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Revision as of 18:17, 14 March 2006

For the Xanth book by Piers Anthony, see Pet Peeve.

A pet peeve is a minor annoyance that can instill extreme frustration in an individual. Typically each person has several pet peeves that aggravate them more than the average person. Another person may not react as negatively or at all to the same circumstance.

The term originated from the word "peeve". A "peeve," meaning something that is particularly irritating or annoying, is a relatively recent word. Its first printed usage was in 1911. The term is a back formation from a 14th-century word: "peevish," meaning ornery or ill-tempered.

The modified term "pet peeve," a uniquely personal irritant, first appeared in print in 1919.

Pet peeves are typically of common occurrences and a person may encounter their pet peeve up to several times a day. An example of this would be someone not using their turn signals while driving. Many people do not use their turn signals, and it does not bother some drivers that people do not. People that have a pet peeve of someone not using their turn signals would become very agitated and upset when they witness the practice. Many pet peeves associated with driving can result in road rage, where the person who has been peeved seeks some sort of retribution for the action.

Often a pet peeve will seem illogical to others. For example a supervisor may have a pet peeve about people leaving the lid on the copier up and get very upset. That same supervisor may witness employees coming into work late, and not react as they did with the copier.

Driving

• Not using a turn signal when making a turn.
• Signalling a turn too far ahead of time, then bypassing three or four possible turns.
• Not using a turn signal when changing lanes.
• Driving in the left hand lane slower than the traffic moving in the right hand lane. (The opposite in England, Australia, India, etc.)
• Lingering unnecessarily in the (right) exit lane on the highway, not yielding to incoming vehicles.
• Not coming to a complete stop at stop signs.
• Drivers who make illegal turns at intersections.
• Driving in a middle turn lane of a five lane road.
• Following too close.
• Not driving with headlights on at dusk, at night, or in the rain.
• Waiting at a stop light with too much space between them and the car in front of them, or the stop line.
• When there are two or more turn lanes, all of the cars stacking in just one of the lanes.
• When there are two or more straight through lanes, all of the cars stacking in just one of the lanes.
• People leaving their turn signal on too long.
• Retreads.
• U-turns.
• Drivers who don't know how to properly use high beam headlights.
• Drivers who speed from behind even if you've exceeded legal speed limit.
• Drivers who talk on cell phones, especially when there is legislation forbidding it. (New York, Germany, Russia, Japan, UK)
• Drivers who cut in a long line at the last minute for their exit when most drivers wait patiently their turn.
• Drivers who throw trash out the window of their vehicle.
• Drivers oblivious of speed zones for schools and construction zones.
• Drivers that don't stop behind a school bus when it is picking up or dropping off children and the flashing lights are on the bus.
• Drivers that want to share the fact that they have a loud radio in their vehicle.
• Drivers that double park in a crowded parking lot.
• Drivers that use handicapped parking when they shouldn't.
• Motorcycle drivers that zoom past you like you were standing still.
• Motorcycle drivers that cut between vehicles in high traffic (between lanes).
• Drivers who do not understand how two lanes become one. It goes left, right, left, right. If you are in the existing lane, you do not have the right of way, and you are not being nice by letting several people in in front of you. People not from New York do not seem to understand this rule.

Smoking

• People throwing cigarette butts on the ground.
• People throwing cigarette butts out of car windows.
• People smoking around the entrance of a no smoking building so non-smokers have to walk through the smoke.
• Smoker breath.
  
• Smoke odor on clothes.
• Smoke odor in bars/nightclubs/restaurants.
• Cigarettes on the ground next to ashtrays.
• People who smoke when they have small children.
• People who smoke while they are pregnant.
• People who smoke while pumping gasoline.
• People who smoke while driving.
• People who smoke in the car with all of the windows wound up, particularly when there are young children in the car.
• Increased health insurance rates for non-smokers.
• People who object to smoking bans because they think their rights are violated.
• People that smoke outside and get ashes all over the clothes of those around them.
• People who smoke while walking down a sidewalk even when they know they are blowing smoke into the faces of people who are walking directly behind them.

Significant other (man)

• Leaving the toilet seat up after using the bathroom.
• Stinking up the bathroom after a bowel movement and not using the air freshener.
• Having a five o'clock shadow/beard/mustache.
• Leaving hair messy and uncombed.
• Wearing their clothes 2-3 sizes too big and hanging off their body.
• Nostril hairs that need to be clipped.
• Grabbing or checking themselves.

Significant other (woman)

• Leaving cosmetics all over the bathroom sink.
• Spending excessive time trying on various outfits in an attempt to achieve fashion perfection.
• Hair on the toilet and in the shower.
• Hugging with too much make-up, which leaves some make-up on the other person's clothing.
• Kissing with lipstick, which leaves lipstick marks on the recipient's face.
• Lipstick stain on a glass.
• Not eating at a restaurant when you're really hungry.

Workplace

• People who gossip more than work.
• People who schedule meetings first thing in the morning.
• People who use the Internet as opposed to working.
• People who use the work phone more than their home phones for social calls.
• People who come in late and leave early.
• People who say meaningless things in an attempt to make themselves look observant or intelligent.
• People who talk loudly in libraries.
• People who bring their screaming babies to libraries.

Television

• Breaking into a television program to give a thunderstorm warning.
• Wasting five seconds at the beginning of the break to tell you that the program is being interrupted for a weather advisory.
• Wasting five seconds at the end of the break to tell you that you will now be returned to the original programming.
• After each commercial break, announcing a content warning before a program resumes.
• Dubbing or deleting content of a TV movie to make it more "family friendly".
• Deleting content of syndicated television reruns to allow more time for commercial breaks.
• Frequent Emergency Broadcast System tests.
• Distractive promos taking up the bottom of the screen.
• Rating icons after every commercial break.
• When the television channels interrupt a commercial break to tell you they will we return to their program after a few short messages.
• Commercials that don't make any sense.
• Comercials that are so bad that they are catchy and you remember them.
• People who talk non-stop during movies / TV shows.

Customer service

• Cashiers that will not accept a ripped or partial (while over 50% intact) bill when its their legal obligation in the USA.
• Cashier that does not know how to use the register.
• Cashier that does not know that the $2 bill is legal.
• Cashier who doesn't greet the customer at the beginning of the transaction.
• People who do not understand the concepts of "dozen", "half-dozen" or "bakers dozen".
• Customer service representatives who fail to carefully read your question and e-mail you the answer to a different question.
• Customer service representatives who call you daily to ask the same questions as if they are telemarketers.
• Customer service representatives with accents that you can't understand, and who are impatient with you trying to understand their broken English.
• Customer service automated call routing system that asks for your account information, passwords, mother's maiden name, etc...only to be asked for that information again when you reach a live person.
• Cashiers who don't know what Gold Dollars are and will not accept them.
• When you do not need help in a store, the sales people stalk you and when you need help desperately, there is never anybody available to help you.

Telemarketing

• Calling during dinner.
• Recorded messages.
• Surveys.
• Sales pitches for things you don't need. (Vinyl siding when you live in an apartment)
• Calls that are a recorded message telling you to "Please hold for an important message."
• Telling a 13 year old that they've been preapproved for a credit card.
• A Call telling you to call them at this number.
• Marketers that don't take no for an answer.

Neighbors

• Mowing their lawn too early.
• Mowing their lawn too late.
• Not mowing their lawn often enough.
• Mowing their lawn too short.
• Letting their dog bark outside.
• Letting their dog run loose.
• Letting their dog defecate/urinate in your yard.
• Leaving their junk outside.
• Parking vehicles on the grass.
• Parking in front of your house when their house has no car in front.
• Not parking in their garage because they have too much stuff stored in the garage.
• Storing a motor home at their house.
• Storing a boat at their house.
• Parking anything that blocks the sidewalk.
• Not maintaining their house or property.
• Cutting down trees and limbs that previously blocked the view of their poorly maintained property or that of another neighbor's.
• Draining their pool so chlorine gets on your property.
• Playing music too loud.
• Being too loud when they come home late at night.
• Having too many parties.
• Revving the engine of their Harley-Davidson.
• Revving the engine of their Hot Rod.
• Not respecting property lines.
• Leaving holiday decorations out too long.
• Putting holiday decorations out too early.
• Not using curtains or blinds.
• Staring at you when you are outside.
• Staring at you when you are inside.
• Being in a rock band that practices loudly at all hours.
• Telling you what you should do on your property.

Mobile phones (cell phones)

• People who talk too loudly on the phone.
• People who talk about things that should be kept private when other people are around.
• People who use a hands-free headset in public, which makes it look as if they are talking to themselves, or to you.
• People who consistently have to be using it, either by text messaging or talking.
• People who change their cellphone ring in public, especially as they pass time on the train or bus with TOTAL disregard for everyone around them.
• People who refuse to get a cellphone on principle, and then give out the cell phone number of the people they will be with instead.
• People who play games on their phone in public with the volume on.

Grammar and Punctuation

• People who use "whom" as a fancy form of "who" without regard to the fact that it's an object and not a subject.
• Similarly, people who say, "between you and I," instead of "between you and me", in an attempt to sound smart.
• People who leave a space between the end of their sentence and one or more exclamation marks !!!
• People who say "is you" as opposed to "are you" when asking a question.
• People who ask a question, but have actually made a statement ie. "Everything's in the bag?"
• People who cannot pronounce a word properly, but continue to use the word.
• People who type and don't use any commas or periods so their paragraph ends up being a big run-on sentence.
• People who say "I did good," instead of "I did well."
• People who use commas excessively and incorrectly.
• People who say "atomic" when they mean "nuclear", e.g., "atom bomb", "atomic energy", and so on.
• People who type the word "you" like "u", "are", like "r", "to" like "2", "before" as "b4", "great" as "gr8" and so on.
• People who spell words incorrectly, such as "receive" as "recieve" or "weird" as "wierd."
• People who, on the computer, release the shift key before they finish holding a key. e.g. Guess what!!!!!!1
• People who use apostrophes incorrectly. i.e., "apple's" instead of "apples", "it's" instead of "its" and vice versa.
• People who, having heard a big word during a conversation, casually and incorrectly use the word in a conversation shortly after.
• People who use adjectives where they should use adverbs (and vice versa): "He walks slow," "I feel badly."
• People who mix up "i.e." and "e.g.": "a dog, i.e. Rover."
• People who use "myself" and "yourself" inappropriately: "Fine, how 'bout yourself?"
• People who greet you like a third person: saying to Fred, "How's Fred?" instead of "Hi Fred, how are you?"
• The phrase "Pet Peeve" to begin with.

Computers

• Getting chain letters.
• Smears on the monitor.
• People who "broke," "lost," or can't "download" the Internet.
• Users who think they're being tech savvy by always pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL when they get in trouble because they saw someone else doing it.
• People who don't know how to type and "poke" the keys.
• Internet slang.
• Forum users that make frequent typos and won't take the time to paste it into a word processor and do a spell check.

Relationships

• People who always complain about being cold.
• People who are picky about food.
• People who walk slow.
• People who cannot decide on what to eat.
• People who refer to themselves in the third person.
• People who penny pinch to the extreme.
• People who whine after losing $20 or less at a casino.
• People who try too hard to be different.
• People who try too hard to be friendly.

Misplaced Pages

• Stubs.
• Deletionists.

• Personality