You might find this interesting. If you are annoyed by people who sneeze without covering their mouth, people chewing loudly, or the sound of chalk on a chalkboard, it’s not a pet peeve. Why? All of these things are commonly accepted annoyances. By definition, the adjective pet means a thing that one devotes special attention to or feels particularly strongly about. And, of course, a peeve is an annoyance or irritation. Based on these definitions, pet peeves are personal in their use and not widely recognized by the general population. For example, being annoyed at a dog that barks all night wouldn’t be a pet peeve since almost everyone would be annoyed (the ones who aren’t annoyed are obviously the ones who let their dogs bark all night – hah). However, a person who finds any dog bark annoying may be said to have a pet peeve. So, in order to truly be a pet peeve, the annoyance must be a particular thing that a person finds to be obnoxious and doesn’t usually bother other people. Who knew? I sure didn’t.

In researching this term, I came across an example sentence to describe what I’m talking about, and it gave me a good chuckle:

People’s geographical ignorance has become a huge pet peeve of mine. It’s absolutely maddening when people are stupid enough to think I come from a different country because I live in New Mexico.

I’ve actually come across this type of thing a few times over the years living in New Mexico. I mostly find it amusing rather than maddening. Like seriously? There are definitely some dull tools in the collective toolbox.

In any case, while I initially wanted to write about some pet peeves, I realized that it might be difficult to come up with ones that are actually unique to me. But I’m going to give it a shot anyway! And if you agree with me or have a pet peeve of your own, I’d love to hear about it.

Pet Peeve #1 – People who don’t face the camera while talking

Lately I’ve noticed this tendency on television and in videos to show reporters or people who are being interviewed from a side view. They are looking off into who knows where while talking. I find this extremely annoying. When I watch a video, I want the person talking to be looking at me. When they show the person from the side, it makes me feel disconnected and disrespected.

Pet Peeve #2 – No opening intros or theme songs for TV shows

If you are of a certain age *cough* like I am, you will remember television shows having an opening sequence in which all the actors were shown along with their names. Sometimes they would even show their character names. It really made it easy to remember the names of actors. The openers of today may show actor names but without a face to associate with them, it’s harder to remember an actor’s name, unless they are already fairly famous. I also really just miss those catchy theme songs, you know? In my humble opinion, one of the best TV show intros was for Dallas. To this day when I hear that music, I am instantly transported back to that show and how much I loved it. And I promise you I can still remember all the actors’ names many years later. Take a gander by clicking the picture:

There were so many great TV theme songs back in the day, even if not all of them showed the actors. Which ones do you remember?

Pet Peeve #3 – The Grocery Shopper from Hell

The scenario: I begin my grocery shopping only to find myself behind someone excruciatingly slow. They are looking at every label of every product and taking up an unusually large amount of space with their cart. I manage to get around them and speed along leaving them a good distance behind me. Suddenly as I round the corner to the next aisle, there they are again. What?! How did they get ahead of me when they are so slow? So, I make my way around them yet AGAIN, only to bump into them in the same manner a few aisles over. Are these people messing with me? Do they wait for me to get out of sight and then sprint three or four aisles ahead so they can irritate me again? Yes, I think they do. They totally do! And just when I think I have finally managed to shake them and make my way to the checkout, there they are in front of me again. ARGH!

So, what’s your pet peeve? Is it truly unique or is it fairly common? Either way, I’d love to hear about them. There’s nothing like sharing a pet peeve to make you feel better!