it !

 

[Quero]

What a funny photo WTM! Worthy of a whole different thread about cross-cultural misspellings. Along those lines, when I first came to Thailand it took me a while to get used to the way Thai speakers say English words that have sibilant sounds at the ends of syllables (these sounds are s-like--s, sh, ch, etc.). Because Thai language doesn't allow syllables to end with sibilants, Thais just drop them from English words, or "hear" them as d or t sounds (I could explain why d and t, but I will only say that it has to do with the point of articulation). Thus, if you order a soft drink at a restaurant, you may be asked whether you want it with "eye" (ice). Or if you order a curry, you might be offered "steamed rye" as an accompaniment (rice). One of our dive operators is called West Coast Divers, which the locals pronounce as "Wet Coat Diver". The other day I was with some customers at a place where they ordered burgers (go figure, with all the delicious Thai food everywhere, these folks ordered burgers, but I digress); so one person wanted catsup, but the bottle was empty, so I signaled the server, gave her the bottle and answered "yes" when she commented, "Fin it ah." (Finished, huh.). But my all-time favorite was a menu item listed as "Friend Fly" (French fries.) These days I love it that I don't even notice very often when those sibilants are dropped--I just hear the message, not the mistakes.

 

[Cave Diver]

"you ought to tie your reg snap on with cave line, not zip ties"

Neither. It's o-rings.

 

[Wantonmien]

What a funny photo WTM! Worthy of a whole different thread about cross-cultural misspellings.

The other day I was with some customers at a place where they ordered burgers (go figure, with all the delicious Thai food everywhere, these folks ordered burgers, but I digress); .

Quero - go on then, you start the 'cross cultural misspellings' thread and I'll for sure be able to add some classics - as I see them on a daily basis, and I've worked in some far flung places so I've one or two good ones I just couldn't resist taking a pic of

As for the burgers, oh the contents of those vary between cultures as well, and "what people eat is" another pet peeve - I mean look at this old picture of a burger - that would never be served in Thailand (or Taiwan) but you can see the guys shirt in pic gives away where it was being served

 

[Quero]

That's not a burger, WTM! It's a "hot dog" LOL. But anyway, if you request a thread split, maybe your Shose Store post can be the first one of the new thread.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Being corrected for language - yes amusing, and a peeve but one I also ignore or laugh at. I've mastered 'pigeon English' now having worked with so many nationalities, and picked up the basics of several languages - but still find it quite interesting how I can dive with Taiwanese that often don't speak a word of English - but underwater, can communicate perfectly well with sign language - as language itself is just a way of communication right, no matter how different cultures may mis spell it !

The first time I visited Taiwan I was amazed at how people would walk up to me and start a conversation. When I mentioned how friendly everyone was, my ex-wife ... who grew up in Taipei ... pointed out that, yes, people in Taiwan are generally friendly. But that's not why they're wanting to talk to me. They pay a lot of money to learn English over there, and when they overhear someone speaking English they want to practice.

My ex-wife's (English) spelling is not all that good. On the other hand, English is her fourth language (Mandarin, Fuchan, Japanese, English), and she's learned two more since (Indonesian, Bemba). So I'm rather inclined to cut her some slack on her spelling ... she manages to communicate rather effectively.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Rhone Man]

One of my guilty pleasures in life is the website: Engrish

I have the deepest respect for Asian cultures, but it always gives me a laugh. Bob, don't let your wife catch you browsing it...