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Gary E Masters's avatar

Peeves: Got a ton of them and remember a short story where a person had "pet peeves" until they took over his home. But all the "aliens" in SF shows usually say "I am here from another galaxy .." and never from another solar system or star or even planet. Like Mars. Do these writers even know what a galaxy is. Our galaxy seems large enough to have others in it.

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StorytellerTimLivengood's avatar

Yes! Yes! Numerous times yes! However, I don't see how this could possibly be an embarrassing pet peeve. It is simple awareness that most people are dumb, wrong, and can't be troubled to learn the basics about what they write.

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Gary E Masters's avatar

I know. It was so tempting to just go with a pet peve, since I wanted to. Self indulgences are so fun. But awkward.

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Gary E Masters's avatar

I call it the LBJ reaction. When Lyndon was thrust into the Presidency, he was praised by many reporters who really did not even like him. Later on, when he was in trouble, they did turn. Many voted against Trump. Now they want to be critical of Biden. I have followed him since the 80's when he helped the programs of the Casualty Care Research Center at the Uniformed Services University where I worked. He was very astute in his support for our training program. I thought him to be one of the best minds in the Senate then and a good President now.

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Carstonio's avatar

Biden’s low numbers probably have little to do with about him or his policies or personality. American politics in 2023 is almost entirely about identity, or as Slate describes the corrosive effect of Trumpism, the framing of every issue as whether the white guy wins or loses. What the pundits call the political divide is mostly older rural white people without college educations (plus a handful of billionaires), versus everyone else. The former group not only makes up the Fox News core audience, but they’re also more likely to still use landlines and thus more accessible to pollsters. The “Let’s Go Brandon” crowd, and the people putting “I did that” stickers on gas pumps, really see Biden as a symbol for white people losing their status as the center of American life, despite him being a white man himself.

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Carstonio's avatar

Russia might be appealing for them if the Idaho panhandle turns too liberal or something. I’ve read horror stories about Christian fundamentalists and retired LAPD cops flocking to the state. Would be interesting to see how both groups’ fear of the rest of the world meshes with Russian culture’s longstanding tradition of a bleak, cynical outlook on life.

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Noodles & Cabbage's avatar

To the person with the pet peeve about fully inflated plastic bottles in the recycling bin:

I shared this pet peeve until very recently, when I read this surprisingly helpful piece in the newspaper that shall not be named: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2023/recycling-tips-mistakes-quiz/

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Would’e?'s avatar

Bryan Garner calls “forecasted” a solecism and lists “forecast” as favored 9:1 in the language change index.

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Bjorn Toulouse's avatar

they are called pet peeves because they are typically fed, nurtured, and carried around like a purse dog by one person. It's a pet peeve because you're the one keeping it alive.

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Peg Hausman's avatar

The commenter who is tired of fogging up their glasses when wearing a mask might try the Airgami, which is pretty good about not fogging when properly adjusted. Airgamis are also easier to sing or speak with, as the front protrudes and allows you more air (and thus won't stick to your teeth, either).

The protrusion does make the wearer somewhat resemble the puppy Snoopy of the 1950s (and not the more mature Snoopy, who has a longer snout). Nonetheless, the origami flavor of the design keeps them fairly elegant. They can only be ordered online. I have no connection with the makers.

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Nora's avatar

Television captions! You'd think the directors, etc., would care! Some of them are quite funny, however.

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Gary E Masters's avatar

What do I know? Not so much as I thought. Every day I find that what I knew is false. But I can express how happy I was when I learned that Tucker Carlson had no relationship with Margaret Carlson. I have held her in high esteem for many years and some times thought "What a Babe!" I have no use for little Tucker.

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Would’e?'s avatar

Pet peeve: The Apple weather app regularly uses “forecasted” as the past tense or past participle of the word forecast, which is of course irregular. No one says “I casted my line into the fishing hole,” or “The actor was casted in the role.” Every time I see this error, I email Apple that they make themselves look stupid. Nothing changes.

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Peg Hausman's avatar

Checked some online dictionaries on the OneLook site. Most accept both "forecast" and "forecasted" as past tense/past participle. Collins seems to prefer "forecasted," while Oxford doesn't appear to accept the existence of "forecast" as a verb (am I reading them wrong?).

I personally prefer the "forecast" version, but find that it can occasionally confuse the reader. The suggestion I put into our in-house styleguide ran like this (sorry can't indent quote):

“Forecast” is preferred as past tense and participle (“strong growth was forecast”), but to avoid confusion, “forecasted” is okay before nouns (“the forecasted growth came later than expected”).

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Dale of Green Gables's avatar

Apart from the fact that there are no flights presently from Russia to The Netherlands (except perhaps by defecting pilots), Amsterdam has snatched away its long-standing welcome mat for sex tourists, and especially those deemed especially rowdy from the UK. Apparently this otherwise delightful and enormously popular city is under siege by foreign visitors and the city council is in the process of moving the famous neon-lit windows, where sex workers parade for trade, out of the residential heart of the capital to a new "erotic zone." Brothels and bars now have earlier closing times and a ban on smoking weed on the streets in and around the Red Light District went into effect this past week. Ah well there is still the Museum Rembrandthuis.

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Dale of Green Gables's avatar

There are no current direct flights to The Netherlands from Russia but you are able to fly there via a third country, including the United Arab Emirates.

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Michael Jacobs's avatar

Gene, is that airfare to you-know-where you quoted from Moscow or from DC? Jusk asking.

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Gene Weingarten's avatar

haha. Moscow, one way.

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Michael Jacobs's avatar

Not that I'm making reservations or anything...

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Michael Jacobs's avatar

No, Bre'r Fox! PLEASE don't throw me into that briar patch!

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Michael Jacobs's avatar

)*Y)*&)*&!!!!!! Delete my vote on "Economy isn't working." Stupid slip of the finger, then it won't let you change your vote.

Actually I vote for "none of the above." I DO get it why his approval rating is so low, and he IS doing a good job. Those two things do not follow logically from each other.

The real reason Biden's approval ratings are so low is that the Trumpian GOP has mastered the KGB-style propaganda techniques (perhaps they learned from the Master himself? NO, not Trump, Trump's puppeteer) on how to utterly destroy someone's political and/or public career with scurrilous lies that they repeat often enough that stupid people begin to believe them.

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Nora's avatar

My pet peeve is the mispronunciation of "short-lived." It's a long I, people! It's an embarrassing peeve because when I try to explain (how would you say a cat is nine-lived?") I get really pitying looks. But I'm right, dammit!

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Peg Hausman's avatar

Dictionaries are all over the map on this issue. The short i has the edge, however.

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Michael Jacobs's avatar

But if everybody does it, doesn't that mean it's not wrong? (For lexicographical purposes only, that is.)

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