What type of person annoys you the most?

inda_kenny

The King of Moo wrote: »

Can you give some examples of this?

For me, political correctness is about spreading awareness of different cultures/social groups to make communication easier by, for example, making people aware of what someone from a different background might find offensive.

Of course there are a tiny number of cases where people take political correctness to an extreme.

But I never understand when people complain about political correctness clashing too much with freedom of speech, and being oppressive.
I never see that happening, and the only viewpoints which are considered beyond the pale and actively suppressed are the most hateful ones.
There is an argument for allowing hateful rhetoric to be openly allowed in order for it to be shown up for the stupidity it's based on, but equally, such rhetoric can cause real harm, so I don't mind too much that we don't have entirely unrestricted freedom of speech.
Still though, you can say pretty much whatever you want in this country, and many others, so I always find it a bit rich when people in Western countries complain about lacking free speech.

their are titles which various groups in the past had no issue with and themselves identified with but which are now seen as pejorative , the thought police took it upon themselves to inform theese groups that they were being insulted by mainstream society , this has of course increased the capacity for tension and division between various groups and broader mainstream society , the PC police hurt various groups more than they help them IMO by constantly reinforcing the idea in their minds that the majority are opressing them and that they are inherently weak and victimised

sh1tstirrer

People with false accents, more so people over 40 with false accents as they spent many years talking with normal accents until they decide that a fake annoying accent might make them seem more important.

The King of Moo

newport2 wrote: »

BTW, I didn't "complain about lacking free speech", I said that PC was a threat to it. I think ironically it does the most harm to those it seeks to protect. I agree in large with what you say, but what you're calling political correctness, I would call being a decent human being. Maybe we both mean different things by PC, or maybe we just disagree? Hopefully neither of us will get bombarded with insults for saying what we beleive to be true!

I think that's what's happening: I'm thinking of political correctness more in terms of how it was envisaged, mainly as a system of language designed to minimise offense to marginalised groups.
Yet nowadays, the term has come to be associated with the overzealous use or promotion of such language.

While I do agree that political correctness can do more harm than good in cases where direct language is preferable, I don't think that it's such a big issue. It really doesn't happen too often. Such stories tend to get overreported as they attract attention, and very often they're simply misreported. What happens often, for example, is that one individual's over-politically correct idea, or the fact that an organisation has considered an overly-politically correct measure among many others, is taken to mean that the organisation is definitely pursuing the politically-correct measure.

Take your example of doctors using the word "obesity:" NICE has advised doctors to be wary of how they use the term, not to stop using it.
They recommend that:

"The term 'obesity' may be unhelpful - while some people may like to 'hear it like it is', others may consider it derogatory."

They're basically saying know your audience. They're not telling doctors not to use it, simply advising them (in draft guidelines) that in some cases they might consider a less direct approach. But doctors will still get to say whatever they want.

Other examples include the Daily Mail's story about Birmingham City Council cancelling Christmas, which never happened but is still widely reported as fact.

Another famous case is a of a group of American kids who were apparently expelled simply for wearing t-shirts with the American flag on them on Cinco de Mayo.
It turns out that these kids were really trying to stir up trouble, with OTT clothes covered in American flags and shouting "WE LIVE IN AMERICA!"" at lunch break.
Most importantly, the kids faced no disciplinary action whatsoever, yet to this day the case is still held up as an example of PC gone mad, with reports usually saying the kids were expelled or faced legal action.

Of course there are a small number of cases where PC does go mad. If it's true that the figures on anti-semitism were massaged, for example, then that's a bit silly, but I think that the benefits of political correctness far outweigh any of the drawbacks.

We live in a society where not too long ago it was perfectly fine to say inflammatory, hate-filled things about any minority group.
The worst racial slurs and degrading stereotypes were the norm.
Now, we're a bit more enlightened and we know that some words can cause real harm (and I don't mean offense but incitement to discrimination as well).

Sure, occasionally some elements of the media do sometimes go out of their way to avoid giving offense on occasion, but that's the rare downside (and I would hesitate to suggest the media in general is PC: look at the tabloids and their popularity). The many advantages are that people are less exposed to open hatred both in terms of cultural representations and in actual real-life situations.

That's where common sense, measured political correctness has really changed things: it protects people from those with extreme prejudiced views and the real harm they can cause.
I do see the argument in allowing racists to completely freely express their views and be hoisted with their own petard.
The problem with that is that they tend to make a lot of noise and attract a disproportionate amount of attention, so there's no guarantee that they would be shown up, and their words might do a lot of damage.
It's also simply not nice to be constantly faced with derogatory language and representations aimed against your nationality or race. Imagine being black in America in the 60s, or Irish or Pakistani in England at the same time, and coming up against direct and indirect racism. We've done away with a lot of that now.

If you have views which are not insulting to large groups of people, then I don't think you'll face censorship, not in general.
I've never in my life felt restricted by political correctness.

So while I agree that PC gone mad can be harmful, I don't think it's a big issue at all, and common sense tends to prevail in the end when it does go mad.
It's just never reported because lots of people don't like to read about common sense.

ART6 wrote: »

The thing I have difficulty with in this PC business is how easily people seem to become offended nowadays. I fail to see why I shouldn't refer to someone's skin as black (my son in law's skin is, and I love him dearly). Why should I use the term "Coloured", or is that also now un-PC? Why is it acceptable for someone to call me "white" but not for me to call someone "black"? Why is it acceptable for me to criticise the Catholic church of which I am a member, but if I dare to criticise Islam I am a racist Islamophobe and might create riots throughout the Islamic world? Why is it unacceptable for me to say that I don't much like, say, Arabs, as long as I don't actively try to send them to gas chambers?

Just on this point: the reason certain words move from being deemed acceptable to unacceptable is because of the connotations they acquire through usage, which shift over time.

"Coloured" and "negro," for example, were accepted at one time, but now they've become loaded with racist connotations due to them being used as racist slurs.
Anyone growing up in the West nowadays knows that these words are considered racist and would know that a black person hearing them would thus assume the speaker is racist, so I don't know why anyone would want to use them.
The same goes for "black." Though it's still a fairly acceptable word, it's often had negative connotations suggesting evil, danger and inscrutability (note how Africa was known as "the Dark Continent") so lots of people choose not to use it due to an awareness that some black people might take offense to it.
"White," on the other hand, has never had any widespread negative connotations, so it's still used as the standard pretty often.

Basically, the meanings of words change and it's important to keep up with that. Obviously we can't always know about such changes in a timely fashion, so someone might use a word which another person finds offensive, believing the word to have no negative connotations.
Such misunderstandings are inevitable with a language as flexible and ever-evolving as English.
When you take into account that the equivalent of "coloured" or words that sound like "negro" are used to describe black people without negative connotations in other languages, you're always going to have miscommunication.
Languages have always been like that.

The important thing is how to deal with such misunderstandings. People often talk about being forced into saying certain things against their will, or having people jump down their throats for saying the wrong thing, but I don't really see that happen, and I work everyday with lots of nationalities, and see lots of miscommunications.
If you do accidentally use a term that offends another person, then you won't have much of a problem if you both use common sense and you explain that no harm was intended.

As for your potentially saying you don't like Arabs, well I think people have a right to criticise that because I personally think it's a silly, discriminatory thing to say. How the devil can you say that of all the Arabs in the world, you don't like any of them?

Defiler Of The Coffin

People who don't finish their senten

Latchy

People who have a story,event or situation they wish to share with you but itstead of getting to the point of the story ,go off on some tangent about something that has nothing to do with the story,event or situation they wanted to share with you in the first place and think you have nothing better to do than wait for then to get their details in order ,which is also just an another excuse to waste your precious time .

jasuz ....just get to the point will ya :rolleyes:

flutterflye

Latchy wrote: »

People who have a story,event or situation they wish to share with you but itstead of getting to the point of the story ,go off on some tangent about something that has nothing to do with the story,event or situation they wanted to share with you in the first place and think you have nothing better to do than wait for then to get their details in order ,which is also just an another excuse to waste your precious time .

jasuz ....just get to the point will ya :rolleyes:

I do this constantly - always have - part of the add.
My attempts at stopping doing it turn into me just saying nothing.
I can't manage to find an inbetween mode.
Guess you'd find me annoying so.
Meh!

Novella

This probably sounds kind of weird but I really hate those teenagers (or younger people in general) who are mean to old people they see on the street or the bus or whatever, and start shouting at them, trying to scare them. I can't stand that shit.

Ruralyoke

Nothing wierd about it all - v sensible to be annoyed with cheeky little farts like that!

Latchy

flutterflye wrote: »

I do this constantly - always have - part of the add.
My attempts at stopping doing it turn into me just saying nothing.
I can't manage to find an inbetween mode.
Guess you'd find me annoying so.
Meh!

Lifes to short ...get another hobby .

flutterflye

Latchy wrote: »

Lifes to short ...get another hobby .

Another one?
In addition to the fictitious hobby I have now??
You are most confusing sir.

ART6

The King of Moo wrote: »

As for your potentially saying you don't like Arabs, well I think people have a right to criticise that because I personally think it's a silly, discriminatory thing to say. How the devil can you say that of all the Arabs in the world, you don't like any of them?

Perhaps you should think about what I posted a little further. I was simply using that as an example. For what it's worth, I don't have any particular dislike for any nationality or religion. I grew out of that sort of thing many years ago while working all over the world. They are all simply people to me.

Latchy

flutterflye wrote: »

Another one?
In addition to the fictitious hobby I have now??

Don't be going off on any fictitious tangents now .

The King of Moo

ART6 wrote: »

Perhaps you should think about what I posted a little further. I was simply using that as an example. For what it's worth, I don't have any particular dislike for any nationality or religion. I grew out of that sort of thing many years ago while working all over the world. They are all simply people to me.

I know you don't really want to say that, but I'm saying that if anyone did want to say anything like that it would be potentially harmful as some idiots might believe them and take action against some people they think might be Arabs.
And it wouldn't be nice for any Arabs who heard it.

When we say things like "People should be allowed to say any racist stuff they want" (and that argument has a degree of merit), we imagine some crank ranting on a street corner.

But plenty of people can make prejudiced arguments convincing and sway suggestible people.

*Godwin warning*

Look at Hitler. He was able to get a good portion of the German people behind genocide, largely due to the power of rhetoric.

In difficult times it's even easier to stir up hatred against other groups. Look at how easy it is to get people in this country worked up against immigrants at the moment.

Now while my instincts tell me that cases of telling an individual to shut up because they have the wrong ideology is wrong, the fact remains that there are ample opportunities for people to express politically incorrect, ugly viewpoints. The folk over at Stormfront have plenty of free speech, and I'm happy for them to have it.

It's a different issue when people are given a platform with a sense of legitimacy. This is why I have no problem with the BBC or RTÉ, for example, saying "Look, we're not going to allow any expressions of racism on our channels, except maybe in dramas with racist characters."
That's a restriction of free speech, but one that I think is justified, due to the potential negative effectives of allowing a hateful ideology to have a legitimate platform.

Similarly, I have no problem with TV channels deciding to avoid programmes which seem to promote racist ideologies or which are based on racist stereotypes.

So there is still plenty of ways for people to freely express politically incorrect ideologies, which is fine, but I also think it's good that such ideologies are kept away from prominent media outlets, except for when they're discussed in the proper context when they unavoidably come to the fore for various reasons.

sh1tstirrer

Latchy wrote: »

People who have a story,event or situation they wish to share with you but itstead of getting to the point of the story ,go off on some tangent about something that has nothing to do with the story,event or situation they wanted to share with you in the first place and think you have nothing better to do than wait for then to get their details in order ,which is also just an another excuse to waste your precious time .

jasuz ....just get to the point will ya :rolleyes:

Talk about making a short story long. Practice what you preach.

Latchy

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Talk about making a short story long. Practice what you preach.

Fcuk me ... If you thought that chapter was long then...your ...a...very...slow...reader .

There's nothing as funny as watching somebody go off on a tangent only for them to look around to see that nobodys listening anyway ...****stirrer

languagenerd

Recently noticed how annoyed I get when people put too much store in the weather. "Oh, it'd be a great country if only we had a bit of sun". "The rain would put years on you", "Have a good summer! "- "Thanks, but with this weather, sure, how could you?" etc. To me, if it rains, it rains. I'll still go out and do what I'd planned to do (unless it involved a picnic or something, in which case, I'd change plans but still go out). Even on holiday, I'll still find ways of enjoying it if the weather's crap. I've never really let my mood be dictated by whether it rains or not...

Moaning about it won't change it! And most of the time, the rain won't kill you...

Varied

Hypocrites.

Wild Bill

Certain administrators on this website; closely followed by certain Mods on this website. :mad:

Red Hand

If I started writing about what people annoyed me, I'd be writing quite a big book.

Yeah, you are probably in it.:P

Ungrateful people with a massive sense of entitlement. People who expect you to go out of your way to help them and then don't even bother to thank you. So many of them around now thanks to Mammy and Daddy bringing up their little darlings to think they're the centre of the universe.

People who start educating you on topics without even bothering to find out what you already know. I met a guy at a party last weekend who, shortly after being introduced, started telling me about French grammar and what certain words meant. He really enjoyed showing off his 'knowledge' (half the stuff was inaccurate but it was amusing as he was so arrogant and impressed with himself) and was going on about how your English is better when you understand where words come from and how I would be surprised at how many words of French origin there are in English. My friend, the host of the party, sat down just as he was saying that last gem and said, 'Surely Izzy wouldn't be too surprised, given that she studied Linguistics and has a Masters degree in French translation?' The guy was mortified and asked why I hadn't said anything. I just told him that in future it might be wise not to assume the person you're talking to is a complete idiot. All he had to do was ask me if I spoke any French.

Joe Public

Bullies.

I Need The Sun

Leroy Itchy Toad wrote: »

Ungrateful people with a massive sense of entitlement. People who expect you to go out of your way to help them and then don't even bother to thank you. So many of them around now thanks to Mammy and Daddy bringing up their little darlings to think they're the centre of the universe.

People who start educating you on topics without even bothering to find out what you already know. I met a guy at a party last weekend who, shortly after being introduced, started telling me about French grammar and what certain words meant. He really enjoyed showing off his 'knowledge' (half the stuff was inaccurate but it was amusing as he was so arrogant and impressed with himself) and was going on about how your English is better when you understand where words come from and how I would be surprised at how many words of French origin there are in English. My friend, the host of the party, sat down just as he was saying that last gem and said, 'Surely Izzy wouldn't be too surprised, given that she studied Linguistics and has a Masters degree in French translation?' The guy was mortified and asked why I hadn't said anything. I just told him that in future it might be wise not to assume the person you're talking to is a complete idiot. All he had to do was ask me if I spoke any French.

I'm sure this is all valid, but ain't got time to read in full. Pls précis.

girlonfire

Oh jesus, the potential list would be a long one.
I find manipulative, emotionally immature eejits to be the most annoying sort.

girlonfire

Leroy Itchy Toad wrote: »

Ungrateful people with a massive sense of entitlement. People who expect you to go out of your way to help them and then don't even bother to thank you. So many of them around now thanks to Mammy and Daddy bringing up their little darlings to think they're the centre of the universe.

My friend, the host of the party, sat down just as he was saying that last gem and said, 'Surely Izzy wouldn't be too surprised, given that she studied Linguistics and has a Masters degree in French translation?' The guy was mortified and asked why I hadn't said anything. I just told him that in future it might be wise not to assume the person you're talking to is a complete idiot. All he had to do was ask me if I spoke any French.

This is brilliant! I can only imagine the look on the poor fool's face

Couldn't agree more with your first point there too.

daveyeh

People who have recently emigrated and moan on about how ****e Ireland is and how amazing their "new life" is.

If you're actually happy about how things have panned out, shut the **** up moaning about Ireland!

sebastianlieken

BULL5HITTERS

I hate really extroverted people who get by in life and in their jobs soley by being bull5hiters. People who havn't the feintest notion of what's going on, people who contribute nothing of value, yet get by in life to a remarkable level of success, purley by being a bull5hitter.

Carl Pilkingtons idea of a superhero called "Bull5hit Man", we need him.

FishBowel

People who start rumours about others they're jealous of.

Ms.M

Leroy Itchy Toad wrote: »

People who start educating you on topics without even bothering to find out what you already know. I met a guy at a party last weekend who, shortly after being introduced, started telling me about French grammar and what certain words meant. He really enjoyed showing off his 'knowledge' (half the stuff was inaccurate but it was amusing as he was so arrogant and impressed with himself) and was going on about how your English is better when you understand where words come from and how I would be surprised at how many words of French origin there are in English.

I went on a day trip to Clear Island two years ago and when I returned to my b&b I mentioned to the owner that I hadn't heard a lot of Irish. He rebuffed me with "Irish is not a spectator sport" and went on to explain the native speakers to me. In a way that inferred he thought I was an ignorant Dub. (not just ignorant about Irish mind you, ignorant about rural life too.)
I meant that I would've liked to speak some while I was there... I didn't want to sound arrogant so I just smiled and nodded along. It wasn't until a few days and his entire life story later that it dawned on him to ask me what I did for a living... Irish teacher. The realisation sweeping over his face was brilliant

So, people who have no interest in anything but themselves.
Definitely wreck the heads! I'd say you taught your man a valuable lesson! Fair dues! I wish I'd shut him up earlier!

BunShopVoyeur

People who think everybody is jealous of them...

Dudess

Misanthropes - oh, you're cool and deep, dude!

People who are "proud" of being "non PC" (non PC means not walking on eggshells around minorities - generally people who label themselves non PC are good old unthinking knuckle-draggers).

eth0

Dudess wrote: »

Misanthropes - oh, you're cool and deep, dude!

People who are "proud" of being "non PC" (non PC means not walking on eggshells around minorities - generally people who label themselves non PC are good old unthinking knuckle-draggers).

Minorities - Feck the lot of them!

LH Pathe

Yes men, who hide behind fringes talking up feelgood waffle in the moment and go with teh flow. Who were formerly trip over their own shoelace mutes til they got sent to college n became the campus delboy i'll kill that bastard

shampoosuicide

People who boast on twitter about deleting their facebook account.

People who go out of their way to be dicks to other people who are obviously shy and lack confidence.

Happy people in general.

mikemac1

People who think niceness equals weakness

If I help you in work it's because I'm a good teammate, it's not because I'm a pushover there to cover your lazy habits

Vicxas

Hipsters,

People whos opinion is ALWAYS right and will just walk away when they're point of view is challenged.

People who post random non-sensical ****e on their Facebook and ask people to "like" it.

People who like said posts

People who start a sentence with "No offence, but"

People who spend a week in Trinity or Maynooth and come back with this Accent that I can only describe as "Hey, punch me in my mouth"

Oh, and Chuggers. I Abhore Chuggers. Get a real job

jaspertheghost

Self righteous people who sit at home in their chairs thinking they are the lords of the world,trying to dictate what people can say and do,all because their own lives are sad letdowns and they have manhood issues.......

god's toy

People who 'ask' my opinion just so they can tell me theirs... While not hearing what I had to say.

Same people who zone out and pretend to be still hearing me... and just agreeing with me.

People who know I love my tech and freedoms with it BUT still try and convince me '***** is better'... Why? Cos it's '*****?' GTFO and come back to me when you are not just a sheep following the crowd.

sunflower27

People who go on about labels. As if a pair of designer shades makes you somehow a better person :D:D

Vicxas

sunflower27 wrote: »

People who go on about labels. As if a pair of designer shades makes you somehow a better person :D:D

But of course they do. Designer clothes + Arrogance = Success

hooradiation

Dudess wrote: »

Misanthropes - oh, you're cool and deep, dude!

yeah, well.... maybe if people weren't so unrelentingly terrible. You ever think of that, you.... person.

newport2

- Begrudgers

- People who call anyone who says anything critical of someone successful a begrudger

Dudess

hooradiation wrote: »

Dudess wrote: »

Misanthropes - oh, you're cool and deep, dude!

yeah, well.... maybe if people weren't so unrelentingly terrible. You ever think of that, you.... person.

You're such a cute little crab...

shampoosuicide wrote: »

People who go out of their way to be dicks to other people who are obviously shy and lack confidence.

Happy people in general.

Kinda contradictory. Why would you hate happy (in the good way) people?

St.Spodo

People who assert that they're ''socially awkward'', often on Twitter or whatever. No, you're not what socially awkward is. Get a grip.

RaRaRasputin

Another unbearable group of people are the cliques on boards that spend their whole day online and like every post of their online friends and feel fulfilled then. I don't mean the average poster but the ones with their 30 posts are day or so. Get a life

Any key?

Boring b#stard couple types who assume because you're in a couple too you will be as boring as them and try to corner you at parties and exclaim that at least you don't have to hang out with crazy single people.
Pretty much all couply people who give up their friends and their own interests and having fun when they fall in love.

newport2

RaRaRasputin wrote: »

Another unbearable group of people are the cliques on boards that spend their whole day online and like every post of their online friends and feel fulfilled then. I don't mean the average poster but the ones with their 30 posts are day or so. Get a life

Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 39

I hope this isn't your first day!!

EI2011

stuck up birds.

Dudess

RaRaRasputin wrote: »

Another unbearable group of people are the cliques on boards that spend their whole day online and like every post of their online friends and feel fulfilled then. I don't mean the average poster but the ones with their 30 posts are day or so. Get a life

Cliques are in your head - and people thank posts simply because they agree/like the post.

The King of Moo

EI2011 wrote: »

stuck up birds.

Peacocks?

Joe Public

Dudess wrote: »

Cliques are in your head - and people thank posts simply because they agree/like the post.

Cliques are in the Eurovision:)