Small things that annoy you (3)

[Abigail Hobbs]

My mother and her vague concerns. 'Oh, you should have got a compartment on the sleeper train, there's been a lot of things happening on trains lately. Lots of reports about things.'

Shit, really? Things?

I am filled with regret and fear.

[newbs16]

Whats a compartment on the sleeper train?

[Abigail Hobbs]

I'm going to see Flumpsy for my birthday. I've booked a sleeper train, but just a standard sleeper seat. My mum thinks I should've got a compartment with a 'bed' and shit because you can lock them. So I'm safe from 'things' happening, I guess.

[Appear]

Whatsapp forcing an update on you, and then disabling its message preview notification function for security reasons (yet still showing it was an option), meaning incoming messages now appear on the home screen as follows:

Message from Mum

Message from Mum

Message from Mum


I'd rather have the message preview with GCHQ/hackers/The local WI knowing what I'm having for dinner, thank you very much.

[Z.]

Originally Posted by Luna.

My dog wagging her tail against the door to wake me up in the middle of the night. Then deciding it's far too dark/cold/foggy to go outside when I get up to let her out. Only for the process to be repeated an hour later.

[newbs16]

That I do not receive notifications of visitor messages because I use the app

[LonelyBoy]

Backronyms.

For those of you unfamiliar with this word, here is a definition:

"jargon
(Backward acronym) A word which has been turned into an acronym by inventing an expansion, rather than the other way around"

This basically means that some pen-pusher (I don't know why I use that as an insult as I'm one too) tries to squash the name of an organisation, body, society or whatever into a cute acronym. The issue I have is that this has a NEGATIVE effect, since it makes the acronym (backronym) EASY to remember (yay!), but very difficult to remember what each letter means.

A rare good example is NICE -- National Institute of Clinical Excellence. That's good, and it seems unlikely that the word 'nice' was accidentally arrived at.

Bad example is the government's emergency/terrorist/secret/what? committee called COBRA. Now COBRA is very likely a backronym (and it's easy to remember -- another yay!), but how many of you know what the letters stand for?

I'm guessing (not Googled it yet) the 'C' could be committee, as I know it's a committee. There's no 'E' for emergency of 'T' for terrorism. So now I'll Google it.

Well, I was wrong about the 'C', but right about what the committee is/does.

Wiki says:

"Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR, often referred to as COBRA)[1][2] refers to the location for a type of crisis response committee set up to coordinate the actions of bodies within the government of the United Kingdom in response to instances of national or regional crisis, or during events abroad with major implications for the UK"

Now if they had just called it a National Emergency Committee, that would cover its remit and be logical and easy to remember, but the acronym would be a boring NEC -- i.e. not a cute word.

This is why I think backronyms are self-defeating and actually self-indulgent as someone has to sit down and construct something that doesn't need constructing. Maybe they have a brain-storming session involving a dozen people in a conference room for an hour or three, and for what? To confuse people JUST to have a cute acronym.

I'd be interested in any other examples from here or around the world.

[Oddity]

I'm not sure if it counts as a malapropism (had to look that up), but I blend words together sometimes when I thinking of two different things.

[Caribou]

ebay telling me there are items in my shopping cart that I've already paid for and received.

[Oddity]

^^ You've clearly gone insane, my dear. A bug trick does sound interesting though

[newbs16]

When someone takes days/weeks or even months to reply to a simple message!

[kirbycrackle]

^ me?

[newbs16]

Originally Posted by multiple miggs

^ me?

No it wasn't you Joe x

[Oddity]

[newbs16]

It wasn't a sa person, what did you say when you replied @NoraBatty

[Z.]

When you find out about an opinion an artist/musician you like has and it puts you off their whole body of work.

[Oddity]

I'm a bit like that with Five Finger Death Punch, but their music is too good to not listen to.

[Ajax Amsterdam]

Originally Posted by SuBo

When you find out about an opinion an artist/musician you like has and it puts you off their whole body of work.

I know what you mean. I was a big Gary Numan fan from 1979 but in the 80s he outed himself as a Tory. He's backtracked since, but I could never quite see him in the same light after that.

I'm just glad I was never a Lost Prophets fan.

[Z.]

All the worse because it's impossible to separate the art from the artist. The art after all is an expression of the artist's will; they're interconnected.

I used to like Nico's music, until I found out she was a rabid racist, and Ke$ha's music (I know I know, guilty pleasure), until I heard her sexist, transphobic Grow a Pear song.

Why can't all the artists and musicians I like just be sane FFS?

[Abigail Hobbs]

Originally Posted by Ajax Amsterdam

I know what you mean. I was a big Gary Numan fan from 1979 but in the 80s he outed himself as a Tory. He's backtracked since, but I could never quite see him in the same light after that.

I'm just glad I was never a Lost Prophets fan.

Um...yeah.
Big on them when I was a teenager.

[Ajax Amsterdam]

Originally Posted by SuBo

Why can't all the artists and musicians I like just be sane FFS?

It's probably those dark corners in the mind that drive the creative process.

[Z.]

I used "sane" referring to the examples I gave: the racists, the sexists etc. not mental health.

Perhaps "intelligent" would have been a more apt term.

[newbs16]

Waiting in the car and I really need a wee

[newbs16]

Originally Posted by craigissad

that's better

[Rocket Spud]

'What do you want for xmas?'

What i want for xmas is the last thing on my mind, right now - i couldn't give a flying toss! Nothing! I really don't care!

[Indigo_]

I've got no interest in Christmas this year either. I honestly couldn't care. I'm sort of dreading it infact.

[Rocket Spud]

'Dreading' is the word i'd use, too

[Indigo_]

I would really like to just skip the whole of December and half of January

[Rocket Spud]

Ya lazy sod!

[Indigo_]

I would like a new car, you don't have to wrap it