Things that irk you......

[SpeedTchr]

Yeah, I guess we'll go over to Rick Monday's Thursday, meet up with Jeff Saturday Friday and go have a sundae.

Maybe we will run into Tuesday Weld and Billy Sunday!

 

[HC]

When someone begins a business phone conversation with "Hi. How are you?" before they've identified themselves. I automatically assume they're sales people.

 

[Buck]

Local TV news has lost the ability to speak a sentence in their torturous and dumb pursuit of the active voice.
Crime coverage on local TV news has become a non-stop stream of present and past particpial phrases:

• Police continuing to look for the suspect
• Residents fearing for their safety
• Friends and family shocked by the events

Your participal is a verb form but it is not functioning as a verb. I have recently watched three crime segments that never included an actual verb.
It's a crime. The verb is the best part of the story. Use a VERB!

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Local TV news has lost the ability to speak a sentence in their torturous and dumb pursuit of the active voice.
Crime coverage on local TV news has become a non-stop stream of present and past particpial phrases:

• Police continuing to look for the suspect
• Residents fearing for their safety
• Friends and family shocked by the events

Your participal is a verb form but it is not functioning as a verb. I have recently watched three crime segments that never included an actual verb.
It's a crime. The verb is the best part of the story. Use a VERB!

As someone who produces and writes a newscast every day... the bull**** "active" tense drives me insane. I have not and will not write that way, but I've had anchors who will change scripts to it. (Frequently just the first line of the script -- the rest is allowed to remain in English.)

 

[Baron Scicluna]

When someone begins a business phone conversation with "Hi. How are you?" before they've identified themselves. I automatically assume they're sales people.

I like to answer "lousy" or "terrible." A lot of times, it throws the salesperson off. They're used to hearing that the person is fine.

 

[Batman]

Who the **** plays the food snob with taco sauce?

Not playing food snob. They just decided to randomly give me about 20 packets of mild sauce (which does suck and is absolutely worthless) at the drive thru last night and it irked me since it happens on about three out of every 10 trips to Taco Bell.
Similarly, getting fries at a burger place drive thru and they give you exactly two ketchup packets. It gets even worse when you ask for more and they give you one extra one, as if the damn things are packaged in gold leaf. Bonus points if it's at a place with waffle fries that soak up the ketchup and take roughly one packet per fry.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

For the record, I can't tell any of the Taco Bell sauces apart and they're all mild to me.

 

[TyWebb]

People who walk in crowds while looking down at their phones. At least once a week someone on a city street collides with me or has a near miss bc they're droning on their phone. This generation raised on iPhones is gonna be ****ed

You and I lock horns a bit, but on this one I think we would high five.

Unless high-fiving irks you.

Then we would fist bump.

 

[Batman]

For the record, I can't tell any of the Taco Bell sauces apart and they're all mild to me.

Mild is like water. Hot and Fire have enough zip to them without being overwhelming.
Diablo is a little too much, but fun in small doses. A bag full of tacos loaded down with Diablo sauce and a long drive home is just asking for trouble.

 

[SFIND]

"on the mound" in a softball story. OK, that one more than irks me. There is no mound in softball. #threadjack

I had two coaches in the same game say "on the mound" during interviews earlier this week, and one is a former DI collegiate player (who did at least correct herself on her second 'mound' reference.

 

[Machine Head]

No love for Taco Bell Verde sauce?

Fantastic movie. A true classic!

 

[Bronco77]

Outside the office: People who ignore the easily readable "10 items or less" sign and go through the supermarket's express lane with 25 or 30 items (encountered that one this morning).

At the office: Use of "gonna" and "gotta" in quotes, and reporters and editors who defend it -- even though our stylebook entry clearly states, "Substandard English and not used in this paper."

 

[Batman]

No love for Taco Bell Verde sauce?

Fantastic movie. A true classic!

The Verde sauce is hit or miss in its availability near me. I always thought it was a special or experimental offering, not a regular one.
In any event ... nah. It's OK mixing with one of the others, but not by itself.

 

[Buck]

As someone who produces and writes a newscast every day... the bull**** "active" tense drives me insane. I have not and will not write that way, but I've had anchors who will change scripts to it. (Frequently just the first line of the script -- the rest is allowed to remain in English.)

I applaud your efforts.
Please talk to sports guy/woman about use of 'on the night' and 'on the season.'

I hear this one in game broadcasts as well as in TV and radio sports news all the time. Drives me insane, as I've said many times.
Not only is it ridiculous nonsense, it is utterly unnecessary.

'Joey finishes 0-for-6 on the night.'
'Joey was 0-for-4 on the night.'
'Joey is 0-for-47 on the season.'
Why? Why say that?
Broadcasters at the end of the game, just say 'Joey finished 0-for-6.' At the most, just add 'tonight.'
'Joey went 0-for-4.' If you are recapping that night's game on the local news, the context tells the viewers that you are talking about his performance in that night's game.
If you want to tell us how poorly Joey is hitting so far this season, then add the necessary context: Just say 'Joey is 0-for-47 this season.'

 

[Songbird]

Joey is 0-for-47 this season.

It sure as hell ****ing feels like it ...

 

[QYFW]

Plenty of mounds in softball.

 

[ChrisLong]

I applaud your efforts.
Please talk to sports guy/woman about use of 'on the night' and 'on the season.'

I hear this one in game broadcasts as well as in TV and radio sports news all the time. Drives me insane, as I've said many times.
Not only is it ridiculous nonsense, it is utterly unnecessary.

'Joey finishes 0-for-6 on the night.'
'Joey was 0-for-4 on the night.'
'Joey is 0-for-47 on the season.'
Why? Why say that?
Broadcasters at the end of the game, just say 'Joey finished 0-for-6.' At the most, just add 'tonight.'
'Joey went 0-for-4.' If you are recapping that night's game on the local news, the context tells the viewers that you are talking about his performance in that night's game.
If you want to tell us how poorly Joey is hitting so far this season, then add the necessary context: Just say 'Joey is 0-for-47 this season.'

You forgot "... in the game." Dammit, of course it was in the game. If it was during batting practice, we wouldn't care.

 

[MTM]

Had a co-worker who would write: "We played a good game," Podunk coach Al Coholic said afterward.

Of course it was afterward. They didn't likely talk during the game.

I will use afterward if reporting on a public meeting to differentiate what was said in the open and what was said later in an interview.

 

[I Should Coco]

AP photo caption division:

"President Donald Trump, left, and ..."
"In this Thursday, April 20, 2017 file photo ..." (for a photo sent Friday)
Cutting and pasting the first three graphs of a story onto the caption.

I could go on ...

 

[User 11148]

None of the things listed so far would impact me in any way ...