Allow me to ask you a random question.

What do you do that others consider to be strange? Alternatively, what do others do that they consider to be normal but drives you up the wall?

Most of us develop some zany personality traits as life goes on so I figured it might be a good(ish) idea to share what kind of quarks we have that others might find weird. Naturally, to get things started, I shall throw out something of my own.

Pet peeve that I have:
I'm becoming more and more of a puritan, when it comes to my native language; I absolutely loathe it when people use slang words to describe things that they could have easily used an Icelandic word for. This is actually pushing me towards wanting to launch a movement to reduce usage of slang words which I'm thinking about starting this summer.

An example of compulsive behavior:
When I need to sit down on a toilet, I have to clean it first. In most cases, this is absolutely unnecessary but I can not comfortably sit down unless I know that I have made sure that there's nothing on the seat. It doesn't matter if it's a public toilet or a toilet at someone else's home, they all get the same treatment. My own toilet gets the biggest leeway but even then, I often enough need to go over the seat, especially after I've had a guest. I'm fully aware that toilet seats are actually a rather safe thing, when it comes to contaminations, and that it's far more dangerous to shake someone's hand rather than sitting down on his toilet but I still can't shake away that annoying feeling.

So what eccentricities do you have?

a big pet peeve i've always had is the sound of people chewing food. and its a weird thing because it's not necissarily because it's loud. there's some people that've been loud chewers and i didnt mind at all, while some others will be quiet and it'll irk me. there's really no constant, and it's not like it's taking my mind off anything. i'll just get more and more bothered until i have to leave the room or turn on some other noise or something. stick my head in the fridge or whatever. but it just gets at me like someone's shooting names at my mom and i have to constantly remind myself they're just trying to feed themselves because food is needed to do good things like STAY ALIVE and i normally chill out a little more.
—————————————————————————–
a compulsion? to be honest ,PP, i wipe off toilet seats before i use them too, mainly public ones anyways, but i dont think that's a bad thing. you just dont want to sit on someone else's dried up piss.
i twirl my hair alot around my finger. i pick my nose too, but that's because it's uncomfortable if i dont, sticky nostrils dont feel good. but the hair twirling, i wish i didnt do it because it beats the fuck out've it i think and i've been trying to grow it for so long but like, i'll start doing it and not even realize it and make myself stop, just to start again minutes later once my mind gets reabsorbed into whatever it was i was doing.

Nooooooooo… PP's tpilet habbits! T_T
And Pit picking her nose. Noooooo…
When did this place get so punk?

Habits that annoy me:
Overuse of clich phrases, silly mispronunciations, and Aussies replacing common Aussie English words for American ones.
I'm not really that petty about it, but it is a mosquito level of irritation.
All the news people on the radio here say “day-boo” when trying to say the word “debut”. I grew up with “de-byou” or “de-beau”.
People who write “your” instead of “you're”. What is even MORE irritating though is when I myself to it by accident. (far too many times) T_T

My own annoying habits:
Waaaay too many.
One of the dumbest is a compulsion to correct people about things and be an annoying know it all about stuff. I do it online and I do it offline too. I'm aware of it though and I'm slowly learning to restrain myself and just play dumb instead of opening my big mouth and be an arsehole. :)

–I also chew REALLY loudly with my mouth open while spouting Icelandic slang :3
snilld

So make that three of us when it comes to wanting to sit down on a clean toilet.

Pet peeves? The biggest is that I have no tolerance for people with no tolerance/no imagination/no flexibility. I love this quote so much that it has hung over my PC at work for years:
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” (Emerson)

My quirk? (as if it's singular) I guess the two most bothersome are:
1- I talk to the other drivers/vehicles – and not in a kindly way – when I'm out on the road. This has really confused my passengers at times.
2- I deadpan my quips to the point that people have to know me pretty well to tell when I'm joking.

I don't care much about clean toilets, just don't like sitting down on a wet toilet. I've cleaned toilets and I've been to some of the most disgusting rest rooms in the universe. Honestly, how did they get that on the ceiling? Okay, just poke the hose through the bathroom window and turn it on…

As for quirks? Ha!@ I'm FUBAR. Save yourself, it's aready too late for me. I gave an example of my biggest one, constant self-deprecation and then there is my thing for obscure references. Everything reminds me of something else, usually something no one else but me gets.

ozoneocean wrote:
Nooooooooo… PP's tpilet habbits! T_T

Getting tired of people cleaning your toilet?

ozoneocean wrote:
Icelandic slang :3
snilld

No, that's not what I meant. "Snilld“ is an icelandic word, meaning ”Geniousness“, while ”Snillingur“ means ”Genious“. However, they are often used to describe someone/something that's funny/cool. Remember when I told you that lack of intelligence is often enough considered to be the worst forms of insults around here? (”Hlfviti“ = Halfvit, ”Asni“ = Jackass, ”Auli“ = Buffoon are among the most commonly used insults)

What I meant is that I hate it when people use foreign words to describe something while speaking in my native language. The worst offenders are those pretending to be ”Cultural" when they do so; God I hate that level of pompousness.

Edit:
… and of course this had to pop up in this thread:

Product Placement wrote:
… and of course this had to pop up in this thread:

Pure gold ^_^

Re toilets- Not really an area I like to get into.

ozoneocean wrote:

Re toilets- Not really an area I like to get into.

Then be sure to avoid this gross out. – disgusting even on mute.

*sorrycouldn'tresist*

pet peeves…. the latest is people that say “LOL” just laugh you stupid fuckers! Any similar phrse olso worksOh eM Gee or Oh My God, it's the same amount ofsyllables for fucks sake.
GRRRR!!!!
Like Ayesinback a lot of the time people can't tell if I'm serious and I take the piss most of the time.

When I was living with two of my friends at the time, there was one thing in particular that got on my nerve. Every now and then one of them would ask to borrow a DVD or CD or something. That was okay, but this particuallar idividual rarely put the discs inside their box and when he did he usually put them in the wrong box. It raelly got on my nerves and once I told him about it and went something like this

“Rome+Juliet DOES NOT go into the Braveheart Box and Frank Sinatra's gold collection is not an Iron Maiden album!”
ah… good times…

My biggest pet peeve is when people mispronounce my name. They seem to think that the “a” at the end of Clara is silent. I've gone to the point of telling people that I will respond to “HEY YOU!” before “Claire.” I don't mind people that meeting me making the mistake, but the more I hear the wrong name the more pissed off I get.

I also hate it when my husband pops his joints near my ears.
……

I don't have any crazy quirks. Though, I do line seats of public toilets with toilet paper before doing my business. I sometimes yell out random profanities in the car if I had a really bad day (not at drivers just letting the words out).

…doesn't happen anymore, but you should have had the horrible laugh I had several years ago. I could use my laugh to attract nearby geese to me.

My husband hates that I will organize all the books on my shelf in alpha order by Title or Author (depends on my mood) before I wash the dishes or do the laundry.

My pet peeve is when people lick off all the icing from a cupcake, and then throw the actual cake part away. Same goes for eating the cream off an Oreo, then throwing the cookie away. Come ON! That's such a waste of perfectly good food!… well ok, maybe the cookie part of an Oreo isn't exactly “food.” Still, if you're going to just eat the icing, then buy a damn packet of icing. Leave the cupcakes/Oreo cookies to us normal people!

As for things I do that other people might find strange? I dunno… I like to talk to myself. I mean, I'm not crazy or anything ("but NickyP, thats what all crazy people say!“), I just have a tendency to think out loud. If you saw me at the groceries, you'd probably see me saying to myself: ”Alright, where's the cereal… hm, aisle three? No, I think they changed it to four.. Oh hey no, it's aisle five. ‘Guess it’s been a while. So let's see.." etc etc.

Ah-ha Ayes! Forewarned is fore-armed… with forearms…? Or four arms? Either way I'm not clicking that link!
Not until I've steeled myself sufficiently anyway and have my finger poised over the “close tab” thingo on my browser!

Back when we had our big admin skype meetings with all the rest of our massive admin staff of Ronson, Spang, Skoolmunkee, Black Kitty, and Volte, and even Creepy Carly the meets would ALWAYS devolve at the end into a discussion about toilets and toilet habits! Ewugh!
Grossed me out every time >_<

I don't know if it's annoying to anyone, and I don't even think the people around me know it, but I find it really uncomfortable to sleep in another person's bedroom and I'll especially never sleep in their bed. I've actually slept on the floor next to the bed and leave it empty rather than sleep in it. And it's not some phobia of sleeping in any bed other than my own, because I have absolutely no issue with a bed other than my own. Hotels and beds without an owner are fair game, but if I know it's someone else's bed I find myself more willing to hike 3 miles home in the rain than sleep in it. I think it's just a territory thing left over in my brain from evolution or some deeply buried issue with being a guest. It's purely irrational as far as I can tell.

As for things that drive me up the walls, bad design, when I know they could have done better, is a big one. But so far as semi-irrational irritants goes, it's definitely people who insist on “by the book” instead of the spirit of the concept. The best example I have of this is the army's insistence on memorizing the exact wording of things like the 3 general orders. I'm perfectly happy if everyone understands the point of them and follows them and can repeat back to me the point of the directions, but I know way too many sergeants who demand you be able to repeat them back word for word and punish those who can't memorize it exactly. As a guy who usually has 10 million things to keep track of, I consider it a complete waste of time and a distraction from more important job-related things. As I see it, every second I spend wasting time memorizing the page numbers and contents of your company's monthly newsletter, when I just need to understand the overall structure of it, is a second I could actually be doing my job of laying it all out in an easy to read and attractive way.

@ Lba- As for the bed thing, I soooort of get that. It's very uncomfortable but you get used to it.
Weather it's a guy or a girl in the bed with you it's no different- the further they are away the better! Very nasty in small beds. WHen I tired enough though it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Sleeping in their bedroom on the floor is pretty much the same as being in the bed, but less comfy- The further away the better, breathing and other noises are distracting etc. At least when they move you can't feel it. And when I'm tired enough I don't care.
It's MORNINGS that are the worst part!

As for bad design, I am with you ALLLL the way! And to the letter stuff VS the spirit. “To the letter” is only important for lawyers, morons , or comedians ^_^

I absoloutely HATE doing text layouts for people.

I thought of another peeve last night. Channel surfing during commercials. I hate it when people do that because there is a potential to miss up to the first minute of a show after the break (or even leave off the show entirely). It really makes me agitated.

ozoneocean wrote:
@ Lba- As for the bed thing, I soooort of get that. It's very uncomfortable but you get used to it.
Weather it's a guy or a girl in the bed with you it's no different- the further they are away the better! Very nasty in small beds. WHen I tired enough though it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Sleeping in their bedroom on the floor is pretty much the same as being in the bed, but less comfy- The further away the better, breathing and other noises are distracting etc. At least when they move you can't feel it. And when I'm tired enough I don't care.
It's MORNINGS that are the worst part!

As for bad design, I am with you ALLLL the way! And to the letter stuff VS the spirit. “To the letter” is only important for lawyers, morons , or comedians ^_^

I absoloutely HATE doing text layouts for people.

That's part of where it gets weird. If I were over at a lady friend's house, I'd be perfectly ok with sleeping next to her in bed. I don't mind them being close to me at all. It's just when it's me alone that I find it awkward. For instance, sleeping at someone's cabin as a guest and taking the bed of a family member who's not present is incredibly uncomfortable to me. But take that same situation, make it my significant other's bed and she's there, and I'm totally cool with it.

lba wrote:
“You can't sleep in a bed you don't own!”

It's you!

You're the one they had in mind when they were designing Fallout 3!

Given that I poured about 600 hours into Fallout 3 over the course of a year and a half, that is entirely possible. I sold my xbox because of that game and it's spare time sucking qualities.

Memorizing chickenshit things like your three General Orders does two things: teach attention to detail, and teach the ability to so know something so well that it becomes second nature. Just react and don't think. It is a game but one with a greater purpose that isn't readily shared because many don't sit around pondering the whys but rather the results of the process. If a troop memorizes his Three General Orders, when the time comes he'll be able to memorize something important like clearing, functions check and loading the M16A2 5.56mm rifle or setting up the gunner's position on an M1 series tank or evaluating a casualty.

Do what you got to do and move out. Stop thinking so much. Thinking really does get you killed. Reciting the general orders and knowing what they mean will ensure the perimeter is secure. Example after example of a guy on duty who if he followed his general orders no one would have gotten through and everyone would have been okay. But he didn't and people died including him. I had to be able to recite the phonetic alphabet in the gas chamber. Chickenshit? You bet but damn if I didn't know the alphabet when it came time to play with the radio. In fact the best way I found to use the radio was a completely pedantic reciting of a script rather than any spirit of the thing. The spirit allows too much interpretation and ends up in dead bodies, wasted time, misunderstood transmissions and so on. Don't think, just do. I learned that lesson in my service and it was a very valuable one.

Guess it's a pet peeve of mine. Having to explain the chickenshit in life to people who have to question everything. That's the way it works, now stop and listen to how you make the system work for you. Just do what you got to do and move out.

It's wonderful that you are thinking but sometimes it is a waste of your time and mine. Simplify, simplify, simplify. The KISS principle: Keep It Short and Simple.

People just love to go through life making things harder than they need to be. Fuck it and drive on. FIDO.

Bravo- isn't memorising the letter of something a lot harder than just understanding what it means? ;)
But there are two ways of approaching that- a trooper would be more useful if they do follow something to the letter etc. but a person in a comand position will need to be a lot more aware of nuance, interpretation, and meaning to be useful in that role.
Things are never a one size fits all.

ozoneocean wrote:

Bravo- isn't memorising the letter of something a lot harder than just understanding what it means? ;)
But there are two ways of approaching that- a trooper would be more useful if they do follow something to the letter etc. but a person in a comand position will need to be a lot more aware of nuance, interpretation, and meaning to be useful in that role.
Things are never a one size fits all.

In this specific case that is covered under the second general order as “special orders”. These are basic ideas that do fit most situations. Looking for and obsessing about the exceptions is another example of over thinking a situation. Do what you got to do and move out.

The US Army General Orders which boots are expected to memorize and you never truly forget. They've helped me more than once in all kinds of situations.

1. I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved.
2. I will obey my special orders and perform all of my duties in a military manner.
3. I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions to the commander of the relief.

You don't need to explain it to me Bravo. I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree here. I understand why it's done the way it is, and I accept it, even if I don't like it or think it's necessary to go about it in the way we do, but I can no more change my past training and thought patterns than I can command all the birds in the world to stop flying. I'm not trained to just automatically do without thinking ahead and I'm not trained to spend my time on being perfectionist when I know I've got a lot more to be doing. I'd be out of business and on food stamps within the month if I did.

PIT_FACE wrote:
a big pet peeve i've always had is the sound of people chewing food.

That's mine, too. I hate eating sounds, so much. I can stand the crunching sound, but if somebody can't bother to close their mouth, and I have to hear the slurping, smacking sound, it drives me bonkers. It's not hard to close your mouth when you chew.

Actually, my roommate might think it is. He has really constricted nasal passages (I think… I've never asked him about it) so when he eats, he either leaves his mouth open and sounds like some kind of animal, or he closes his mouth and I can hear really loud breathing… even from across the entire house. Then, sometimes both factors come into play at the same time, and he sounds like a man who is suffocating while operating a steam shovel. I've actually gone to eat alone in my room to avoid it. We always watch TV while we eat, and his noises frequently ruin the show.

Compulsive Behavoir:
When I write letters and numbers, I often start from the opposite corner most people do. they sometimes notice and point it out to me… not that it bugs them, but they do notice.

One thing I don't think people notice is that when I'm walking on a tiled floor with tiles that are big enough, I compulsively step on tiles in way a knight moves in Chess (two spaces forward, one to the side). Not all the time, but only when I've got no specific place to go. It's probably a mild level of OCD or something.

Hawk wrote:

That's mine, too. I hate eating sounds, so much. I can stand the crunching sound, but if somebody can't bother to close their mouth, and I have to hear the slurping, smacking sound, it drives me bonkers. It's not hard to close your mouth when you chew.

Actually, my roommate might think it is. He has really constricted nasal passages (I think… I've never asked him about it) so when he eats, he either leaves his mouth open and sounds like some kind of animal, or he closes his mouth and I can hear really loud breathing… even from across the entire house. Then, sometimes both factors come into play at the same time, and he sounds like a man who is suffocating while operating a steam shovel. I've actually gone to eat alone in my room to avoid it. We always watch TV while we eat, and his noises frequently ruin the show.

that sounds like an ABSOLUTE hell, Hawk. and i know EXACTLY what you're talking about. like you know they cant help it, and they're probably not even proud of it, but it just gets so far under your skin that if you DONT find another room you're gonna get pissed and probably end up feeling like a dick later on.

but other peole, it's like didnt your parents teach you how to fucking EAT? how do you stay on the earth this long and chew food in a manner that produces a sound comparible to a dog licking it's balls! and fuck you Twix and your loud commercials!!!

also DD's quote editing has been added to the list.

lba wrote:
but I can no more change my past training and thought patterns than I can command all the birds in the world to stop flying.

And that's where you're wrong. Actually you can. In fact you are the only person you are capable of changing. It's a very freeing experience when you realize you can change your life script but for the rest…

The rest of your post is typical young officer talk. I heard it every time I met a new officer. And I was always assigned to meet new officers because the First Sergeant knew I could speak their language.
It works the way it does because that's the best way for it to work. Sad but true. It's only been tried and tested for nearly 230 years. You know who wrote those general orders? General Von Stueben for the Continental Army and where did he get them? From the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great, and where did he get them? The Roman Legions. So that kind of training is as old as military training. And you're going to reinvent it in this brand new 21st Century? So has every other new officer intended in the past 2000 years. Hasn't been done yet. You can't reinvent the wheel and not end up with the same damn thing as last time. It'll still be round and rotate. Your not liking how something works doesn't change the fact that it works and it works as well as or better than any alternative.

That's my pet peeve - Bravo being like that ^_^

…also bad smells- Chemical or organic. It REALLY gets to be viscerally.

i have this small plastic string i carry around almost everywhere since i was small. it's a different string- i either lose or break ‘em- but i’ve been like this since i was 2, removing shoelaces out of toys and just carrying it around. people ask why and i can't really say other then it's just a compulsion. at some point it became a safety blanket and now its back to compulsion.

as for pet peeves i dislike hypocrites, the horrible smell of bananas, and lies

ozoneocean wrote:
That's my pet peeve - Bravo being like that ^_^

…also bad smells- Chemical or organic. It REALLY gets to be viscerally.

My being like that is a pet peeve of mine too. I actually stayed away from this thread for two weeks because I knew how I had gotten. Yeech.

I know how you feel. I do exactly the same thing:
Be like that, and then regret it so much later that I can't even check the thread again.