Topic: Pet Peeves - What's yours???

[Sectionhand]

My son who reads on an appitude of three grades ahead but writes like he's three grades below. This is what kills me, the teachers all cry foul when we force them into a payscale based on merrit, some making $40/hr and my kid can't write simple projects

 It's you fault!!Teachers are always accusing the parents of not having an interest in their childrens schooling. It's never the teacher.

Way back in 1957 when I was in first grade , I was having a terrible time with reading and comprehension . Essentially I was  "reading backwards" ; I suppose a yet , at that time , undiagnosed form of dislexia . At any rate all of the  "experts" at school were unanimous when telling my mother that I would never learn to read or write properly . Well , Good Ol' Mom wasn't buying it and working tirelessly with flash cards , reading to me , having me read back to her , etc . until ...." I is where I is ! "  Where ever that is . Essentially , I owe my level of formal education to my Mother and not the public school system which came very close , at a crucial time , to failing me .

[BigAlSouth]

. . .
 Essentially , I owe my level of formal education to my Mother and not the public school system which came very close , at a crucial time , to failing me .

A lesson for all parents to remember. School ain't nothing but a Progressive Babysitter." If you don't get involved, you can't blame anyone else.  For example, I told my (now 15 yr. old) son that if any of his teachers muttered anything about man-made global warming he was to politely say that "my dad does not believe in that and will be happy to debate you in front of the class."

So far, no takers.

#ETA: Moms are great. From a very early age, mine had me thinking about politics so I was able to understand why my dad yelled at the t.v. during Huntley-Brinkley . . .)

[warpmine]

Sectionhand: Your mother was determined as my mother-in-law who did the same thing for her son and that was a two decades later when they were supposed to be more aware of these cases. Damn disorder runs in both families to what extent we'll never know. Personally it takes me forever to read but comprehension is descent. I wish I could read like my son so I could have been an engineer. It is my belief that we're put together in different ways by God, so that we can grow faster as a civilization. We all seem to be good at least one thing and we must find out what it is. Older brother has a knack for problem solving and crafting mechanics. Middle brother has a knack but we just don't know what the hell it is.

[John Florida]

My son who reads on an appitude of three grades ahead but writes like he's three grades below. This is what kills me, the teachers all cry foul when we force them into a payscale based on merrit, some making $40/hr and my kid can't write simple projects

 It's you fault!!Teachers are always accusing the parents of not having an interest in their childrens schooling. It's never the teacher.

Way back in 1957 when I was in first grade , I was having a terrible time with reading and comprehension . Essentially I was  "reading backwards" ; I suppose a yet , at that time , undiagnosed form of dislexia . At any rate all of the  "experts" at school were unanimous when telling my mother that I would never learn to read or write properly . Well , Good Ol' Mom wasn't buying it and working tirelessly with flash cards , reading to me , having me read back to her , etc . until ...." I is where I is ! "  Where ever that is . Essentially , I owe my level of formal education to my Mother and not the public school system which came very close , at a crucial time , to failing me .

 I type entire words back asswords and for a second they look fine to me.I have the same problem so I have to really watch it.

[Pandora]

Gunsmith has a kind of dyslexia as well.  He sees words that aren't there and doesn't see ones that are, sometimes.  This was caught when he was in elementary school, but wasn't dealt with properly by either the school or his mother.  (School had him reading comic books -- which he sees as an insult to his intelligence to this very day -- and his mother had him read aloud to her over the sound of the television.)   

When we got married, he got more interested in reading (because I am a reader, I suspect) and he does a lot more reading now, more easily, than when he was younger, having found his own way to compensate.  Sometimes, kids, and even young people, are just not ready, physiologically/psychologically, to learn something that will come more easily when they are a bit older, I think.

[LadyVirginia]

 

[LadyVirginia]

Also many people around here do not know how to merge.

I see this all the time. 

The sign clearly says to merge left. I'm in the left lane happily going on my way.  I've seen people actually get in the right lane after the merge sign only to have to try to get back in before the lane ends. Or the idiots who think they're gonna force me to stop so they can get over. Read the sign.  It's not like it's a construction zone and you were caught off guard.  I really like to tick those people off by acting like I don't see them.  I know they saw the sign. And if they didn't LEARN TO READ ROAD SIGNS. I've even seen some of them pull from the left lane several cars back and try to speed around everyone else. I don't really care if people pass me but not when you try to bully your way to pass me. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

I really think that people's real personality comes through when they drive. As I've always told my kids: You are how you drive.
Can't hid it.  Haven't found it not to be true among those I know.

[LadyVirginia]

I don't have a big problem with voicemail, primarily because it allows me to screen calls without answering the phone when people call who I may not wish to talk to at the moment of their choosing. (Which is about everyone but my wife and kids). It allows me to deal with phone calls on my schedule rather than someone else's.

I tell people I screen calls.  Why act like I don't?   I value my time.  I don't owe a stranger my time.

I get a least a handful of hang up calls everyday--checking the caller id I can see they are sales, etc calls that I have no interest in and  then there's the other 1/2 doz that DO leave a message I have no interest in.  I feel under no obligation to answer those people's calls. My family knows to keep talking until I get to the phone. 

[LadyVirginia]

When someone will put up with a light bulb being out for days or weeks because it's a man's job to replace light bulbs or something.

When the lightbulb goes out and the man won't change it because it's the woman's job even though she a lot shorter and has to drag out a ladder to do it and the man could reach it easily.

 

[LadyVirginia]

I have to hide one set so that I will always have access. All others vanish. I have purchased several dozen of them over the years.

I've actually throw them out.  They seem to multiply around here. 

[IronDioPriest]

Hmmmm... So there's a chance that I could eliminate the risk of centipedes in my house by allowing small lizards to roam freely indoors???

[Pandora]

Hmmmm... So there's a chance that I could eliminate the risk of centipedes in my house by allowing small lizards to roam freely indoors???

Millipedes, too, unless there are cats present, then it's curtains for the skinks.  'Course, though, they do have to poop somewhere .....

[IronDioPriest]

What price a little lizard poop for a home free of creatures with more than six limbs?

[rickl]

Millipedes don't bother me.  (Does that make me guilty of legism?)  They're slow-moving and eat decayed vegetable matter.  I rarely find them indoors.

I'm sure my cats would enjoy the skinks, though.

[radioman]

My pet, Peeve, is a real houndog!!

[rickl]

Obama voters.

[Pandora]

Or they ask "who is this" when you say hello.  What do you mean "who is this?"; who did you want to call?

Swear to God, I got one of these calls just tonight.  Drunk, southern, moron.

[Janny]

Or they ask "who is this" when you say hello.  What do you mean "who is this?"; who did you want to call?

Swear to God, I got one of these calls just tonight.  Drunk, southern, moron.

We have phone number that is very similar to a car dealership and also a tax preparation service. I have actually answered a local call on several occasions, thinking it might be someone I know, only to have the person ask if I am Earnhardt or Jackson Hewitt. That doesn't bother me much, because anyone can misdial a number, but sometimes when I tell them they dialed the wrong number, these people will ARGUE with me. I guess they think I am an employee that doesn't want to do her job, or they couldn't have possibly made a mistake?

Then, there are the people who realize that they have dialed the wrong number the minute you say "hello," and just hang up, without having the courtesy to apologize for bothering you. 

[trapeze]

When someone will put up with a light bulb being out for days or weeks because it's a man's job to replace light bulbs or something.

When the lightbulb goes out and the man won't change it because it's the woman's job even though she a lot shorter and has to drag out a ladder to do it and the man could reach it easily.

 

Height is not an issue in a world with ladders, step stools and chairs. The ability to change a light bulb is source material for innumerable jokes for a reason, because there is nothing in the world that could possibly be easier. Since this is a thread about pet peeves I chose this one because there is flat out no reason why anyone regardless of their sex (or age past, say, six) should not be able to replace one.

Which brings to mind another word mis-usage issue...

Using gender instead of sex in reference to a person.

Gender is a property of words, not people. People may be divided by sex, male or female or liberal Democrat. Words can have gender, masculine or feminine or neuter.

[Pandora]

Using gender instead of sex in reference to a person.

Ooo.  Big one on my list too, trapz.

~~~~~

On the ladder, stepstool, lightbulb issue:

I need a friggin lift for most everything in my house; kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, ceiling fan bulbs, closet shelves, furniture tops.  It's kinda tiring and annoying having to do a two-step when a one-step is easier for the tall-guy (and I've got stepstools and a two-level platform placed strategically around the place).  Gunsmith got me a grabber for Christmas, which cuts down on the climbing/delegating issue.  I'm considering bringing it to the grocery-store with me so I can cease asking favors from strangers.