Well, I'm a continental European and if I sit down at a table I absolutely use fork and knife with the fork in the proper position. The purpose of eathing this way, is convenience! How can you even eat something like a steak, fish or sausage unless you use both the knife and fork while cutting it? If you don't hold it down with the fork, you might slip or cause it to fall off the plate. If you don't have a knife, you can't cut it. Frankly I don't even know how US people eat, I've never had the opportunity to see it. Oh actually maybe I do... My stepmother is Japanese and she is really struggling with European style eating. It looks quite unnatural. I think she cuts her meat beforehand and then eats with her fork unless she's really making an effort. Her style looks a bit childish to me but then that's how my chopstick style looks to her (I can't quite get it right..)
Aaah... this refined British delicatesse. (have you actually ever seen this sold anywhere, or is it more of an urban myth?) I've heard about it many times, but never seen it in the UK.
There was a place in Scotland selling deep-fried Mars bars - I think it was a fish and chip shop - but it didn't really catch on. It just became a bit of a stick to beat Glasweigans with. I've never seen any on sale anywhere, thank goodness
Our local in Telford has just started to sell them...that's the Kismet 4 in 1 so good old-fashioned English chippy!
You ought to kick me out of England really but I have to admit I can't stomach f&c and the smell makes me nauseous. I never go into one. I'd make an exception for deep fried Mars bar as a one-off though! I actually prefers Mickey D over local chippy if those are the only options. And this is coming from a staunch anti-American.
1.People who read Sunday newspapers. - a big pile of papers, a steaming cup of coffee is really a very tragic scene. ...I have the civilisation to read the trite on-line, and also probably am making love, acrobatic style on a Sunday morning, bless my dog. 2. People taking a bracing weekend walk. I find them annoying when I see them in their coats, the stupid hats, usually after they have read their papers. 3. People who are xenophobic about chip shop staff. Bastards & God bless America, death to Sweden/and or Netherlands possibly, it pains me but one must make one's stand on this issue, in public. 4. People who are younger than me. Recently I have begun a new pastime posting to the Guardian's comments section. Lots of irritating young people there. 5. Teachers who are stupid and/or thick. Everybody knows educational standards have crashed considerably since the Depression/end of WW2.
Ok, moaner's thread, perfect!! 1. swimming clubs who hog too many lanes so lap swimmers like me get squeezed out 2. change room dead quiet except for me , then another guy comes in and parks himself right next to me, hey mate- there's plenty of space, why park so close ? 3. cost of living is too high here, ridiculous, 2 bucks for an apple now 4. heatwaves are getting longer in aussie summers 5. putin is bloody evil 6. Google, Facebook etcetera want to know everything about you, what happened to privacy? 7. too many ads on youtube 8. euthanasia needs to be legalised asap 9. shane warne should be exported to the UK forever 10. if I don't laugh at stephen fry's jokes, does that make me stupid?
Ha ha. Well, Americans and steak are pretty much melded in the public mind, eh? And we do use knives to cut the steak. In fact, we probably invented the Steak Knife. It's just that we put it down between bites instead of hanging on to it like grim death and using it to shovel the accompanying potatoes onto the upside-down fork. Incidentally, how do British folks use a shovel? Upside down, I imagine. Here in my Scottish neighbourhood where I now live, nobody but me seems to know how to use one to clear snow off pathways in winter. Maybe that's why. Snow doesn't stick well to an upside down shovel. And there is—sadly—no such thing as a Snow Knife.
- Autotuned vocals in modern music. I've seen a couple of performances by Kanye West on TV, and he is a prime offender. - Kanye West in general. - High heels. Do women really like them? They look horribly uncomfortable to me, and every time I see a woman wearing them, I feel sorry for her.
People who say: "It is what it is." like saying "my house is a house" or " the prime minister is the prime minister" or "water is water"
Thank you, I appreciate your sympathy. I actually never really learned to walk in them, plus I always feel so tall and cumbersome with heels, so if I can get away with it, I won't wear them. I've heard they make your butt look good, but I don't really care what others think of my butt. Speaking of fashion, I feel sorry for guys, 'cause you seem to have so few options jeans-wise. I was looking for jeans for my hubby, and it seemed my choices were, after browsing literally a dozen shops, skinny jeans or daddy jeans. There's only a very small, skinny, long-legged male demographic than can actually pull off skinny jeans, imo, and the rest just look... I don't know. I'm not into that look. And daddy jeans also look funny 'cause they're tapered or straight-that-look-tapered-when-they're-on-you and I'm not a fan of those either (nor is my hubby). What happened to good ole bootcut? And I don't mean flared bootcuts, but these sort of subdued bootcuts. It seems I can only find them in online shops that sell alternative fashion.
High heels make my legs feel great. Kind of strong? IDK. They're really not good for your feet so I don't wear them, but I don't find them uncomfortable at all.
I think one needs to kind of "learn" to walk in heels 'cause otherwise you look like Bambi on ice. This is something other women who can handle heels have told me, though, so I guess they've been more knowledgeable of the art of high heels than me. I'm pretty sure I look like a drunken giraffe, though. Standing on the balls of my feet is no problem, I'm used to it in boxing and riding, but I guess it's just the fact that running and biking are so difficult in heels and I usually have to do both on a daily basis, so lugging around heels for looks -- nah, too much hassle. But to each her own!
People from distant countries telling me how people speak in London. Uh, no. This didn't happen on here in case anybody thinks this is a passive aggressive dig.
Overly-sensitive people who label an entire group as bad because a few members of that group treated them poorly. People, don't you think if you want folks to listen to you, you should probably try not to antagonist all of them so they won't listen to you at all!? I'll listen to you any day, but if you're gonna paint me as the big bad guy before we even begin to have this conversation, I'm not going to listen to you -- even if what you say is legit. The first step towards having a communication is to not antagonist the person you're speaking to, especially when you're trying to get them to listen to you! Look, I get it. The pain hurts, but the only way you'll ever get anyone to listen to you and share in your pain is to not antagonist them. Even compassionate folks have their limits, and no one wants to be made the bad guy for something they didn't even do. I'll listen to you -- can't promise I'll fix it -- but I'll listen. But you've got to give me the benefit of the doubt that I'm not a big bad guy first. Otherwise, I'm just going to walk away. And that'd be a damned shame, for both of us. That is all.
Negative miserable people who have a "poor me" attitude and seem to always be lacking in energy to improve their miserable lives. These misery guts also seem to have an over inflated sense of entitlement and self importance. I find it amazing that these people can spend so much energy messaging that they are "sick, depressed, feeling like death and have no energy..." but the moment they feel there is an opportunity to self promote or do something that people will notice, they'll be out the door with an inexplicable burst of energy. *eye roll*
Two somewhat interrelated irritations come to mind. The first is my laptop cord. The part that attaches to the PC has a cover that sharply ends over the encased cord, so any inadvertent strain -- often, unless at a desk or table -- crimps the wires within. Now I have to readjust the wire often to keep charging or the brightness high, and worry that it will internally sever and I won't be able to fix it. I'll try though if that happens. Just seems like conscious negligence on the part of the manufacturer. And, two, people accusing me of using a "chess engine" (a software program) just because I beat them, move fast, or play above my rating. Their incredulity of play that isn't particularly remarkable being unaided somehow gives them license to accuse, to whatever sense of fairness they possess, to be clear. More and more, this one is becoming less bothersome as I chalk it up to a hurt person grabbing one of the most hurtful things they can grab to settle the score. Speaking of bother, and, on the other hand, the sound of a television in the background....
I'm developing a real hatred of acronyms, unless they are so common that the full word or phrase is less likely to be understood, like DNA. It's because I have to constantly edit them out of documents at work, but now my hatred is spreading to the non-corporate world too. In fact, it's any kind of jargon as well. Like writer's groups referring to "crits" or "critters". It sets my teeth on edge.
I know there are members here who moderate in other slices of the digital pie, and this one will probably only mean something to those of them who are fastidious about where things go in their forums: Threads that have titles that give you NO IDEA of the content of the thread.
I'm constantly surprised and irritated by the number of people who refuse to read signs in customer service. Used to work in a thrift store. Every weekend, we would have a tag sale - things with a certain color tag would be half price. We put what color tag was on sale that weekend at the front of the store AND on signs that were THAT COLOR at the end of every aisle, near the fitting rooms, etc. Everywhere. If you just looked, you would see it. Still had people asking what the color was. Wanted to facepalm every time. At the current job (food service), the menu is really huge and really visible. I've had people come right up to me and ask what our options were, even though the GIANT MENU BOARD IS RIGHT NEXT TO ME AND VERY VISIBLE. Context clues, people. It's not that hard.
People who chew with their mouths open. People who generally make loud sounds during or just after eating (such as sucking their teeth). People who pick their nose in public. Know-it-alls. People who always correct other people. If I want to hold the knife my way while cutting vegetables, and if I feel I have control over the knife, then just let me freaking hold it the way I want to hold it! People who always criticize others.
People who don't use roundabouts properly grrr we have a lot of roundabouts in Australia... stay in your own lane people and use those indicators your car came with...
