My students had to give their first speech over their pet peeves. This, by far, is one of my favorite assignments to give. I have some, they have some, I'm going to throw them out there.
I hate it when I'm eating dinner with someone and they scrape the fork across their teeth. Repetitively. I've asked people to stop it before. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. Or worse: teeth on a chalkboard.
Speaking of chalk, a student said one of hers was chalk. She hates chalk. That's it. She's disgusted by it. She'll run from it. 18 and frightened of chalk... wow. Speaking of teeth... I hate the thought of yarn being flossed through teeth. Have you ever tried to bite yarn in half. That's disturbing.
I hate it when you're sitting, waiting on a parking spot, and a stupid jerk pulls in before you can, KNOWING you were waiting. Yeah. Perhaps I'm a little territorial.
Have you ever sat down to eat fast food and someone sat too near you. There's plenty of places to choose from, but no. They sit near YOU. nice.
I don't like disrespectful and rude people. People who are rude for no reason! As a teacher, I get this a lot. Mostly freshmen. I love my seniors. What can I say?
I hate it when people can't separate an argument from a person. They will dislike a person just because they disagree with them. That's so playground. I often hear people argue and it turns into a fight. Arguements are fun. Fights aren't.
I really don't like gossip. That's a huge pet peeve of mine. I made a rule for myself and my classes: "We talk about topics, not about people." Live by it and you won't gossip about people (as long as you don't start rationalizing.)
I hate it when a girl will talk about how bad her boyfriend is and then say, "but I love him." She won't leave him. Ask her if she'd go on a blind date with a guy fitting his description and she says no. So why does she continue to date the guy?
I hate stupid arguments. Circular arguments, attacks on people instead of what they said or their plans, saying, "well we've always done it this way" or "I'VE never heard of that," or something equally stupid.... the list goes on.
I hate perpetuated ignorance. "Well I don't know anything about that." "Well let me tell you." "No, I don't want to know." People who don't want to learn about anything ever. Especially things that affect them. That's just annoying.
Things I can tolerate? Annoying laughs, odd habits, quirky personality traits, the list is surprisingly long. Ignorance and Apathy! I don't know and I don't care -- that's just maddening.
I hate it when Americans go to foreign countries and act like they're not the foreigners. Or talk about naturalized citizens as foreigners. Americans can be ugly.
I hate how people think all Americans are ugly. Americans can be so giving and loving and kind and generous and openminded... Those who accuse people of being ethnocentric are usually themselves suffering the same problem. Have you noticed?
I hate it when people say, "You can't force your belief on me." Why not?
That's all I can think of for now...