The "Things that annoy me" thread

[Lupin_IV]

AND IT'S CHEQUE FOR GOD'S SAKE, check is a verb. English, stop murdering it.

Merriam-Webster disagrees.

cheque: chiefly British variant of check 7

check: 7: a written order directing a bank to pay money as instructed

 

[NecroJoe]

Yeah, I haven't written a check in ages, having people write out checks for 3.50 worth of stuff is maddening.

Late last year, my company had to deal with a guy who wanted to buy ~$8,000 worth of stuff with a check. He refused to use a debit card because he was affraid our scanner might have a "skimmer" in it, and he didn't want to put it on a credit card (we can manually type in the number on those) because "I don't want to have to remember to pay it off right away or else I'll be charged interest."

The stupid thing was, we were, essentally, placing an order online to have something shipped from our warehouse. So, we had to sell him a gift certificate for the amount in the store and let him pay by check, and then use the gift certificate, which can be used on this online ordering system, to order the items.

Through the whole transaction, especially when he made comments about it taking a long time, I wanted SO BAD to say "You know, England is working on getting rid of checks alltogether as an obsolete method of payment..."

Worse, though, are the people who write "SEE ID" on the back of their credit card, and then are annoyed when you ask them for their ID. I could be a real douche and say "Great...now that I know who you are, Mrs. Penderson, I can tell you that I can't take that credit card because it's not signed. See that little line there? 'Not valid unless signed'? Yeah? Suck it, sister." Then, hand them a pen and see if they give in.

 

[MacGuffin]

Since I'm working for a credit card company at the moment, I have to say that customers can act really stupid with their cards, yes.

But the folks behind the cashiers can be much, much dumber than that and also very lazy at times. For example the spend patterns of a cardholder can trigger the watch dogs within the system. A code is then displayed on the card reader and the guy at the cashier is supposed to call the credit card company and verify the identity of the cardholder. It's for safety and not a chicane.

What they do instead, however, is telling the customer in 9 out of 10 cases, that the card doesn't work and if they got another one. The only folks who are able to cope with such situations, seem to be car rentals, because they have to deal with credit cards the whole bloody day and know the mechanisms.

And guess who is blamed for the time delay, if the guys and gurls behind the counter are overcharged with the situation because of bad training? Right, must be the bloody credit card company.

Since I know how the system works and that in 99,9 % of all cases it's not a problem with the card but with the card reader, the connection or the inability of the bloke behind the counter, I made it a habit to say "Well, see how you can make it work, since I don't have any cash on me and I will not give you another card".

And guess what? After some teeth grinding they always manage to solve the problem.

 

[ambermorn]

People who bag out my choice of university.
Being rostered on for work and then being sent home after 2 hours. I've been there for over a year, can't you give the shitty lunch shifts to a newbie?
Customers who do not follow terms and conditions and then yell at you for their mistake.
The lack of work/play balance I've had for the past few years.
Having to wash my hair. It takes half a day to dry and then I look like Effie

 

[SirEdward]

and that's just gibberish. awdi = aww-dee. audi = ambiguous in english.

No, this is the correct pronounciation in latin, [audi]. Yes, it's ambiguous in english, but not everything is english in this world (luckily? ).

aah-ooh-dee = pure gibberish: audi is two syllables, the A and U are one sound not two distinct sounds. And if you do string those together it's still not right because there's no ? in a?

Sorry, I did write clearly that I wasn't sure there. I tried to disambiguate the sounds... clearly I haven't succeded.

However, A and U -are- two different sounds (even if they are one syllable): it still is not english. Besides, they are two different sounds in english too. ([a?]).

As I said, though, if you don't like latin, or you are not sure, just ask the Germans how they say it. it is a totally German car company.

to be fair, place names are even spelled differently in different languages. That makes no sense whatsoever, but that's just how it is. Things should be anglicized in a way in which english speakers can pronounce them the way they should be pronounced (like Naples... how is that the same thing as Napoli? We can pronounce Napoli just fine, but in English the city is spelled Naples... honestly, wtf?) So, obviously we can't be expected to pronounce things right when we don't even spell them right. 'Tis truly 'tarded.

The speakers of every language will develop ways to pronounciate foreign words so that are easier and less complicated; see how english-speaking people say "Rome" instead of "Roma", for example. It happens everywhere, and sometimes the result is so different from the original that the new word actually makes no sense at all in the original language. I met an english woman that told me she stayed some day in an italian town called "Jesolo" [j?solo], but she was actually saying something like [d?i:zo?lo?]. In addition to this, in past centuries it was common use to "translate" names, which means to invent completely new words that seem like the translation of the original name; the english "Naples", but also "Londra" or "Londres" for London, "Copenhagen" for the the original K?benhavn, "Japan" instead of the original, or the incredible italian "Aquisgrana" (which actually comes form the ancient latin name) and french "Aix-la-Chapelle" to name the german city of Aachen...

Names adaptation is unavoidable, but I think it should be kept to a minimum, even with brand names.

[edit]Or by names did you mean people's names? Because as far as foreign languages go, Italian is about the easiest to pronounce without even knowing it as long as you know a few pronounciation rules[/edit]

We have this very good, lucky alphabet that assigns pretty much one symbol to every sound, so writing and reading are easier. But I think Spanish can be even easier.

 

[MacGuffin]

Maybe we should lift the level of difficulty up a bit:

- Doppelkupplungsgetriebe

- Lohnsteuerjahresausgleich

- Nahrungserg?nzungspr?parate

- Bundesausbildungsf?rderungsgesetz

- Verm?gensverwaltungsgesellschaft

- Rindfleischetikettierungs?berwachungsaufgaben?bertragungsgesetz

- Grundst?cksverkehrsgenehmigungszust?ndigkeits?bertragungsverordnung

Anybody wants to give a try on these real existing German words?

 

[DanRoM]

Remind me never to play Hangman with you, MacGuffin.

 

[Quadrax]

^ In english they are not one word. Germans like to smash multiple words together in to one.

 

[AiR]

Maybe we should lift the level of difficulty up a bit:

- Doppelkupplungsgetriebe
dual clutch gearbox

- Lohnsteuerjahresausgleich
something increasing in value each year?

- Nahrungserg?nzungspr?parate
nutrition replacement preparate (I think)

- Bundesausbildungsf?rderungsgesetz
national education distribution agency (?)

- Verm?gensverwaltungsgesellschaft
A stock company that handles money

- Rindfleischetikettierungs?berwachungsaufgaben?bertragungsgesetz
sounds like side steak labeling and shipping supervision board

- Grundst?cksverkehrsgenehmigungszust?ndigkeits?bertragungsverordnung
it's some rule relating to the movement of something I think :lol:

Anybody wants to give a try on these real existing German words?

This one time a kommunikationsdepartementssekretariatstj?nsteman bit my sister...

 

[SirEdward]

A-hem:

Grundst?cksverkehrsgenehmigungszust?ndigkeits?bertragungsverordnung

[gr?nt?t?ksf?r'ke?rsg?'ne?migu?gstsu??t?nd??ka?ty?b?rtra?gu?gsf?r?rdnu?g]



Ok, I searched it on an on-line vocabulary... I couldn't be bothered of doing the transcription myself. Too long a word and too awful my german...

But, hey, now I CAN actually pronounce it the way it is supposed to be pronounced (only with a very strong italian accent).

 

[Quadrax]

This one time a kommunikationsdepartementssekretariatstj?nsteman bit my sister...

- Double Clutch Transmission

- Annual adjustment of payroll tax (maybe)

- Nutritional supplements

- Federal Training Assistance Act

- Asset management company

- Beef Labeling Law Monitoring delegation (possible)

- Land Transport Regulation approval delegation (dunno really)

 

[MacGuffin]

Alright, I'm merciful

- Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (double clutch gearbox)

- Lohnsteuerjahresausgleich (annual adjustment of income tax)

- Nahrungserg?nzungspr?parate (additional nutrition compounds)

- Bundesausbildungsf?rderungsgesetz, in most cases just called "BAF?G" (Federal Education and Training Assistance Act)

- Verm?gensverwaltungsgesellschaft (asset administration association)

- Rindfleischetikettierungs?berwachungsaufgaben?bertragungsgesetz (act for the delegation of beef labeling control assignments)

- Grundst?cksverkehrsgenehmigungszust?ndigkeits?bertragungsverordnung (decree for the delegation of permitting traffic on private property)

 

[MWF]

^This has just validated my long-held belief that German is indeed a language intoxicated with the exuberance of its own verbosity, but then you probably have a word for that too.

 

[AiR]

I'm not annoyed by words like flaggst?ngspoleringsentrepren?rsf?reningskass?rsassistent but I'm sure people suffering from dyslexia are. I am however annoyed by the trend of writing words apart, perpetrated by the increasing anglosaxon influence on global communications, which cause people to write "kassa personal" (lousy staff) instead of "kassapersonal" (cashier).

I'm off to do nord?stersj?kustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranl?ggningssystemunderh?llsdiskussionsinl?ggsf?rberedelsearbete.

 

[shesquint]

flaggst?ngspoleringsentrepren?rsf?reningskass?rsassistent but I'm sure people suffering from dyslexia are. I am however annoyed by the trend of writing words apart, perpetrated by the increasing anglosaxon influence on global communications, which cause people to write "kassa personal" (lousy staff) instead of "kassapersonal" (cashier).

I'm off to do nord?stersj?kustartilleriflygspaningssimulatoranl?ggningssystemunderh?llsdiskussionsinl?ggsf?rberedelsearbete.

Here's an entertaining look at the importance of inflection and spacing in Swedish.

Oh, Swedish. How evil a language you are. I like Swedish. I'm trying hard to learn Swedish, because someday I will go there and I'd like to be able to say things that are less rude than "Vad h?ller ni p? med? Era j?vla cp'n?" But I am convinced that the Swedes spend those long northern winters thinking up creative ways to use their alphabet, and as a result I can read the words but not speak them; some of those sounds are incredibly hard to make if you didn't grow up making them.

I'm guessing it's Swedish because I'm pretty sure I spotted the word sj? somewhere in that mess. If this is Norwegian or Danish, I'm really going to feel like an ass . . . .

 

[AiR]

It's a silly word though that's mostly an exercise in "who can make up the longest word that makes sense" so I'm sure you'll be fine as long as you master the letters with umlauts and say everything twice.

Man 1 boards a train and searches for a cabin to sit. Man 2 is already in the cabin.
Man 1: "Hej hej" (hello hello)
Man 2: "Goddag goddag" (good day good day)
Man 2: "Sitt sitt" (sit down sit down)
Man 1: "Tack tack" (thank you thank you)
Man 2: Ja ja (yes yes)
etc

 

[MacGuffin]

German can also be very short, especially with the notoriously taciturn North Germans. Here is an example:

English:
"Hello mate, how are you doing?"
"Thanks for asking, I'm okay. How about you?"
"I'm also fine, thanks."

Same dialogue by two North Germans:
"Na? Und?"
"Och jo. Du?"
"Jo, neh?"

It's vocabulary replaced by emphasis and accentuation

 

[Cowboy]

whats German for :

"While I'm here, who do I speak to about getting my grandfathers bike back? "

 

[flydiscovery]

German can also be very short, especially with the notoriously taciturn North Germans. Here is an example:

English:
"Hello mate, how are you doing?"
"Thanks for asking, I'm okay. How about you?"
"I'm also fine, thanks."

Same dialogue by two North Germans:
"Na? Und?"
"Och jo. Du?"
"Jo, neh?"

It's vocabulary replaced by emphasis and accentuation

That's barely a step up from grunting and pointing!

 

[shesquint]

It's a silly word though that's mostly an exercise in "who can make up the longest word that makes sense" so I'm sure you'll be fine as long as you master the letters with umlauts and say everything twice.

I can handle the umlauts, and I'm very good at the "?" sound. It's the "sj" I have trouble with, and knowing when to make "k" sound like "ck" and when to make it sound more like a hissed "sh". Also, I can't pronounce "bil" or "ris" to save my life; I can't make that wide, back-of-the-throat "eeee" sound.

That's barely a step up from grunting and pointing!

Japanese is notorious for this sort of thing, I hear. Like, if you were at the O-bon dance and were expecting to see a friend, but that friend wasn't there and you were concerned she was ill, you wouldn't say something like, "Hey, I was expecting to see you at the dance last night, but you weren't there. You okay?" You'd say something more like, "Dance. Healthy? Missed."