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Peeves
Nov 10, 2005 14:47:00 GMT -4
Post by JayUtah on Nov 10, 2005 14:47:00 GMT -4
Add "least common denominator" to that list. What they really mean is the greatest common denominator.
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Peeves
Nov 10, 2005 20:35:39 GMT -4
Post by ktesibios on Nov 10, 2005 20:35:39 GMT -4
This one will make sense only to audio geeks, but it drives me right up the palm tree every time I encounter it: People (and, worse, equipment manufacturers) who wire XLR-type connectors pin 3 hot. There's only been a formal industrial standard (IEC 268-12, also adopted by ANSI, BSI and the AES, which specifies pin 2 as the hot or in-phase conductor) for thirty flippin years now...
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Peeves
Nov 10, 2005 21:55:12 GMT -4
Post by turbonium on Nov 10, 2005 21:55:12 GMT -4
Add "least common denominator" to that list. What they really mean is the greatest common denominator.
Actually, they would likely mean lowest common denominator. And, believe it or not, even many math websites use least common denominator synonymously with lowest common denominator.
To me, "least common denominator" always sounds like the denominator "least common", not the lowest.
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Peeves
Nov 15, 2005 22:43:34 GMT -4
Post by Tanalia on Nov 15, 2005 22:43:34 GMT -4
One peeve is mixed metaphors. But my PET peeve is when the majority of people mess up an expression and therefore it becomes "acceptable" because it's impossible to retrain so many people. i.e: my 'biggest' pet peeve is people who say, "I could care less," when it should be "I couldn't care less." The confusion arises from a less common variation with similar meaning, usually expressed something like: I could care less, but not much. People shorten this, conflating it with the other form, not realizing that they are reversing their intent. A few people might be trying to pull it off sarcastically I could care less [ yeah, right, it'll be a cold day in...] but it's not easy to pull off well, and I suspect the majority of the time it's simple carelessness. I've been known to make the same mistake when talking quickly; though if I realize it in time I can (oh so smoothly ) transition it into the second form...
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Peeves
Nov 16, 2005 9:30:20 GMT -4
Post by echnaton on Nov 16, 2005 9:30:20 GMT -4
My peeve for the day.
People waiting on an elevator that stand directly in front of the elevator door, with their back to the door, while talking on a cell phone, when their backside is big enough to block passengers from exiting the elevator.
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Peeves
Nov 16, 2005 14:59:29 GMT -4
Post by jaydeehess on Nov 16, 2005 14:59:29 GMT -4
This one will make sense only to audio geeks, but it drives me right up the palm tree every time I encounter it: People (and, worse, equipment manufacturers) who wire XLR-type connectors pin 3 hot. There's only been a formal industrial standard (IEC 268-12, also adopted by ANSI, BSI and the AES, which specifies pin 2 as the hot or in-phase conductor) for thirty flippin years now... or one can simply purchase a MacKie mixer and the proper connections are displayed on a pge in the manual. Which brings up a pet kudo of mine. That is that the best owner's manuals I have ever seen are those supplied with MacKie equipment.. All correct info, no typos, simple English and even a few jokes.
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Peeves
Nov 21, 2005 18:40:24 GMT -4
Post by JayUtah on Nov 21, 2005 18:40:24 GMT -4
People who leave the caps off spirit-based (i.e., whiteboard) markers, even waving them in the air as they speak. Then they wonder why they dry out so fast.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Peeves
Nov 21, 2005 18:48:08 GMT -4
Post by Al Johnston on Nov 21, 2005 18:48:08 GMT -4
People with fully functional keyboards who insist on posting txtspk...
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Peeves
Nov 21, 2005 19:04:34 GMT -4
Post by ktesibios on Nov 21, 2005 19:04:34 GMT -4
People with fully functional keyboards who insist on posting txtspk... What's txtspk? Is it anything like 13375p34|< ?
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Peeves
Nov 22, 2005 6:49:54 GMT -4
Post by Al Johnston on Nov 22, 2005 6:49:54 GMT -4
Sort of: it's the mostly vowel-free abbreviated form that originated with SMS on mobile phones.
Just about acceptable when used on a medium that requres multiple button pushes to record each letter (and where there may be an overall character limit to the message), on a virtually unlimited medium like a message board accessed via QWERTY (or DSK if you prefer) keyboard, it's beyond the pale.
To me at least ;D
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lonewulf
Earth
Humanistic Cyborg
Posts: 244
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Peeves
Nov 22, 2005 9:49:42 GMT -4
Post by lonewulf on Nov 22, 2005 9:49:42 GMT -4
My pet peeve is ignorance + arrogance... However, my favorite pet peeve is people assuming how I'll be when I'm older, that what I know now is "only 'cause you're young", and then telling me things like, "Don't worry, you'll understand."
For instance: I know I will not have kids. I just plain don't want 'em. Yet this one blonde b... girl, in my Math class, had the audacity to say, "Oh, you're just young. Don't worry, you WILL have kids." Meh, I just wanted to... yell at her harshly. Yeah, that's all >.>
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Peeves
Nov 23, 2005 2:16:07 GMT -4
Post by jaydeehess on Nov 23, 2005 2:16:07 GMT -4
People with fully functional keyboards who insist on posting txtspk... I'm sorry. its just the way I type. I drop leters someimes. I know I shuld us the spelchker mor. Ill try harder. ;D I absolutely hate the use of numbers in txtspk such as It is not rite 2 B so h8ful.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Peeves
Nov 23, 2005 7:09:41 GMT -4
Post by Al Johnston on Nov 23, 2005 7:09:41 GMT -4
Individual letter dropouts don't worry me too much; I'm sure I d it myself n occasion, but as you say, constructions like gr8, l8r, ppl, plz and so on do grate.
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Peeves
Nov 23, 2005 9:25:09 GMT -4
Post by Jason Thompson on Nov 23, 2005 9:25:09 GMT -4
Add managers of groups of scientists who are not themselves scientists to the list. Yesterday we had a great discussion that was somewhat inhibited by his failure to grasp that you can't really apply Newtonian classical mechanics on a molecular scale. We were talking about the spin of a 40nm gold particle in solution, and he was trying to compare it to a spinning bowling ball! He even used the phrase 'I don't buy that' on one occasion.
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Peeves
Nov 23, 2005 9:27:38 GMT -4
Post by Jason Thompson on Nov 23, 2005 9:27:38 GMT -4
Why isn't there a smiley that shows someone banging someone else's head against a wall or desk?
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