# You know what really grinds my gears?



## Androxine Vortex (Jul 20, 2012)

I can't stand watching movies or TV with people that have to comment during it. My dad does this and it really gets on my nerves! This is him watching a movie, "Oh... Damn! Wow... That's messed up... Nice... Go! Yeah...etc." When I watch a movie I get really into the movie where I am completely focused on it. I hate it when I'm watching a movie with someone (especially if I want them to watch it) and they are doing other things or not really paying attention and then later on they have to ask all these questions. "If you had been paying attention you would know!" The only type of movies I enjoy in the company of others are comedies because it just makes it funnier when you AND your friend are peeing in your pants laughing (Your friend will be peeing in their own respective pants, not yours) 

What are some things that you can't stand?


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## T.Allen.Smith (Jul 20, 2012)

My sister in law does this & it drives me bonkers. I brought it up once with humor and she stopped for the most part.

When the movie was over I wouldn't let anyone turn it off during the credits. Acting like I was paying close attention to the credits someone asked me what I was doing.

I told the group that since she talked so much during the film I was sure her name would show up in the credits..... Laugh laugh, point made.

That wasn't original though, stole it from a comic & saved it for that moment.


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## RedMorningSky (Jul 20, 2012)

T.Allen.Smith said:


> My sister in law does this & it drives me bonkers. I brought it up once with humor and she stopped for the most part.
> 
> When the movie was over I wouldn't let anyone turn it off during the credits. Acting like I was paying close attention to the credits someone asked me what I was doing.
> 
> ...



That's a good way to handle it lol. I may have to use that. It's so annoying when people are constantly asking questions during the movie. I mean I can see maybe one or two but a lot of the time the whole point is that you're not supposed to know something exactly that moment and eventually you find out. 

My stepdad is like that because he won't be paying attention to something at all, or possibly not even watching it and then walk into the room and ask 100 questions about what's going on and then leave. I'm happy I missed half the movie so I could explain something you don't even want to watch.


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## Ravana (Jul 20, 2012)

Androxine Vortex said:


> I can't stand watching movies or TV with people that have to comment during it.



For a first viewing, yeah. After that, it's MST3K time, baby! 

Well, unless it's so bad you hit that point five minutes into the thing on the first pass.  I've run across plenty of those… though I'd still keep my trap shut in a theater. Or unless it's _Rocky Horror_–you want to "watch" that, get the disc: _don't_ go to a theater. 

I'm with you on people asking "What happened?" later, though. If you really want to know, tell me in advance so I can DVR it and you can watch it later… by yourself. That way, when you interrupt yourself, you can back it up and see what you missed. 



> (Your friend will be peeing in their own respective pants, not yours)



One should hope. I've long since outgrown that type of party.…

-

Interesting: I was just discussing one of my pet peeves in a completely different context–that of writing critiques. One thing that positively drives me nuts is when someone reads something of mine and says "I love this!"–without telling me _why_ he loves it. Sure, the stroke feels good… but what I want to know is _what_ I did right, so I can do it _again_.


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## Androxine Vortex (Jul 20, 2012)

Ravana said:


> For a first viewing, yeah. After that, it's MST3K time, baby!
> 
> Well, unless it's so bad you hit that point five minutes into the thing on the first pass.  I've run across plenty of those… though I'd still keep my trap shut in a theater. Or unless it's _Rocky Horror_—you want to "watch" that, get the disc: _don't_ go to a theater.
> 
> ...



You're like, "Okay my story isn't ice cream so there needs to be a legitimate reason why you like it."


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jul 20, 2012)

Well, the problem is that most people don't know why they do or don't like things, so they're going to give vague answers at best. Analysis is a skill just like writing is, and just like writing, most people are bad at it.


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## Ravana (Jul 22, 2012)

Androxine Vortex said:


> You're like, "Okay my story isn't ice cream so there needs to be a legitimate reason why you like it."



Pretty much. I mean, if someone likes ice cream because it's ice cream, I'm not likely to get much joy from him where my writing's concerned, either. If someone likes chocolate ice cream because it's chocolate, then we're getting somewhere. If someone likes mint chocolate chip ice cream but is indifferent to mint or chocolate ice creams by themselves, we're seriously converging on a legitimate reason: it's the combination. And if someone absolutely adores mint chocolate chip ice cream on a banana split… well, that's just sick. 

I don't care so much if the reader has a "legitimate" reason for liking something I've written: I just want him to have a _reason_, preferably one that has to do with something other than kinship. Otherwise, it's kinda like liking ice cream because it's ice cream: "I like your story because it's a story." At which point I might as well be L. Ron Hubbard. Or Danielle Steel. Or _USA Today_. Though more importantly, the datum isn't _useful_ to me, in terms of personal or professional development… unless perhaps I want to put the individual on a mailing list in hopes they'll buy the next thing I publish.

(By the way, if anyone has names of people who are so indiscriminate in their tastes they'll buy something simply because it's a story, let me know. I just won't ask them for criticism.  )

Sadly, Benjamin's right–though equally sadly it's for similar reasons: most people never practice writing and so never get good, or even mediocre, at it. So too with thinking. 

(I occasionally have visions of sitting at a book signing, and, when people come up and tell me they love my work, I'll ask "Really? Why?" I am, however, mercenary enough I foresee no major difficulties in resisting such a temptation. Or at worst, keeping it to that, as opposed to making the second question "Whatever for?"  )


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## Jabrosky (Jul 24, 2012)

Lots of things grind my gears, but a lot of these are too political for this forum, so I'll choose one that everyone here should agree on: bad spelling and grammar on the Internet. Why can't people freaking spell these days?


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jul 24, 2012)

Jabrosky said:


> Lots of things grind my gears, but a lot of these are too political for this forum, so I'll choose one that everyone here should agree on: bad spelling and grammar on the Internet. Why can't people freaking spell these days?



They couldn't spell in the old days either, you just didn't get a chance to see it.


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## Androxine Vortex (Jul 27, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> They couldn't spell in the old days either, you just didn't get a chance to see it.



Plus if you look further back, most people were illiterate so no one could say you were wrong!


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## SlimShady (Jul 28, 2012)

I actually have a list of things that grinds my gears:

Zealots, hypocrites, rednecks, racists, junkies, Jersey Shore, typical teenagers, drunks, and women that are a little bit too friendly.  And I'm sure that this is just the beginning of said list.


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