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Minor things that bother you

Started by planxtymcgillicuddy, November 27, 2019, 12:15:11 AM

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Brandon

Quote from: DaBigE on December 15, 2019, 03:38:45 PM
Quote from: tchafe1978 on December 15, 2019, 02:58:17 PM
Quote from: SSOWorld on December 15, 2019, 01:35:30 PM
Quote from: DaBigE on December 14, 2019, 10:50:52 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on December 14, 2019, 10:20:55 PM
Anyone over the age of 10 who says "veggies"

Anyone with kids over the age of 10 who uses the word "potty" (by itself and outside of telling a joke). However, for whatever reason the term "potty-mouth" doesn't bother me.




- How it takes at least two days to mail a letter to a city 10 minutes away
- How certain documents have to be snail-mailed

Mail-in Rebates!!!

Worse are the mail-in rebates that only give you in-store credit, and not cash back. A certain Wisconsin based home improvement store chain is well known for this.

The customer in me completely agrees, but it's a brilliant business move. Generate foot traffic from those who weren't too lazy to get their "money" back.

All 11% worth.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg


wanderer2575

Pharmaceutical ads.  In the middle of telling us how wonderful the drug is, they're required to recite the laundry list of ways the drug could kill us.  And they always have some generic setting (people shopping, grandparents walking in the park, etc.) that have absolutely nothing to do with the drug or the condition it's treating.

Automobile dealerships don't have sales; they have "events."

SUV commercials showing the vehicle driving through rough wilderness, amazingly without ever collecting a speck of dirt.  In reality, I think the most dirt an SUV sees is when the owner brings home a potted plant from the store.

LM117

“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

texaskdog

Quote from: wanderer2575 on December 15, 2019, 06:17:07 PM
Pharmaceutical ads.  In the middle of telling us how wonderful the drug is, they're required to recite the laundry list of ways the drug could kill us.  And they always have some generic setting (people shopping, grandparents walking in the park, etc.) that have absolutely nothing to do with the drug or the condition it's treating.

Automobile dealerships don't have sales; they have "events."

SUV commercials showing the vehicle driving through rough wilderness, amazingly without ever collecting a speck of dirt.  In reality, I think the most dirt an SUV sees is when the owner brings home a potted plant from the store.


Yet we're supposed to think vaccines are safe.

They're not dealers they're "superstores"

Yes mostly owned by soccer moms.

texaskdog


DaBigE

Quote from: texaskdog on December 15, 2019, 06:29:51 PM
Quote from: wanderer2575 on December 15, 2019, 06:17:07 PM
Pharmaceutical ads.  In the middle of telling us how wonderful the drug is, they're required to recite the laundry list of ways the drug could kill us.  And they always have some generic setting (people shopping, grandparents walking in the park, etc.) that have absolutely nothing to do with the drug or the condition it's treating.

Automobile dealerships don't have sales; they have "events."

SUV commercials showing the vehicle driving through rough wilderness, amazingly without ever collecting a speck of dirt.  In reality, I think the most dirt an SUV sees is when the owner brings home a potted plant from the store.
Yet we're supposed to think vaccines are safe.

Nothing is absolutely 100% safe. Water can be lethal, too.

Quote from: Brandon on December 15, 2019, 04:59:30 PM
Quote from: DaBigE on December 15, 2019, 03:38:45 PM
Quote from: tchafe1978 on December 15, 2019, 02:58:17 PM
Quote from: SSOWorld on December 15, 2019, 01:35:30 PM
Quote from: DaBigE on December 14, 2019, 10:50:52 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on December 14, 2019, 10:20:55 PM
Anyone over the age of 10 who says "veggies"
Anyone with kids over the age of 10 who uses the word "potty" (by itself and outside of telling a joke). However, for whatever reason the term "potty-mouth" doesn't bother me.




- How it takes at least two days to mail a letter to a city 10 minutes away
- How certain documents have to be snail-mailed

Mail-in Rebates!!!
Worse are the mail-in rebates that only give you in-store credit, and not cash back. A certain Wisconsin based home improvement store chain is well known for this.
The customer in me completely agrees, but it's a brilliant business move. Generate foot traffic from those who weren't too lazy to get their "money" back.
All 11% worth.

11% adds up after a while, especially based on some of the totals I've heard announced while waiting in line. I rarely hear anyone leave that store spending less than $50.
"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister

SSOWorld

Quote from: texaskdog on December 15, 2019, 06:29:51 PM
Quote from: wanderer2575 on December 15, 2019, 06:17:07 PM
Automobile dealerships don't have sales; they have "events."
They're not dealers they're "superstores"
And they don't sell vehicles, "they sell motors".
Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!
As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
Raise your what?

Wisconsin - out-multiplexing your state since 1918.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: SSOWorld on December 15, 2019, 06:51:57 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on December 15, 2019, 06:29:51 PM
Quote from: wanderer2575 on December 15, 2019, 06:17:07 PM
Automobile dealerships don't have sales; they have "events."
They're not dealers they're "superstores"
And they don't sell vehicles, "they sell motors".

I always thought it was interesting that "motors"  is used so frequently as part of the name of a dealership.  A motor typically would be associated with something electric whereas an engine would be of course combustion variant.  It wasn't really until recently that electric motors have been much of anything in the automotive market. 

Rothman

Dear heavens, anti-vaxxers are found even on this board.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Rothman on December 15, 2019, 08:56:38 PM
Dear heavens, anti-vaxxers are found even on this board.

Conspiracy theorists and ghost/UFO hunting types tend to be among the crowd that gets on my nerve the most.  Factual evidence no matter how strong is always a point of denial for those folks.  Worse yet they tend to try to indoctrinate others into whatever bat shit crazy "theory" they have.  I suppose the anti-vax crowd could be lumped into a similar grouping.

Beltway

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 15, 2019, 11:37:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 15, 2019, 08:56:38 PM
Dear heavens, anti-vaxxers are found even on this board.
Conspiracy theorists and ghost/UFO hunting types tend to be among the crowd that gets on my nerve the most.  Factual evidence no matter how strong is always a point of denial for those folks.  Worse yet they tend to try to indoctrinate others into whatever bat shit crazy "theory" they have.  I suppose the anti-vax crowd could be lumped into a similar grouping.

So you don't believe that ghosts exist, and you don't believe that flying saucers exist?
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Beltway on December 16, 2019, 12:27:25 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 15, 2019, 11:37:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 15, 2019, 08:56:38 PM
Dear heavens, anti-vaxxers are found even on this board.
Conspiracy theorists and ghost/UFO hunting types tend to be among the crowd that gets on my nerve the most.  Factual evidence no matter how strong is always a point of denial for those folks.  Worse yet they tend to try to indoctrinate others into whatever bat shit crazy "theory" they have.  I suppose the anti-vax crowd could be lumped into a similar grouping.

So you don't believe that ghosts exist, and you don't believe that flying saucers exist?

No on the first count regarding ghosts.  Regarding aliens the odds of some other form of intelligent life somehow interacting with us is so improbable it comes awfully close to the territory of impossible.  Either way, not many people who are firm believers in the concept of aliens and/or ghosts tend to present mindful evidence or theory the topic.  As much as I would like Ghostbusters and Star Gate to be a real thing I can't see either happening. 

GenExpwy

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 15, 2019, 11:01:54 AM

One thing that irks me is the prevalence of the misuse of the opening single quotation mark when the correct character is an apostrophe. A major reason for this is the use of autocorrect features in word-processing software. The software doesn't know you're truncating something and need an apostrophe, so it inserts a single quotation mark, and people just assume it's correct. (The easiest way to solve the problem is to type another character before the desired apostrophe, then go back and delete it.) The incorrect style looks particularly idiotic in newspaper headlines or on t-shirts. I found this mnemonic explanation on a blog:



In a similar vein, we've had that discussion about the one-space versus two-space holdover from the typewriter era. Another similar issue arises when people misuse an en dash when they need an em dash. This is, again, caused by autocorrect. Some people put spaces around dashes and will type in the form "word space hyphen hyphen space word." (Example: dash -- but) Some style guides call for that form as well, while others call for a "small space" just to set off the dash a little bit. The problem is, MS Word inserts the shorter en dash when you do this. To get the correct em dash, you need to omit the spaces around the two hyphens (example: dash--but) or know the code for typing the correct style dash (on a Windows PC, Alt+0151 on the ten-key).

The worst is the people who try to use a single hyphen in place of a dash. It's hideous.

Likewise, using:

  • a hyphen instead of a minus sign (-40° vs −40°)
  • the letter x instead of the multiplication sign (640x480 vs 640×480)
  • (C) instead of © for the copyright symbol
  • substitutes for the prime symbols, as in 11′ 8″ (straight quotes are tolerable if necessary; curly quotes are bad).
Regarding apostrophe-substitutes, be careful with Hawaiʻian words. The ʻokina is not an apostrophe, but a letter of the Hawaiʻian alphabet, and it is supposed to look like a tiny 6, not a tiny 9. The correct Unicode character to use is U+02BB MODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA.

formulanone

Quote from: GenExpwy on December 16, 2019, 04:16:20 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 15, 2019, 11:01:54 AM

One thing that irks me is the prevalence of the misuse of the opening single quotation mark when the correct character is an apostrophe. A major reason for this is the use of autocorrect features in word-processing software. The software doesn't know you're truncating something and need an apostrophe, so it inserts a single quotation mark, and people just assume it's correct. (The easiest way to solve the problem is to type another character before the desired apostrophe, then go back and delete it.) The incorrect style looks particularly idiotic in newspaper headlines or on t-shirts. I found this mnemonic explanation on a blog:



In a similar vein, we've had that discussion about the one-space versus two-space holdover from the typewriter era. Another similar issue arises when people misuse an en dash when they need an em dash. This is, again, caused by autocorrect. Some people put spaces around dashes and will type in the form "word space hyphen hyphen space word." (Example: dash -- but) Some style guides call for that form as well, while others call for a "small space" just to set off the dash a little bit. The problem is, MS Word inserts the shorter en dash when you do this. To get the correct em dash, you need to omit the spaces around the two hyphens (example: dash--but) or know the code for typing the correct style dash (on a Windows PC, Alt+0151 on the ten-key).

The worst is the people who try to use a single hyphen in place of a dash. It's hideous.

Likewise, using:

  • a hyphen instead of a minus sign (-40° vs −40°)
  • the letter x instead of the multiplication sign (640x480 vs 640×480)
  • (C) instead of © for the copyright symbol
  • substitutes for the prime symbols, as in 11′ 8″ (straight quotes are tolerable if necessary; curly quotes are bad).
Regarding apostrophe-substitutes, be careful with Hawaiʻian words. The ʻokina is not an apostrophe, but a letter of the Hawaiʻian alphabet, and it is supposed to look like a tiny 6, not a tiny 9. The correct Unicode character to use is U+02BB MODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA.

My rule of thumb is this: if I can't tell the differences when something is handwritten, then I'm not going to be annoyed by such minor misuse in digital form.

I recall a time when you had a max of ASCII 255 characters, with several of them pretty much unusable; trying to find the exact Unicode character can be a needle in a haystack or even impossible on mobile devices.

The dash thing bugs me a little, though it's one area an iPhone excels over typing on a PC. :P

texaskdog

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 15, 2019, 11:37:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 15, 2019, 08:56:38 PM
Dear heavens, anti-vaxxers are found even on this board.

Conspiracy theorists and ghost/UFO hunting types tend to be among the crowd that gets on my nerve the most.  Factual evidence no matter how strong is always a point of denial for those folks.  Worse yet they tend to try to indoctrinate others into whatever bat shit crazy "theory" they have.  I suppose the anti-vax crowd could be lumped into a similar grouping.

So when these ads are on with 2 minutes of the dangers you probably just enjoy the pictures.  Keep in mind it's the same big pharma companies who prepare the vaccines.  Why do you think people who get the flu shot always get the flu?

texaskdog

Hope I didn't mention it already but broadcasters who say "Jag-wires".  Makes me turn the station off.

hotdogPi

Quote from: texaskdog on December 16, 2019, 07:05:09 AM
Why do you think people who get the flu shot always get the flu?

Flu shots are about 40% effective, varying from year to year. It's better than nothing, but it's nowhere near perfect.

(This does not mean you have a 60% chance of getting the flu. It means it's 60% of what it would be with no flu shot.)
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

Rothman

Quote from: texaskdog on December 16, 2019, 07:05:09 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 15, 2019, 11:37:11 PM
Quote from: Rothman on December 15, 2019, 08:56:38 PM
Dear heavens, anti-vaxxers are found even on this board.

Conspiracy theorists and ghost/UFO hunting types tend to be among the crowd that gets on my nerve the most.  Factual evidence no matter how strong is always a point of denial for those folks.  Worse yet they tend to try to indoctrinate others into whatever bat shit crazy "theory" they have.  I suppose the anti-vax crowd could be lumped into a similar grouping.

So when these ads are on with 2 minutes of the dangers you probably just enjoy the pictures.  Keep in mind it's the same big pharma companies who prepare the vaccines.  Why do you think people who get the flu shot always get the flu?
Case in Max's point.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

texaskdog

Quote from: 1 on December 16, 2019, 07:12:19 AM
Quote from: texaskdog on December 16, 2019, 07:05:09 AM
Why do you think people who get the flu shot always get the flu?

Flu shots are about 40% effective, varying from year to year. It's better than nothing, but it's nowhere near perfect.

(This does not mean you have a 60% chance of getting the flu. It means it's 60% of what it would be with no flu shot.)

Better than nothing?  alrighty then.

Beltway

Quote from: GenExpwy on December 16, 2019, 04:16:20 AM
the letter x instead of the multiplication sign (640x480 vs 640×480)
I just tried to find one in Word ... is there one?

As some programming languages use the asterisk (*) for the multiplication function, I have tended to use that when I type out an equation.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

1995hoo

I wish the cent sign had been preserved on computer keyboards. It's largely disappeared because so few people know how to type it (I'm typing this on my iPhone, and on this keyboard you hold down on the dollar sign to get a choice of ¢, €, £, and a few others; on a PC, it's Alt-0162 on the ten-key).

Where I think it bugs me most are some CFX-posted BGSs in Florida. Their signs for exits with ramp tolls will say, for example, "Pay Toll .75" –what's so hard about omitting the decimal point and using the cent sign so it says "Pay Toll 75¢" ? I understand why the average person doesn't know how to type this symbol and so doesn't use it, but professional work like publishers and sign fabricators ought to be able to do better.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

hotdogPi

¢ is option-4 on my keyboard.

× is not on my keyboard by default, but I made it shift-option-M.

I've also changed the ` key to make it type the word " the " (with spaces), with `w → " with the ", `o → " of the ", etc. Why does the ` key even exist?
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

jeffandnicole

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 16, 2019, 08:30:05 AM
I wish the cent sign had been preserved on computer keyboards. It’s largely disappeared because so few people know how to type it (I’m typing this on my iPhone, and on this keyboard you hold down on the dollar sign to get a choice of ¢, €, £, and a few others; on a PC, it’s Alt-0162 on the ten-key).

Where I think it bugs me most are some CFX-posted BGSs in Florida. Their signs for exits with ramp tolls will say, for example, “Pay Toll .75”—what’s so hard about omitting the decimal point and using the cent sign so it says “Pay Toll 75¢”? I understand why the average person doesn’t know how to type this symbol and so doesn’t use it, but professional work like publishers and sign fabricators ought to be able to do better.

If the average person doesn't normally use it, chances are this symbol is becoming less known.  After all, it's a rare site to see it in most businesses and stores.  For travelers, .75 is probably easier to comprehend.

Is the cent sign even used outside the US?

hotdogPi

Quote from: jeffandnicole on December 16, 2019, 08:42:07 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 16, 2019, 08:30:05 AM
I wish the cent sign had been preserved on computer keyboards. It's largely disappeared because so few people know how to type it (I'm typing this on my iPhone, and on this keyboard you hold down on the dollar sign to get a choice of ¢, €, £, and a few others; on a PC, it's Alt-0162 on the ten-key).

Where I think it bugs me most are some CFX-posted BGSs in Florida. Their signs for exits with ramp tolls will say, for example, "Pay Toll .75" –what's so hard about omitting the decimal point and using the cent sign so it says "Pay Toll 75¢" ? I understand why the average person doesn't know how to type this symbol and so doesn't use it, but professional work like publishers and sign fabricators ought to be able to do better.

If the average person doesn't normally use it, chances are this symbol is becoming less known.  After all, it's a rare site to see it in most businesses and stores.  For travelers, .75 is probably easier to comprehend.

Is the cent sign even used outside the US?

The cent symbol appears on Mexico's lower-valued coins, although the lower coins aren't used much; the Mexican 50¢ coin is only worth about 3¢ in the US.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

DaBigE

Quote from: GenExpwy on December 16, 2019, 04:16:20 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 15, 2019, 11:01:54 AM

One thing that irks me is the prevalence of the misuse of the opening single quotation mark when the correct character is an apostrophe. A major reason for this is the use of autocorrect features in word-processing software. The software doesn't know you're truncating something and need an apostrophe, so it inserts a single quotation mark, and people just assume it's correct. (The easiest way to solve the problem is to type another character before the desired apostrophe, then go back and delete it.) The incorrect style looks particularly idiotic in newspaper headlines or on t-shirts. I found this mnemonic explanation on a blog:



In a similar vein, we've had that discussion about the one-space versus two-space holdover from the typewriter era. Another similar issue arises when people misuse an en dash when they need an em dash. This is, again, caused by autocorrect. Some people put spaces around dashes and will type in the form "word space hyphen hyphen space word." (Example: dash -- but) Some style guides call for that form as well, while others call for a "small space" just to set off the dash a little bit. The problem is, MS Word inserts the shorter en dash when you do this. To get the correct em dash, you need to omit the spaces around the two hyphens (example: dash--but) or know the code for typing the correct style dash (on a Windows PC, Alt+0151 on the ten-key).

The worst is the people who try to use a single hyphen in place of a dash. It's hideous.

Likewise, using:

  • a hyphen instead of a minus sign (-40° vs −40°)
  • the letter x instead of the multiplication sign (640x480 vs 640×480)
Building off of that, it annoys me when people make a document with mathematical equations, but decide to take the lazy way out and use whatever they can find on the keyboard instead of the handy equation builder tool that's built-in.

Quote from: formulanone on December 16, 2019, 05:23:12 AM
  • (C) instead of © for the copyright symbol

Usually I don't mind Word's auto formatting for replacing text shortcuts with the intended symbol, which is why I don't turn it off, but this one annoys me. I rarely ever need the ©, but Word thinks otherwise.
"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister



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