Pet peeves...................

[tubatooter1940]

It would help if they would put a notice prominently over the tank "These lobsters are certified mass murderers, rapists, and child molesters"

LOL

Get me anywhere within arms reach of a yummy crustacean and I'll prove that sucker didn't die for nothing.

[OldsRecording]

It would help if they would put a notice prominently over the tank "These lobsters are certified mass murderers, rapists, and child molesters"

LOL

Get me anywhere within arms reach of a yummy crustacean and I'll prove that sucker didn't die for nothing.

Mmmmmmm.... yummy crustaceans...

[Mojo workin']

Mojo workin': I recommend you read this book it shows that "The Bell Curve" is hogwash.
http://www.amazon.com/Mismeasure-Man-St ... 841&sr=1-1

Were you in the Progressive Student Union in college? Did they storm the library and Administration building in protest of a civil rights vote that didn't go the way they thought it should have?

At a glance on Amazon.com it is easy enough to tell that this book is a liberal temper tantrum thrown against things such as the Bell Curve and other unpopular, politically incorrect pieces of hard science. I don't like everything that hard science says either, but I don't whine about its conclusions. The Bell Curve 'hogwash'? I can see what philosophical stripe this claim comes from.

Easty621.....I recommend you read The Bell Curve. Breathe in its ethereal scent of truth and hard science.

[eupher61]

Wow. "The Bell Curve".

The Bell Curve has been roundly deemed disreputable by many, many, psychologists and educators. I won't say "most" because I don't know the ratio.

It comes down to nature v. nurture. And, I'd guess it's about a 50/50 split a lot of the time. Again, I don't say most, because...

[Easty621]

Judge for yourself whether this is a "liberal temper tantrum thrown against things such as the Bell Curve and other unpopular, politically incorrect pieces of hard science."
Here's Gould's article on "The Bell Curve".
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/course ... eball.html

[SplatterTone]

Just for the sake of accuracy:
The bell-shaped curve isn't hogwash, carwash, backwash, whitewash, or any kind of wash. It's a graphical representation of statistical data after the data has been run through formulas to compute mean and standard deviation. A quick read at Wikipedia should clear some things up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution

Now, if there are some peeves about assigning grades to force things to fall into a bell-shaped distribution with (I assume) "C" as the mean, then I think it is appropriate to question that. Back when I did adjunct teaching of Math at the local community college, I knew what I was doing, knew that I wrote good tests, and knew that I did a reasonably good job of preparing students for the tests. So, students got what they got. No curving was done. No curving was required. I would question the competence of a teacher who relies on bell-curving grades.

And, I think my top annoyance, especially considering the season, is that class of voters who congregrate in the extreme ends of their parties, tend have a disproportionate influence, and often leave us stuck with candidates that make one wish the ballot had "none of the above" as a choice.

[eupher61]

no, a bell curve isn't hogwash. "The Bell Curve", with which you must not be familiar, is.

[Mojo workin']

no, a bell curve isn't hogwash. "The Bell Curve", with which you must not be familiar, is.

No, The Bell Curve isn't hogwash, fear of its conclusions, is.

But then we should probably debate what "is" is. Shouldn't we?

[windshieldbug]

But then we should probably debate what "is" is. Shouldn't we?

That IS facetious!

[MartyNeilan]

But then we should probably debate what "is" is. Shouldn't we?

That IS facetious!

I'm still just trying to figure out what it is.

[KevinMadden]

But then we should probably debate what "is" is. Shouldn't we?

That IS facetious!

I'm still just trying to figure out what it is.

"Hip it is...what it is"

[k001k47]

1. Tubists

: |

[MaryAnn]

And, I think my top annoyance, especially considering the season, is that class of voters who congregrate in the extreme ends of their parties, tend have a disproportionate influence, and often leave us stuck with candidates that make one wish the ballot had "none of the above" as a choice.

I suspect this happens only because 100% of the candidates (at least speak as though they) crowd the non-descript "center".

bloke "There are no 'left' and 'right'. There is the 'United States Constitution', and (conversely) there is 'wrong'."

Unfortunately some of those people on the fringes of their parties get to nominate Supreme Court judges, and then the Constitution gets "interpreted" in ways the authors could never have imagined.

MA, who is in the "none of the above" voter category for almost all elections

[TubaRay]

Unfortunately some of those people on the fringes of their parties get to nominate Supreme Court judges, and then the Constitution gets "interpreted" in ways the authors could never have imagined.

Now that's the truth!!!!!

[adam0408]

People who actually believe Bud, Miller, and Coors products resemble beer and actually have body and flavor.

Well sir, it is beer, but beer for a purpose: To get drunk, especially when its free.


Here are some of mine:

Saxophonists (a specific group of them is making my life much less pleasant right now)

Text messaging (call me, darn it all, texting costs money!! HAVE YOU NOT FIGURED THAT OUT YET???)

Cell phones in general

Girls (I love women. Hate girls.)

Gas prices

NOT BEING ABLE TO FALL ASLEEP.

People who can't control their animals and think its cute when they jump all over and make nuisances of themselves.

Sticky valves

Poor quality steak. (its an effing rib eye. Why does it taste like shoe leather?)

People whose egos far outweigh their talent.

and along with that: People who love to tell you what to do when they only have a foggy idea of the right way of doing things.

EGGS THAT MAGICALLY TURN UP BROKEN AT HOME IN THE FRIDGE WHEN I CHECK THEM CAREFULLY AT THE STORE!!!!!

Criers.

Whiners.

Excuse makers.

Marching band kids. (if you knew, you would understand. Only some of them are bad.)

String players (concert masters) that play sheherazade during the tuning note.

Any noodling during the tuning note. This includes anything other than the actual note, because a lot of people don't have good enough ears to hear when the tuning note is out, so why would it be easier for them to hear the fourth or fifth??

Having the same conversation with the same person more than twice.

[Mojo workin']

Applying to six schools, getting in to my top choice on my second audition, and now having to deal with four other auditions that I don't really want to take.

You poor thing.

[Carroll]

Applying to six schools, getting in to my top choice on my second audition, and now having to deal with four other auditions that I don't really want to take.

You poor thing.

Call and cancel.

[windshieldbug]

1. Tubists

[UDELBR]

Possession is shown with an apostrophe, NOT pluralization!

Not always:

(1)a. Mind your p’s and q’s
(1)b. Mind your ps and qs

(2)a. T.V.’s, Ph.D.’s, etc.’s vs.
(2)b. T.V.s, Ph.D.s, etc.s

(3)a. The paper contains 70 the’s.
(3)b. The paper contains 70 thes.

The first of these examples is obviously preferable, and recommended by various style guides as well. Other examples:

Royal College of GP’s
1000’s of roll ends
We pay cash for your TV’s VCR’s Home Hifi
Copy your DVD’s
Don’ts / Do’s


Uncle "punctuation Nazi" Beer

[OldsRecording]

My personal linguistic pet peeve: it's. When people use "it's" when they mean "its" (as in: Put your horn back in it's case.)