Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[PlainName]

I don't know where you live. In the UK they like you to use an online booking system for GPs

Yes, it is likely that system. 'eConsult' they call it.

If you get a sudden problem, and you call and talk to someone, you can usually get a quick appointment.

No, that's how it used to be. We were specifically told that using this eConsult was better because the GPs (it's a practice) check it every day so it will be seen and actioned, whereas phoning in for an appointment may result in one a week or several hence.

[PlainName]

Sounds like they accurately duplicated the real-life in-office experience!

Yes, it's exactly that! Perhaps the spec was "See Sharon in reception and she'll tell you what they do."

[themadhippy]

A cynical person may think the uk system has been designed to make people get so fed up with the "free" nhs system that they decided to move to private care

[coppice]

If you get a sudden problem, and you call and talk to someone, you can usually get a quick appointment.

No, that's how it used to be. We were specifically told that using this eConsult was better because the GPs (it's a practice) check it every day so it will be seen and actioned, whereas phoning in for an appointment may result in one a week or several hence.

So they want everyone to go to A&E? If you have sudden massive pain, swelling, bleeding, etc, you are not going to wait around for a system like that.

[PlainName]

My recent run-in with the system threw that up. I had to downplay my symptoms because otherwise it would throw up a page with the tickbox "'SOK, I'll go and find someone to talk to about this" if it felt it couldn't cope. The fact that I was on there TO talk to someone about seemed to be forgotten.

[Circlotron]

Just now.
When you are trying to pick a tea bag out of the box and the string gets tangled up with another teabag!

[SilverSolder]

Just now.
When you are trying to pick a tea bag out of the box and the string gets tangled up with another teabag!

I saw somewhere that the tendency for strings to entangle/knot themselves is some kind of universal law...   

[IDEngineer]

You want entanglement? Try bungee cords. Even a single one, alone, by itself, hooks to everything you don't want and won't hook to the one thing you do.

[james_s]

This happens to Christmas lights and extension cords too. I couldn't tie a knot as secure as forms when I'm specifically trying to prevent something from becoming tangled.

[Cubdriver]

[IDEngineer]

AWESOME!

...and painfully true.

[Gregg]

Another pet peeve is use of the word INVESTMENT in lieu of bought, purchased, squandered money on, foolishly spent for anything or any service that has zero chance of adding or gaining value.  For instance my nephew said that he “invested in a tattoo”. 

[IDEngineer]

"Stakeholders": How we refer to people who don't really have any legitimate standing in the topic at hand, but are being included anyway for some reason.

We have actual terms for legitimately interested parties: Owner, shareholder, operator, customer, parent, child, government, etc. But in the last ~10 years I've seen an increase in the use of this word "stakeholder" and it's always in reference to people who really shouldn't be involved.

An example might be "We're holding a meeting to review the landscaping of the playground area in the new city park. We invite local residents, parents, children, associated government agencies, and other stakeholders to attend." Translation: We're not going to give outside interests an excuse to claim we excluded them, even though they really have no business being involved at all since they're not 1) paying the taxes that make it happen, 2) being hired to do the work, 3) in a government oversight capacity, or 4) in the group of people this project is meant to serve when completed. Generally "stakeholders" means environmentalists from another state, politicians looking to grandstand, busybodies who desperately wish to appear important, and similar parasites.

Anytime you see the word "stakeholder" be on your guard. Political Correctness is probably lurking nearby.

[Nominal Animal]

Whenever I read the word 'stakeholder', the image of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comes to my mind.

[SpacedCowboy]

"Stakeholders": How we refer to people who don't really have any legitimate standing in the topic at hand, but are being included anyway for some reason.

Mmmh. Stakeholder is just a collective term. It means "all of the above" in your list, and means you don't have to list out all the specific reasons why someone is there. They're a stakeholder == They have a vested interest.

Now I'm sure it can be abused to include other people who, as you say, have no standing - but my "stakeholder" meetings are my direct manager, my director, my VP and any cross-functional groups that are involved in the project. It's easier to just say stakeholder.

[IDEngineer]

Whenever I read the word 'stakeholder', the image of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comes to my mind.

Pretty accurate image, actually. Most entities collectively included in "stakeholder" seem like they're trying to kill your project. Again, I name environmentalists, politicians....

[free_electron]

Ebay sellers and their surplus equipment sources, that separate/lose the connector blocks from I/O expansion plugins in equipment such as the HP 3488A Switch/control unit, HP 3497A data acquisition/control unit, etc.

When those machines are decommissioned it is easier to remove the two connector screws , sell the machine and chuck the rest in the bin. unwiring all the other stuff is tedious , even if you were to cut the cabling... so they don;t bother. the attitude is : the machine is worth more than those stupid connectors.
In many cases the sellers get only access at a pallet of machine.s they don;t go out in the field to actually do the decommissioning. so whoever sold the machine to the ebay seller has already left out the connectors...

[SeanB]

Wiring with connectors goes into a big bin, so look for one at the auction, and pay copper scrap price for the bin, and get all the connectors for free. Then make a profit sorting them out and selling to the rest of the buyers.

[mansaxel]

"They're living their dream there"

I can get that right, and I'm no native speaker. Granted, it is a language homonym trap, but it can't be that hard to get right if I can. I really try to read through the ignorance if I'm encountering such "ghoti" in text I'd like to read, but can't help deducting a fair amount of intelligence and cred points from people who can't be arsed to learn the rules and do it right.

[Bassman59]

... if I'm encountering such "ghoti" in text I'd like to read ...

Very fishy!

[Nominal Animal]

I really try to read through the ignorance if I'm encountering such "ghoti" in text I'd like to read, but can't help deducting a fair amount of intelligence and cred points from people who can't be arsed to learn the rules and do it right.

I rarely speak English, I mostly only read and write English, so I do not intuitively associate "their" and "they're" at all.  To me, they're two completely different words.  Thus, such writing is simply damned hard for me to understand!

If I know the writer is dyslexic, or the writing shows the typical signs of that, then I just power through.  Just like I've learned to keep silent and let the other person power through, if they have a bit of a stutter.  If others can ignore my sometimes poor social skills, I can for sure ignore others' dyslexia or stuttering.  The interaction is worth it.

But, if it is a matter of "I cannot be arsed to care, even though I could if I wanted to", then I don't associate it with lack of intelligence per se, but more with the kind of people who use jargon because they think using jargon makes them look more believable, or like customers in a large convenience store offhandedly mention to a poor store worker that "one of the aisles" has a slick patch and they should go and fix that – but do not tell exactly which aisle that is.  You know, "inconsiderate, selfish asshole" type.

[james_s]

"They're living their dream there"

I can get that right, and I'm no native speaker. Granted, it is a language homonym trap, but it can't be that hard to get right if I can. I really try to read through the ignorance if I'm encountering such "ghoti" in text I'd like to read, but can't help deducting a fair amount of intelligence and cred points from people who can't be arsed to learn the rules and do it right.

For non-native speakers I can totally forgive this, but for people that grew up speaking English as a first language I find it appalling that so many get it wrong.

[coppice]

I rarely speak English, I mostly only read and write English, so I do not intuitively associate "their" and "they're" at all.  To me, they're two completely different words.  Thus, such writing is simply damned hard for me to understand!

Interesting. When people see me reading Chinese but find I can't speak it they wonder what is happening in my head as I scan text, because we are used to hearing the sound of the text in our heads as we read a language we can read and write well. I never have a good answer for them. What is going on in your head if you don't associate homonyms as being similar?

[Bud]

"They're living their dream there"

Let's make it a bit better ....

They're living their dream there and it is all theirs. 

[Nominal Animal]

I rarely speak English, I mostly only read and write English, so I do not intuitively associate "their" and "they're" at all.  To me, they're two completely different words.  Thus, such writing is simply damned hard for me to understand!

Interesting. When people see me reading Chinese but find I can't speak it they wonder what is happening in my head as I scan text, because we are used to hearing the sound of the text in our heads as we read a language we can read and write well. I never have a good answer for them. What is going on in your head if you don't associate homonyms as being similar?

I don't have a good answer either.

I do know that when working out geometric problems or designing software, I don't always think in words at all.  Sometimes it is visual, sometimes abstract; when understanding comes, it often takes a few thousand words to describe it in text (especially as there usually are critical details to note for the solution to work).  I do also do "rubber duck debugging", but that's different: that is a tool for organizing ones understanding of the problem at hand.

When dealing with physics, mechanics, software development, or science, I do completely switch to English.  When dealing with humans and emotions and squishy stuff, I do it in Finnish.  A sentence in English just does not have the same emotional impact as the Finnish equivalent does, when it is about personal stuff.  Fiction I read in either.