What is your pet peeve of the day? -- 2021

[Gumby]

The Italians have a saying, "Traduttore, traditore" which means "The translator is a traitor." Because even the best translation cannot reproduce the original author's message exactly as it was intended.

 

[braumeister]

This is true if you are aiming for a good to very good quality translation (I put myself through graduate school translating technical scientific articles and it is a VERY labor intensive task even if you speak both languages fluently and have technical knowledge). However, for many everyday products, the quality doesn't need to be that good. A halfway decent translation would do fine. But, in reality, many of these translations aren't even poor, they are flat out pathetic. Much worse than just using "Google translate"

Absolutely. I was a certified translator and interpreter for a while, and one of our cardinal rules is that you should only translate INTO your native language, never out of it.

 

[Koolau]

It might take an hour to translate a little 'quick reference' style manual for a simple gadget.

-ERD50

And, therein lies the issue. Those successful companies probably are unwilling to spend the money for one hour of professional translation services. Penny wise and pound foolish as in days of yore.

I still recall the manual for my Honda 50 motor scooter. Ca 1968 and it read something like: "Please to tighten sparking device, right to left to upon tight by fingers. Further to please tighten 1/2 to 3/4 turn by spanner supplied. Please to no tighten beyond tight."

 

[Koolau]

And while we're whining about little things that make a big difference: I hate when plastic-housed devices (radios, players of all kinds, TVs, etc.) come in black plastic with their instructions stamped into that same black plastic. Reading black on black (and in small print) is an exercise in futility. My first go-to is a bright LED flash light. If that doesn't w*rk, I use a very carefully applied "highlight" of WHITEOUT on the plastic instructions. (If the instructions are "sunk" into the plastic, it's important to quickly wipe the excess WHITEOUT away. Raised letters require an exquisitely gentle brush technique. Improperly applied, black on black becomes white on white.)

Who ever thought black on black was a good idea?? Even Kenny Wayne Shepherd knew it should be, at worst, "Blue On Black" instead. Otherwise "Everything Is Broken" when you slam the device onto the floor in frustration. Of course, YMMV.

 

[JoeWras]

Friendly reminder for you: I have "warm feelings" from this discussion.

This is how I start talking after reading a bunch of descriptions sourced from China.

 

[Markola]

Everyday, at some point, I scan through Google News headlines. Why do I do that to myself? It is all outrage, incompetence and people being awful to each other. Every headline is urgent and tries to provoke me with a cortisol injection from my amygdala into clicking it. Exactly ZERO PERCENT of it is something I can do anything about, nor does it have any relevance to my day to day life.

My New Year’s resolution might be to get that garbage off my phone altogether. Bah Humbug.

 

[TN Jim]

And while we're whining about little things that make a big difference: I hate when plastic-housed devices (radios, players of all kinds, TVs, etc.) come in black plastic with their instructions stamped into that same black plastic.

Take a picture with your phone. Select the photo just taken and zoom in. Makes reading much easier. Wo*ks with restaurant menus also.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Take a picture with your phone. Select the photo just taken and zoom in. Makes reading much easier. Wo*ks with restaurant menus also.

Yeah, I've never seen black-on-black instructions engraved or embossed on black plastic, but I have seen tiny white print on black for which I needed to use this exact method to get part #s or other specs.

EDIT: I think the area of the photograph was less than an inch square IRL. I couldn't make out the URL or specs even with my glasses.

 

[folivier]

And what about all of those websites with grey on white text? What? is there a shortage of black electrons?

 

[Koolau]

Everyday, at some point, I scan through Google News headlines. Why do I do that to myself? It is all outrage, incompetence and people being awful to each other. Every headline is urgent and tries to provoke me with a cortisol injection from my amygdala into clicking it. Exactly ZERO PERCENT of it is something I can do anything about, nor does it have any relevance to my day to day life.

My New Year’s resolution might be to get that garbage off my phone altogether. Bah Humbug.

Yahoo News is just as bad on my computer. Not to mention very lopsided. (I can say no more.)

 

[Koolau]

Take a picture with your phone. Select the photo just taken and zoom in. Makes reading much easier. Wo*ks with restaurant menus also.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot but don't hold out much hope for black on black. I guess we'll see, next time I'm forced to read such ridiculous plastic print.

 

[Time2]

Take a picture with your phone. Select the photo just taken and zoom in. Makes reading much easier. Wo*ks with restaurant menus also.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot but don't hold out much hope for black on black. I guess we'll see, next time I'm forced to read such ridiculous plastic print.

You don't even have to take the picture, just turn the camera on, zoom in to the magnification you require then pan your camera over the print or menu you want to see.

 

[statsman]

Yahoo News is just as bad on my computer. Not to mention very lopsided. (I can say no more.)

I had Yahoo's main page as my start page for many years. At some point 6-7 years ago, I removed it. Seeing as there really wasn't anything less frustrating, I have been starting up on a blank page in my browsers ever since. I have bookmarks to get me to my favorite pages, depending on my mood or interests at the moment.

 

[folivier]

People that don't change their address when moving. At our condo almost every day we get mail from the previous renter. To make it worse there is nothing we can do to get her mail sent to her. No one knows her new address. DW went to our local post office and the postmaster there said she'd talk to our delivery person but it's a new person each day, previous person transferred to a new area. So when we leave for the summer our mailbox will continue to fill up with her mail. When our box gets full we won't get anymore mail.
We may have to leave our neighbor a key just to empty our box.

 

[Momcpa]

Pet Peeve of the Day........for the last couple years, early in December, Target has a day or two on which you can buy Target gift cards on-line for 10% off. For a few years I buy gift cards during that time for my great nieces and nephews. Last year I got the cards, but no envelopes to put them in. I went in-person to a Target store and they gave me what I needed. This year, same thing....no envelopes. Went into the store and they said they don't have any either. Guess I will wrap each card and put a name tag on them. The envelopes may it a smoother process.

 

[tutan]

I know it takes only a second or two but sometimes I’d miss a green light when driver in front of me will decide to look for something on the passenger side or in the glove box at the moment the light turns green. They have all that time waiting out the red light to do it but it has to be right then. What the #$@%&! are they looking for?

 

[Texas Proud]

People that don't change their address when moving. At our condo almost every day we get mail from the previous renter. To make it worse there is nothing we can do to get her mail sent to her. No one knows her new address. DW went to our local post office and the postmaster there said she'd talk to our delivery person but it's a new person each day, previous person transferred to a new area. So when we leave for the summer our mailbox will continue to fill up with her mail. When our box gets full we won't get anymore mail.
We may have to leave our neighbor a key just to empty our box.

Maybe they do not want someone following them....


Two interesting things about mail.... I get some mail from the 3 previous owners of my house... one sold the house back in 96.... It is junk most of the time but I have gotten some that are not... I usually send those back..


The other is how some entities are able to 'find' addresses... my dad dies in 1980... mom moved from that house in 2008 ish.. my brother had used mom's address for some items... well, when we moved mom into a facility I had her mail forwarded to me... only hers... well, I get mail addressed to my dad and brother... and some of that is NOT from stuff back then...



On another note... I started getting calls from medicare providers wanting to talk to my brother about his plan... how the heck did they get MY number for him

 

[CardsFan]

People that don't change their address when moving. At our condo almost every day we get mail from the previous renter. To make it worse there is nothing we can do to get her mail sent to her. No one knows her new address. DW went to our local post office and the postmaster there said she'd talk to our delivery person but it's a new person each day, previous person transferred to a new area. So when we leave for the summer our mailbox will continue to fill up with her mail. When our box gets full we won't get anymore mail.
We may have to leave our neighbor a key just to empty our box.

After 12 years in our current Condo, we STILL get mail for the previous owner, maybe once a year. And these are statements from a financial institution. I finally opened one and it was a statement showing $xx,xxx.xx value. NOT chump change. Oh well, after 10 years years of writing return to sender, we just started to toss them.

I am guessing she does everything on line and doesn't realize her old address is still on the account.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

13 years in our house and we still get mail for a previous resident. It’s porn. We asked USPS if they could stop it but no.

 

[John Galt III]

Driving in general is getting worse. Less and less signaling of a turn. Sometimes veering into the lane away from the direction they are turning. Being caught in the middle of an intersection due to a red light. U-turns where they are signed as not allowed. Making a turn from a lane that is signed and striped as straight ahead. This one is really bad when the adjacent lane *is* signed and striped for a turn or straight ahead. Passing a vehicle on a freeway/highway who is going much less than the speed limit, only to have them accelerate and pinned themselves at your rear blind spot in an adjacent lane.

The new thing bad drivers are doing is pulling out from a side street and almost hitting the passenger door of your car because they just can't wait for the bumper of your car to be past them. You see them out of the corner of your eye accelerating into your passenger door and hope they don't hit you. They probably don't even realize what Ah**es they are.

 

[jollystomper]

For unwanted mail addressed for another person, do you write RETURN TO SENDER - NOT AT THIS ADDRESS on the envelope when you return it to the post office? That has worked for us in most cases to stop getting mail from people who no longer live here.

 

[Texas Proud]

The new thing bad drivers are doing is pulling out from a side street and almost hitting the passenger door of your car because they just can't wait for the bumper of your car to be past them. You see them out of the corner of your eye accelerating into your passenger door and hope they don't hit you. They probably don't even realize what Ah**es they are.

Much worse is pulling out INTO YOUR LANE where you have to almost stop as they SLOWLY accelerate... this has happened to me a few times in the last week.. heck, I do not think they even looked...

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I used to be a nuclear migrant worker, moving every year or so. Each new place I came to, someone in the office would warn me, “Be careful. People don’t use turn signals around here.”

 

[folivier]

DW has been writing: RETURN TO SENDER - NOT AT THIS ADDRESS. on each envelope. Guess what was in the mail yesterday? Yes, one of the envelopes that she wrote on!
She did speak to the postmaster yesterday and was told they would talk to the delivery person. We'll see.
We did get a credit card for the PO a couple days ago. I told DW we should activate it and pay our tax bill with it. But no, she's way more honest than me....

 

[jollystomper]

DW has been writing: RETURN TO SENDER - NOT AT THIS ADDRESS. on each envelope. Guess what was in the mail yesterday? Yes, one of the envelopes that she wrote on!
She did speak to the postmaster yesterday and was told they would talk to the delivery person. We'll see.
We did get a credit card for the PO a couple days ago. I told DW we should activate it and pay our tax bill with it. But no, she's way more honest than me....

Out of curiosity, did the envelope happen to have a barcode on it?

If so, one thing to try is to mark up the barcode so that the automated machinery cannot recognize it.

If not, well... for us that sometimes has happened. Its not a perfect system, but overall it has helped .