Small things that annoy me.

SirChenjin I never ever heard my parents say ‘ I love you’ to me, but do remember that on the day Princess Diana died my brother phoned me to say it had brought it home to him that he had never told me he loved me. He never did it again after that, but I knew!

And Dannirae, in Edinburgh ‘ itch’ is common!

Oh no - I do that Calendargirl . The one and only time my mum and I ever said “I love you” was on her death bed just before she closed her eyes and my dad and I have never said it to each other. I always vowed my children would hear it regularly from me and we say it a lot as a result.

“Love you” - “Love you too” at the end of phone calls when they’ve probably seen the person a few minutes previously.

I cannot stand people saying "HAITCH" instead of "AITCH"

‘So’ really grates on me, but then I recalled that it used to be ‘Well’ or ‘ Erm’. It just buys the speaker time.

I like to start sentences sometimes with ‘so’. Yes I know it’s not grammatically correct.
?
But I still do it occasionally. It’s intentional. Language evolves. I’m not a pedant. Mea culpa.
But then I’m a forgiving soul.
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I’m not really bothered by peoples’ quirks of speech. Many of the points raised appear perennially on Pedants’ Corner. I care far more about manners especially when lacking
BradfordLass did mention a small point which I do find annoying, though, and that is “ people that”. It just jars somehow but starting sentences with so and some of the other points raised just show that language evolves. People will always mispronounce words but as long as I know what they mean I don’t mind

One BBC weather forecaster who says ‘the remernants of the storm will be passing over the south-east today’. I shout back ‘it’s REMNANTS not remernants’. Her boss should explain about the mispronunciation but I suspect he doesn’t know either.

I complained about ‘off of’ to the same BBC team and things have improved.

Arksing in instead of asking
Ribbin instead of ribbon
Chimley instead of chimney

Can I get when ordering food.

People who are constantly looking at their phones when you're talking to them or even worse shop assistants who don't break off a phone conversation to serve you!

A friend on FB who constantly gives our cryptic messages, counts sleeps until some personal event, calls her friends pals and finishes thanks messages off with 'love you all - you know who you are'!!

LadyGracie - you pinched my ^ Beginning a sentence with^ 'So'. This seems to be a recent(ish) thing - but once you notice it, you hear it all the time! It drives me mad! 'So' means therefore/ in that case, but you need a precursor before you can say 'So' - it can't just come out of the blue, referring to nothing at all! (It obviously means very too.) The number of politicians who begin a response to a question with 'So' is increasing. I think it gives them an extra second to dream up a plausible answer!

But the thing that irks me beyond reason is people who use that upward inflection of the voice, as if asking a question, when it's not a question at all, but a statement. i.e. I went to the shops today? I want to reply, 'How the hell would I know if you don't?' I'm less polite with the grandchildren (who do this all the time!). 'Are you asking me or telling me?'

Grrrr!

As a vegan (not militant - I avoid mentioning it if at all possible)
when someone learns I'm vegan and immediately tells me about the kinds of meat they love eating.

TV newsreaders who use one another's names all the time:
'Thanks, Ann. Now it's over to you, Bob.' 'Thanks Carol. . . Here's Dave, reporting from . . .'

Just read the news!

Don't get me started on Americans, leaving the h off herbs, the word Antarctica pronounce as anardica. I could go on. Also abreviating words, one of Christmas adds this year had crimbo offers not Christmas offers.

Hearing the army, navy and air force lumped in together as "military".

No. That's the way the Americans collectively describe them.

In the UK, it's the armed forces.

TV weather forecasters who end their bulletin with, "see you soon".

Yes - they say ‘aloo-min-um’ seems strange!

Ah yes Bradford that’s reminded me that Americans leave the second I out of aluminium.

Starting answers to questions with 'So'. The number of times the word absolutely is used on TV.

People in general annoy me at times.

Juliet27 I recently listened to an audio book written and read (and very well too) by a famous US actor) who said, 'mischevious' several times.

The next day, speaking to a very well educated friend in New York I mentioned this nice young man, asking if he'd ever seen the word written down and wondering why he felt the need to add an extra i.

There was a silence.
'That's how I say it,' she said, 'all Americans do. That's how it's said here.'

George Bernard Shaw was quite right: two nations divided by a common language.

I only know a handful of Americans so I'm not sure if her statement is true but I do know a lot say 'boo-eey' for 'buoy' but then pronounce 'buoyant' as I would 'boyant.' Odd.

People who say, 'people that...' 'men that...' 'women that...'
instead of 'people who...' etc.
I was always taught 'that' is for inanimate objects.

Not really an irritant as such because I'm not bothered how others speak but it just sounds strange

Mind you, the way I look and feel first thing in the early morning, I can excuse anyone calling me "That"

Oh I have another one - addictive isn’t it?

People who talk non stop about themselves and when they take a breath and I try to tell them about something which I think will interest them, they start to look over my head or fiddle in their bag or look at their phone, making it obvious that they find it far more interesting to talk about themselves than listen to me!

I am so glad it’s not just me that finds these small things annoying.
I’d like to add :

turning everything I say to a negative

always disagreeing with what I have just said before I’ve finished a sentence ( not the same person ! )

I know someone close who does this sirchenjin.

I hate it when I hear someone calling their other half ‘ babe’ grinds on me!,,,

Women that assume power through their husbands’ job (there are still Margo Leadbetters aplenty) despite never having achieved much themselves

Absolutely - yes to this!

And why are so many vegans militant about it. I accept they have made their choice of diet but so have I and I choose to be a carnivore.