Thread: Pet Peeves?

Originally Posted by ZipZop

Another travel related one, people that sit next to you on commercial airlines and just won't shut up for a nano second. I was on a flight from Houston to Honolulu last year and a lady next to me exercised her jaw the entire flight. 3,900 miles of motor-mouthing. How can anyone possibly talk for 8 hours and 20 minutes without taking a breath? She managed it.

When I was in college, I found that I had to trade off the extra time for the reduced cost of visiting home by bus rather than airplane. Unfortunately, the duration of the bus ride was between 42 and 48 hours. On one trip, at about 2 in the morning, an old woman and a young girl, maybe 4 or 5 years old, got on the bus and proceeded to talk LOUDLY while most of the rest of us were trying to sleep. Unfortunately, they were sitting right behind me. By about 4 AM, they had run out of things to say, and decided to start singing 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

They did the full 100 bottles TWICE.
Then Grandma decided, after all that beer, that she needed to use the restroom. While she was gone, the little girl started singing the song again on her own. I joined in with my own version of the song…

One hundred little kids on the wall,
One hundred little kids.
You take one down,
You slap them around,
99 little kids on the wall!

We went through a couple verses together and then she stopped. Nearly the ENTIRE bus broke out into applause! Then Grandma came back and tried to start the song up again. The little girl said she didn't want to sing any more. The silence was appreciated.

I'll jump on "people who set next to you".

Totally empty theater. Me and wife only ones there, trailer starts, and BAM a couple of jerks come in and sit right in front of us.
Even worse is when they sit directly behind me...the PTSD kicks in I either say something or move.

Last part is on me, but come on an entirely empty theater and they pick the seats right directly in front or behind.

Just slap on some Vegetal next time you go, problem solved.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Just slap on some Vegetal next time you go, problem solved.

he said make em move not kill them.

I wouldn't exactly call it a 'Peeve' but it's 'interesting'.

My son's girlfriend is of Mexican decent (her father is a Mexican National working on his citizenship) the girlfriend was born here in the USA and speaks fluent English and Spanish.

When she's at the Boars Nest and she is talking to her mom on the phone she switches back and forth from Spanish to English and English to Spanish.

I really couldn't care less about what she's talking about but it's 'interesting' as to WHY switch?? I can understand needing to use a word that's only an 'English' or Spanish word but to be speaking entire paragraphs back and forth doesn't make any sense to me.

Oh well---

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I really couldn't care less about what she's talking about but it's 'interesting' as to WHY switch?? I can understand needing to use a word that's only an 'English' or Spanish word but to be speaking entire paragraphs back and forth doesn't make any sense to me.

Might be able to shed a little light on this one... I have family and friends from south america. they do the same thing and I asked about this before.
The answer made me feel pretty silly and embarrassed. generally people are trying to respect american conventions by speaking in english as much as possible, but when trying to convey something very clearly to someone in another language (especially if english is your second language) it's easier for both parties to understand in native language. so while it might be less noticeable to just stick with spanish, sometimes switching languages is actually a result of trying to show respect for people around them.
this is x2 for when you're speaking to someone who doesn't understand english very well...

It's very common among Mexican's who live here to talk part spanish and part english and go back and forth even if they are among non spanish speakers.

You really see it with folks who live in the valley in South Texas around Harlingen and McAllen.

or they will claim they don't speak english the oilfield is a big work place for Mexicans, and sometimes they try that on the supervisors,, being in the oilfield for 40+ yars I could speak as good as they could,, so I usually let the new guys ramble on a bit before I talk to them its sometimes funny,, heck sometimes I go back and forth too.. if you work in New Mexico , Texas, or Oklahoma you need to understand the lingo.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Just slap on some Vegetal next time you go, problem solved.

PRICELESS come back my man!

The only problem is I can't stand the Veg. Thought I'd love it due to my affair with Original and Spec Reserve (and old school AS in general), but I ended up giving my bottles away.

Your right though that would clear a couple of rows!

Aloha!

Pretending not to understand a language. You get that in every culture. That's what makes the world interesting.

I lived in Paris (yes France) for a while when I was just out of college, and I spoke fairly fluent French having studied 4 years in High School and 4 years in college. But you don't learn "Street Slang", you learn proper French. So when I got to Paris, my accent stuck out a bit (they actually said I spoke with a Canadian accent, not American.... odd since I'm American), but my use of the language was the give-away. So the French would sometimes tease me or start throwing street slang at me. It took me a while to pick it up.

The biggest pet peeve living there was that when I'd speak to someone in French, they would answer back in English. That is sort of like saying, "Wow, your French is pretty bad, let's speak in English instead because my English is better than your French". I would not play that game, but I'd give it right back to them. I'd speak French right back to their English to say back to them, "No, your English is horrible. I need you to speak French". Sometimes they would pretend not to understand, so when they spoke English back to me, I pretended not to understand either. Two can play at that game.

The biggest issue I have now is going to Montreal. Canadian French really throws me. They say things differently in Quebec than they do in France, and use different inflections or words for things in Canada that they don't use in France. And my French friends say that they play the "answer in English" with them as well. My Parisian friends will say something to a French Canadian in French, and the French Canadians will answer back in English, so the Parisians answer right back in French.

Oh, the games we play as human adults.

-Zip

PS - If you truly want to hear a melodious beautiful language, listen to Hawaiian. It's a gorgeous language. I wish I spoke it. I know maybe 20 words. And Local Hawaiians would NEVER be so rude as to speak Hawaiian among those that didn't speak it. It's the Aloha Spirit of the islands. You treat visitors with dignity, respect and warmth.