"My mind sees that I am nothing, my heart sees that I am everything, between these two poles my life unfolds."

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Pet Peeves


If you're in North America, you've (likely) very easily deciphered what's on my 'To Do' list! The modern trend of shortening company titles is one of my favourite pet peeves. For some unknown reason, I find businesses getting all trendy with their names extremely lame and annoying - even though I am obviously lazy enough to fall in line myself!

I distinctly remember snorting in derision when The Royal Bank and Boston Pizza started referring to themselves as RBC and BP's in commercials. For a while there (a few years ago now) it seemed like there was a new name being rolled out every couple of weeks. I used to feel the same way about Kentucky Fried Chicken's change to KFC, but interestingly enough, it turns out they actually had a very 'good reason' for their abbreviation - and it wasn't to hide the fact that their food was fried - or to be more hip (as I'd always suspected :p) So they now get a pass!


The other day, I drove past one of my favourite Edmonton restaurants, the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen, and imagine my surprise disgust when I realized they'd rebranded to Sicilian PK or S.P.K. for short. WHAT!!! I'm certain they must have heard me howl as I went past. "I am so blogging this," I promised them, ha!

They went from this...

To this :( 
S.P.K. sounds like something I hope I don't find in my food...

Pet peeves are purely subjective and don't always make a lot of sense to other people. For example (and I apologize in advance if you have one) but don't get me started on vanity plates for vehicles!


What are your favourite pet peeves?

45 comments:

  1. Down this end of the world be also have companies with Initials. I get used to that and can't recall their long names :)

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    1. I hear you - there are a lot of companies here whose full names I don't have the foggiest of either.

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  2. I absolutely hate buying things that I then have to spend hours trying to get the sticky label off. I have one of those sprays that makes it a lot easier, but I can rarely find it when I need it. Of course, it's always there when I don't need it, which is another peeve. Oh, I have MANY peeves, Jane. People who still try to carry full-sized liquids in hand luggage through security at airports,litter-bugs and parents who don't chastise their children when they misbehave.Grrrrr

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    1. Sticky labels really annoy me as well - then there are some that peel off so easily, so we know they have the technology :)

      You'd think some people must live in caves the way they don't seem to get what the rest of us do...!

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  3. oh, I don't really see the reason for all these abbreviations... they sound silly and not like something that makes their names easier to remember....

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    1. Yes, they are very silly - I guess that's what bugs me :)

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  4. Niestety to się będzie szerzyć w świecie, to jest też reklama. Pozdrawiam.
    Unfortunately, it will spread in the world, it is also advertising. Yours.

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  5. This all drives me crazy, too! It just doesn't make sense to me. Why do it??

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    1. Forgot to add that I think that restaurant one is especially crazy. I'm disgusted, too!

      *end rant*

      Happy weekend!

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    2. My uneducated guess is some desperate PR person looking for a new angle started the ball rolling. 'S.P.K.' is certainly not an improvement as far as I'm concerned!

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  6. and the texting abbreviations...

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    1. Yes! There are 2M2M! (Too many to mention... lol! I saw this one for the first time just yesterday :)

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  7. ha! some people love to try to figure out the vanity plate meaning. I find it annoying. seriously don't care enough to pay more for a puzzle on my plates.

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    1. I know! Can't tell you how many times I've failed to figure them out.

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  8. Hey Jane, I too thought "WTF?" when I drove past the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen and saw their new sign! And thanks for the fascinating story behind KFC -- I assumed they were hiding "Fried" not "Kentucky"!

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    1. Glad to know it's not just me. Their signs are ugly now - that 'PK' looks ridiculous!

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  9. What's up with those name abbreviations, anyway? It's a really weird trend. And you're right, SPK sounds like something 'suspicious' you'd find in your food.

    One of my pet peeves is paying for air --- the kind you find in food bags, particularly potato chips and such. You open up a bag of chips and it's only half full; the other half is air. Why can't they just use the right-sized bags? grrrrr....

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    1. That's right - I don't want a SPecK in my food, thanks anyways.

      Lol, "paying for air" - you're so right! And potato chips are definitely the worst offenders.

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  10. Well that was interesting. I am such a pessimist though. I'm assuming KFC is a bizziliion $ a year company and it wiggled out of paying a minor portion of that money to the hard pressed state of Kentucky. Hahahaha! My pp right now is sick people who get on elelvators and then cough and sneeze over everone else as soon as the door shuts.

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    1. Francie, I always appreciate how you naturally see a different side to most stories. It did cross my mind when reading the article, that the state of Kentucky must have been a bit put-out with all these businesses, it's not like they couldn't have afforded the licensing fees.

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  11. I never realized this trend before you pointed it out. My newest pet peeve is the embellishment you see on Facebook. People completely exaggerating circumstances of their life to make themselves look superior or feel better about themselves. So totally ridiculous.

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    1. I think social media just naturally pits immature people against one another - kind of sad and funny all at the same time.

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  12. And let me just add people who park their cars at the entrance/exit to car parks and take their bloody time getting something useless out of their car! Aaaargh!!

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    1. I completely agree. Also, people who park where it is clearly not a parking spot - making it nearly impossible to back out or even drive through the parking lot safely.

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  13. hahaha I am right there with you Jane. I hate all the jargons people use in business and the initials to describe a business action, like PIP for Performance Improvement Plan, etc. I can't remember half of them... when did we become so lazy?! To me it was right around the time panty lines became unacceptable and the devil created that thing called "thong"!

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    1. Haha! Yes, they speak a language only they can understand - almost bordering on cliquey.

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  14. I never knew that about KFC! Thanks for sharing that Jane ;o) I have to admit, I think we are all getting lazy! People don't know how to add and they don't know how to spell! I think it's really sad. I am sorry, but I have a personalized license plate! LOL! Mine says, CrowGal ;o) One of my pet peeves, is someone who always thinks they are right, even if they are not! And, when someone does something, and always blames someone else and never takes responsibility for it! Have a great one ;o)

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    1. I agree - unfortunately I think we can put all this down to laziness! At least your vanity plate makes sense - although I'd certainly be wondering about you if I was following your vehicle... :)

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  15. I have to admit, I get a kick out of vanity plates. But then I lived in LA for many years, capital city of vanity plates. And of vanity. (I had a vanity plate when I lived in Arizona that said "poetic". I loved that thing. But, yeesh, all the cops in town knew it was me. lol)

    I blame texting. They're all trying to get their names to a place where people will text about going there. It actually makes sense, I guess.

    Fun post!

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    1. I have to admit that 'poetic' would indeed make for a very lovely vanity plate. I hate the cryptic ones that I can't figure out - most annoying :)

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  16. in response to your post-absolutely no offense taken! Me nominating you was a matter of kindness and out of love for your blog!

    and my favorite pet peeve? or rather, my BIGGEST one: people who chew with their mouth open. I really can't take it! that and poorly behaved kids. haha :D

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    1. Thanks for your understanding Rachael - and for loving my blog! Right back at you :)

      I so agree, chewing - and talking!! - with your mouth full is another one of my pet peeves.

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  17. I feel the same way when it comes to internet lingo. With the except of "lol" and "gg wp", I'll always go through the extra effort to say "Be right back", "Joking", "Your/you're", "Good luck, have fun", etc..

    It just feels lazy to me.

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    1. It's actually getting to the point where we'll need a dictionary (if there isn't one out already) just to figure out what everyone's saying.

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  18. I just love how all of this laziness really saves you nothing. You know, because it took so much more effort to type out "American Express card" than "Amex card." Or on the Internet, where people type out things like l8r instead of later. I just can't be bothered to type out 5 letters. Make it 3 or I'm just wasting my very valuable time!

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    1. You're right - whatever time is saved on one end is made up for on the other as the recipients try to figure out what the heck is supposedly being 'communicated'.

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  19. Shortening doesn't really bother me until it becomes so short I have to look up what they are trying to say. Like the first time I ran across imho which I found out was "in my honest opinion". Just say it so I don't have to look it up!

    My biggest pet peeve... people who drive 5mph under the speed limit where ever they go. Oh my god! I just want to turn into a fanged monster, smash thru the front windshield, tear away their car door and bite their head off.

    Honestly! If you can drive 40 in 45 why can't you drive 35 in a 35!?!>#>#!

    Screams "Arrrrrgggggggggggggh" and runs away.

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    1. I can't tell you how many times I've had to stop and look up short forms! In my humble opinion :) I really think it's getting ridiculous.

      Lol, do I detect a simmering case of road rage just about to boil over! I feel the same way about people who put their brakes on before making a turn - then put on their blinkers... shouldn't it be the other way around? Some advance notice would be appreciated.

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  20. Um hum, I hate those vanity plates too!

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    1. Hehe, I knew I wasn't alone :D I find most of them border on pretentious.

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  21. I have lots of peeves and you've hit on a few of them here!

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    1. So do I - I was kind of wondering if it was just me... :)

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  22. Ha ha I love this pet peeve of yours, I would agree with you entirely.
    Something that really bugs me is the various names we come up with for certain female anatomy. Va jay jay? Really? Really!?

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    1. Hahaha!! You are so right! Why is that? It's completely ridiculous.

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