Pet Peeves

We all have them. Those little things that drive us crazy, no matter how stupid they are. We call them pet peeves. Which is an interesting name. I just looked it up, interested to see where it came from. Peeve is actually an American word. Go figure. We're American. Things annoy us. It was back-formed from "peevish," which is from Middle English, and it was first used around 1910. How on earth could they know that?!

I could point out several more things about the origins of the phrase, but I shall resist the temptation. Hopefully people divulging useless information is nobody's pet peeve...

At any rate, I was on some website the other day (I don't remember which one). The soul purpose of this particular webpage is to log in to the website. There's nothing else you can do on the page, except maybe link back to a home page. And yet, when you get there, the cursor doesn't automatically show up in the username field. Now, I'm no web designer, but it seems to me that it can't be that hard to make the cursor go where it needs to go. Everyone else does it. Instead, I have to actually click on the field. I know - the horror, right? Probably doesn't bother most people. But it drives me crazy.

That made me think of some of my other pet peeves. Things like people who don't use their turn signal, and then get upset when you don't let them into your lane. Because I'm supposed to read your mind? Or were you signaling by letting your car drift dangerously close to mine? Because I thought that was just because you were texting your friends while you were driving.

I suppose I should pay more attention to the unstated intentions of others.

Of course, there are plenty of pet peeves to be discussed when it come to driving (cough, tailgating, cough). Let's face it. We always consider ourselves the best driver on the road. Anything happens, and it's automatically someone else's fault. Don't lie - you know you feel that way. At any rate, I'm going to leave the realm of bad driving at that...

Another thing that drives me crazy is when somebody interrupts another person who is speaking. It doesn't even have to be me being interrupted - just listening to a conversation when one person consistently interrupts bugs me. I'm not talking about an occasional I'm-too-excited-to-tell-you-what-I'm-thinking-so-I'm-going-to-interrupt-you type of a thing. I'm talking about the persistent interrupters. Apparently anything they have to say is much more important. Than anything else.

I could go on, of course, but I don't want to sound like some peevish, negative person. I leave that to all of you - what are your pet peeves?