ROOM 101

It comes from the Orwell novel '1984' Agapanthus and the term has been used in a TV progamme that asks celebrities what things, concepts or people they woud like to get out of their lives by consigning them to Room 101.

Room 101 as quoted by Wikipedia is:

"a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia."
Apparently George Orwell named Room 101 after a conference room at Bush House where he used to sit through tedious meetings.

The letter H being pronounced "Haitch"

Thanks for the explanations!its such a long time since I read 1984......and I have never seen the programme(obviously), but it sounds entertaining.Did anyone mention using the word 'like' and 'literally' which seem to be the younger generations favourites ( apart from the f word).

I forgot to add background music! I know my hearing isn't great but even my husband complains about all dialogue being drowned by loud music. Some of the factual programmes are even worse, and I don't need loud music to tell me formula 1 is exciting - I KNOW! We watched Zulu at Christmas and it was an absolute joy, a minimum of music during the fighting and the rest of the time silence apart from natural sounds.

Just fell asleep during a recording of the TV programme, which sums up my opinion of it! However, into our room 101 I would gladly put:

All drivers who don't use their indicators (I am not telepathic!)
The couple down the road who encourage their happy little dog to c**p on my front lawn
"it's for your own safety..."
The smell of burning flesh from barbecues in the summer

please please can all the old dears who were in front of me in M&S yesterday, why don't they think about finding a bag and purse while they are waiting instead of pitching up at one of only two tills and then scrabbling everywhere! There were at least fifty!! well maybe ten.

agapanthus, you're bang on about "like". I've said before on another thread (can't remember which one - at this time of night I'm lucky if I can remember my own name) that when I'm World President nobody under the age of 30 is going to be allowed to use the word "like" for any purpose at all, and I stand by that.

Deeda, the rising inflection is a definite for Room 101. I phoned the building society yesterday and found it really difficult to concentrate on what the woman consultant was saying as it sounded as if she was constantly asking me questions. In the end I asked her why she was doing it, but I don't think she had a clue what I meant.

So many good suggestions - it is very nice to know that I'm not the only person who objects to so many things!

Merlot, one of the worst offenders for "sht" is Sean Connery. Wonder if they`re all copying him?
I`d like to send to Room 101 men who spend from midnight till the early hours channel hopping the TV, never watching more than 10 minutes of any programme.

Sorry Fondasharing I will not allow you to put my lovely daughters into room 101. My sons call me mum, or ma which I quite like, but my daughters call me mummy, or mother. So, no! You shall not do it.

the pronunciation of the name of the letter 'H', with or without the aspirate, is, I'm told indicative of one's religious background in Northern Ireland... elsewhere it seems to be regional.

As for 'like' - as with so much of the hip slanguage of the young, it is actually rather old-fashioned, being common in the 40s and 50s among aficionados of jazz and swing music - and 'hip' goes back to the 20s!

Any cyclist over the age of 25 wearing lycra (but not Bradley Wiggins!)

Bradley Wiggins.

Sorry Barrow but needs must!

That includes the old git next door! Definitly in favour of that one

numberplease that made me laugh! I always get the giggles when I watch Sean Connery films. He sounds like someone whose dentures don't fit very well. Which men spend from midnight till early hours channel hopping? The mind boggles. Mine is well tucked up in bed by then (although he does channel hop but not when I'm watching with him!).

The entire BBC Breakfast Show and most of it's presenters. Excluding Charlie Stait (sp?) and Louise Minchin - they can stay. It is truly the most mind numbing magazine/news programme EVER. It's fashioned on a loop system; so if you leave it on more than an hour, you get the same stuff round again. The outside presenters roll out some drivel to camera then bring in some talking heads who say virtually nothing except state the obvious; the weather presenter is insufferably and tediously cheerful; one presenter, who shall be nameless but has the initials S.R. doesn't do joined up journalism, but she thinks she does so that any interview conducted by her is never allowed to deviate from her script. (witness the Ian Duncan Smith interview last week). They keep telling me what is coming up later. Why can't they tell me now? I know I have an off button but I would like to be able still to believe that the BBC is there to inform and educate me - not treat me as though I am straight off the turnip truck.

This thread is stressing me out !!!!

You know what? We could really do with 'thumb up' and 'thumb down' buttons on here .

There is nothing that has been said so far that I don't agree with. I'm a bit scared that if I start my own list I won't know when to stop. I'll try hard to restrict it to just a couple of matters....for now .

Okay, shysal mentioned hangers. I get so irritated when I am looking through clothes in a store and items slip off their hangers. By the time I get to the third offending item I curse under my breath (or sometimes not ) and toss it across the rail. What infuriates me is that the hanger is usually totally unsuitable for the item of clothing it is trying to support. A bit like me, I guess . Also I find it so annoying how a rail of clothes usually has far too many items on it, like staff are setting themselves some kind of challenge. It is impossible for the customer to comfortably look through the items without catching their fingers, knocking items off the end of rails (rails without end stops....AARRRGH!!!), or hangers getting tangled together. I guess this is the result of not enough staff. If they kept more stock in a store-room and just kept a selection of sizes on the rails, then the rails could be restocked, or a requested item fetched from storage, as and when necessary. But that would, of course, mean someone leaving front of house and they can't have that, can they. Ohhhh no !

Oooh! One more for luck: stupid, scratchy tickets in the nape of the neck of clothes .

How about those big, heavy security tags so beloved by Next? They place them on the neckline so you can't judge how things will hang.

Gok Wan and his rise and fall inflexions at the end of EVERY sentence. And his make up and his twig in his ear and the way he greets complete strangers as 'My darling'. Pul lthe lever please!!

People who jump a queue. I can't abide it when a till is opened and the till operator doesn't ask the first in the queue to move over aaaargh.

Dog and Horse crap on the pavement.

Dogs barking early and late at night.

Vinegar bottles with stoppers, never get the amount I want, always drown my food.

Hypocrites.

Oh not gok!
He brightened a grey morning in NZ for me once by flirting so outrageously with the presenter, the studio weather man (both of whom were macho kiwis) and the roving weather boy who was v pretty. One of the funniest things I've even seen on TV.

My blood pressure rockets when I am directed to the self-service checkout in our local supermarket if there's a bit of a queue. I always ask if I get a discount off my bill if I use one-usually met by a blank stare. I still refuse their kind offer to do-it-myself.

Sorry, forgot to put- Into room 101 with self-service checkout machines !
(Even when I'm in a hurry.)