Pet Peeves:

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Myopic Bookworm
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Myopic Bookworm »

Freefrom wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:18 am When someone begins a sentence with the word so...
It's annoying, but at least it's a meaningless filler, like "well" or "erm", which indicates that you are about to speak but need a moment to think (and also suggests that your sentence is going to be a long one!). My pet peeve in this regard is "I mean", which doesn't make sense at the beginning of a sentence if you haven't already said something that needs explaning.
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Dungo »

Myopic Bookworm wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 3:48 pm
Freefrom wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:18 am When someone begins a sentence with the word so...
It's annoying, but at least it's a meaningless filler, like "well" or "erm", which indicates that you are about to speak but need a moment to think (and also suggests that your sentence is going to be a long one!). My pet peeve in this regard is "I mean", which doesn't make sense at the beginning of a sentence if you haven't already said something that needs explaning.
Sometimes sentence starters like that are more than just fillers. I used to work with a chap who, when asked a tricky question, would start his response with ‘I cannot lie’ every time he was about to respond with a load of nonsense.i guess he didn’t know he was doing it but it was a total giveaway. :roll:
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Kirbstone
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Kirbstone »

Yeah. Like the after-dinner speaker who squints at his notes through his precariously balanced reading glasses and starts: 'Unprepared as I am.....'

Tom
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crfriend
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by crfriend »

Kirbstone wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 11:49 pmYeah. Like the after-dinner speaker who squints at his notes through his precariously balanced reading glasses and starts: 'Unprepared as I am.....'
Ah, whatever happened to the days when a good oration would have been given quite literally "off the cuff"?

To answer the notion of "What does 'off the cuff' mean?", one needs to refer to clothing trends at the time the phrase appeared. Proper laundering at the time was laborious and, for the upper classes, expensive. This engendered the development of cuffs and collars constructed of cellulose and which were essentially disposable and attachable to the more permanent shirts. Thus, a set of notes written on the cuff of a shirt were usually enough to jog the memory of the orator to what he wanted to say at various times in a speech.

I have used the tactic a few times (but substituting "Post-It Notes" adhered to the inside of my shirt-cuff) when demanded to orate in front of folks. Only rank amateurs read from their Piddlepoint slides; real orators go at it with cues and hints -- sometimes "off the cuff". This blows minds in the modern world. I'll frequently have a Piddlepoint deck prepared, which I'll flip at appropriate times without even remote reference to it based on my pace and timing. Teleprompters are only for pathological losers and should be eschewed at all cost.

So, so prepared, I can approach a dais and state with some sense of sincerity, "Unprepared as I am...." and have it mean something. No notes, no prepared speech, no teleprompters or other high-tech gadgetry whatsoever. I can even splay my arms wide to show "nothing up my sleeve" because the notes on my wrist will naturally rotate away from the audience and will go unnoticed.
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Kirbstone
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Kirbstone »

Yuri Geller, who famously as part of his act, bent spoons, always wore long sleeves in common with other magicians. One never saw him actually bend a spoon, incidentally. He was prepared, allright.

My last oration before an invited audience was at our younger daughter's wedding. Come the Day, I had the thing off by heart anyway, so no notes appeared.

Tom
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by pelmut »

crfriend wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 12:42 am ...Only rank amateurs read from their Piddlepoint slides; real orators go at it with cues and hints -- sometimes "off the cuff".
The trick is to go through the presentation several times in advance and mentally form links between each slide and the next (or add a bit of text that reminds you of what is coming).  Then you start a sentence which links to the next slide and press the change button half way through the sentence, so the audience is already half-expecting the picture that appears.  This avoids the mental confusion which occurs at each slide change if the audience is presented with an unexplained slide for a few seconds and then only half listens to your explanation because they are still trying to make sense of it for themselves.

The second thing which makes slideshows so much easier is to forget about 'Powerpoint' and use 'ClarisWorks'.  The CW package is completly integrated with an office suite, so you can generate line drawings, spreadsheets and all sorts of helpful extras as you put the presentation together.  You can superimpose text and drawings on photographs and I have even updated a spreadsheet in the middle of a talk to demonstrate the sensitivity of the outcome to changes in the various inputs.  (Sadly the hardware to run CW is dificult to find nowadays.)
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Elisabetta »

I love this thread.I enjoy reading the different things that are pet peeves and seeing how much alike or different ours are.
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by geron »

Dungo wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:01 pm I used to work with a chap who, when asked a tricky question, would start his response with ‘I cannot lie’ every time he was about to respond....
A similar one, which I've been hearing quite a lot in the UK recently, is the reply which begins, "If I'm honest...".
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by pelmut »

People who park three-quarters of a car's length inside a parking bay, leaving a space that no-one can use.
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Re: Pet Peeves:

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Clowns that drive monster trucks that can't get them between the lines in parking lots taking up at least two and sometimes more spots.
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Uncle Al
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Uncle Al »

People driving at night with stop/tail/turn signal lights not working :twisted:

I pulled up beside a lady, rolled down the passenger side window, and honked my horn.
She rolled down her window and I told her she didn't have her lights on. She gave me
one of those "Karen" looks, saying her lights were on. I could see her dash was lit up so
I thought she had the "Automatic Lights". I said if her lights were on, I wouldn't be telling
her they were off. She looked at her dash, flipped a switch and her lights came on.

Some people rely on "Automatic" things too much. Sheesh :!:

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r.m.anderson
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by r.m.anderson »

Uncle Al wrote: Fri Aug 19, 2022 5:02 pm People driving at night with stop/tail/turn signal lights not working :twisted:

I pulled up beside a lady, rolled down the passenger side window, and honked my horn.
She rolled down her window and I told her she didn't have her lights on. She gave me
one of those "Karen" looks, saying her lights were on. I could see her dash was lit up so
I thought she had the "Automatic Lights". I said if her lights were on, I wouldn't be telling
her they were off. She looked at her dash, flipped a switch and her lights came on.

Some people rely on "Automatic" things too much. Sheesh :!:

Uncle Al
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Happens a lot with those cars having "Day-Time-Running-Lights" - Headlights are on but no one is aware of or watching the rear end - ah er except for UA - glad it worked out well instead of a full "Karen" reply !
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crfriend
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by crfriend »

As near as I can tell, the only ones who benefit from daytime running lights are the oil companies; they seem to make little to no difference in the crash statistics. Having the headlights off at night, however, is a very very bad idea and illegal in many jurisdictions (and rightly so).
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r.m.anderson
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by r.m.anderson »

Driving in Canada - requirement for Headlights -or- Day-Time-Running-Lights on.
Cars with the Auto Headlights should turn on the lights by sensor but this does not satisfy the Canadian lights on function

Only concern is that any and all switches disconnect from the battery when the car is parked -
Otherwise after a few hours a good chance of a NON START (not enough juice) to start the car.
"YES SKIRTING MATTERS"!
"Kilt-On" -or- as the case may be "Skirt-On" !
WHY ?
Isn't wearing a kilt enough?
Well a skirt will do in a pinch!
Make mine short and don't you dare think of pinching there !
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Kirbstone
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Re: Pet Peeves:

Post by Kirbstone »

Here and throughout Europe it has in recent years become the norm to drive on dipped headlights through the daylight hours.

I expect it has not yet become mandatory, but those vehicles which are unlit now stand out. In our frequently muggy conditions on this 'Island of Eternal Sun' unlit vehicles are a blxxdy menace.

Tom
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