Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[birchesgreen]

A mixture of deliberate, click bait and incompetence.

 

[Richardr]

Who is at the BBC who keeps spelling NATO as "Nato" in their online articles? It's obviously an acronym; why can't they capitalise it properly? They do it with UEFA as well.

We don't watch the Bbc news, we watch the BBC News. It shouldn't be that hard for a professional writer!!

The Times and The Guardian are the same as the BBC.

The Guardian's style guide says:
https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a

Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters (an initialism): BBC, CEO, US, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell out with initial capital, eg Nasa, Nato, Unicef, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as awol, laser and, more recently, asbo, pin number and sim card.

 

[xotGD]

The Times and The Guardian are the same as the BBC.

The Guardian's style guide says:
https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a

But VAT is pronounced "Vat".

 

[gg1]

But VAT is pronounced "Vat".

Pronouncing VAT as a single word isn't universal though, plenty of people pronounce the individual letters, if anything that way is actually more common.

In the case of NATO, NASA or UNICEF I've never heard anyone pronounce them as anything other than a single word.

 

[Gloster]

The use of the word ‘flavoursome’ (or worse ‘flavorsome’) on food packaging. What is wrong with tasty? (Such infelicities always make me think of The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat.)

 

[jfollows]

But VAT is pronounced "Vat".

I don’t; that’s not to say that I’m right or you’re wrong but that it’s not universal.

 

[birchesgreen]

I don’t; that’s not to say that I’m right or you’re wrong but that it’s not universal.

The correct way to say it is "vodka and tonic" of course.

 

[Calthrop]

I once had a colleague -- a great exponent of weak and corny humour -- who insisted on calling it "Vair and Tear". Every blasted time.

 

[43096]

The Times and The Guardian are the same as the BBC.

The Guardian's style guide says:
https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a

Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters (an initialism): BBC, CEO, US, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell out with initial capital, eg Nasa, Nato, Unicef, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as awol, laser and, more recently, asbo, pin number and sim card.

Arrrrrrgggghhhh. Pin number. That needs banning - it's not a "personal identification number number", is it?

 

[Strat-tastic]

PAT test

 

[py_megapixel]

Arrrrrrgggghhhh. Pin number. That needs banning -

But what will I do if I want to uniquely identify all of my drawing-pins?

 

[Busaholic]

But what will I do if I want to uniquely identify all of my drawing-pins?

Commit hari-kari?

 

[43096]

PAT test

That’s another, along with TSB Bank.

 

[adrock1976]

Having looked at a TV guide, I have seen Alexander Armstrong presenting Pointless on the Beeb, another programme on Channel 5 not so long ago, and something else on ITV.

Also, I have seen Nick Knowles presenting DIY SOS on the Beeb, and a house clearance programme on Channel 5.

The question is what side do they actually work for, as they seem incapable of choosing one and sticking to it?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The question is what side do they actually work for, as they seem incapable of choosing one and sticking to it?

Don't think that the "talent" are tied down by exclusivity contracts these days!

 

[ABB125]

PAT test

Are you banning the test itself, the redundant word, or both?

Personally, I'd go with both!

 

[Madge Wildfire]

The adding of -gate to every controversy/potential scandal annoys me. Now we have had party-gate where apparently sitting outside in the back garden with a glass of posh plonk and a plate of vol-au-vents on a summer evening, is a party. I'm sure the Starmer indoor version has been called curry-gate in certain dumbed down sections of the media. I despair.

Watergate was originally called that because it was the name of the building central to the Nixon scandal.

Maybe we should have organised an illegal mass trainspotting session during lockdown, at a busy SR location south of the Thames? The resulting court case could have subsequently been described as New Cross Gate-gate.

 

[D6130]

Maybe we should have organised an illegal mass trainspotting session during lockdown, at a busy SR location south of the Thames? The resulting court case could have subsequently been described as New Cross Gate-gate.

....and the West Yorkshire version could have been called Wakefield Westgate-gate, Wakefield Kirkgate-gate or even Cross Gates-gate!

 

[D6968]

....and the West Yorkshire version could have been called Wakefield Westgate-gate, Wakefield Kirkgate-gate or even Cross Gates-gate!

Newark Northgate-gate has a nice ring to it

 

[Gloster]

I always hoped there would be a scandal concerning a closed halt on the North Devon & Cornwall Junction Light Railway south of Torrington. This would have been Watergategate.

 

[yorksrob]

....and the West Yorkshire version could have been called Wakefield Westgate-gate, Wakefield Kirkgate-gate or even Cross Gates-gate!

The state of Wakefield Kirkgate a few years ago was a bit of a scandal.

I'm surprised no one coined the term "Kirkgate-gate".

 

[Gloster]

As mentioned previously, I once described a scandal involving Danish State Railways and a PR company called Waterfront as Waterfrontgate.

 

[Strat-tastic]

Are you banning the test itself, the redundant word, or both?

Personally, I'd go with both!

The redundant word as the test doesn't exist (in this context, at least).

 

[61653 HTAFC]

People who think it acceptable to remove their shoes on a train should be made to travel on the roof.

 

[matacaster]

I'd say Michael Mackintyre, except OP said comedic things to ban and he thus doesn't qualify.

 

[Drogba11CFC]

The feeling of nausea you get when you're really hungry.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The feeling of nausea you get when you're really hungry.

Talk to your doctor about acid reflux, which is usually the cause of that and can be treated.

 

[dakta]

Has to be some kind of penalty (decapitation?) for people who ring the wrong number despite knowing in advance (have the indicators, have the suspicion, and the facts on hand to justify both) that its the wrong number

Some kind of google algorithm must have changed because recently started getting calls from people looking for a different company, both our companies have one word in common but are quite different and offer totally different services

After a while got fed up of the number of calls so I asked one what they'd done to get our number

'I googled the company <other company name>'

'oh, did google tell you my number belong to the other company name ltd?'

'no it said it belongs to dakta's company ltd, you were in the list too'

'oh. Did it not make you think it was a different company, given you knew the name of the company to google it and I was in the list as well as the other company?'

'Yes but I thought you might have two names'

That's just one of the milder ones, had a few people ask for scott without a hello and when told its the wrong number challenge what number they should have rung or how to get hold of 'scott'

I doooooont carrrrrrrreee how to contact scott.

 

[duncanp]

That's just one of the milder ones, had a few people ask for scott without a hello and when told its the wrong number challenge what number they should have rung or how to get hold of 'scott'

I doooooont carrrrrrrreee how to contact scott.

This is so irritating.

Since I moved in 2018, I keep getting calls for a "...Miss Wilkinson...", and no matter how many times I tell people that it is the wrong number, I still get calls for her.

And the government should bring back hanging for any company that thinks it is acceptable to make "silent" phone calls. (ie. where a machine dials your number, and then there is silence when you pick the phone up)

If I did that, I would be arrested and have my phone cut off for being a dirty old man and making a nuisance of myself.

 

[dakta]

It is!

Thing is I don't know what to do about it, if someone had mistyped the phone number on the website and google had categorised it we'd have something we could fix. But people are literally typing the company name into google, and taking the number from the second listing (me) rather than the first even though the company names are obvious (and so is the difference).

Some decapitation of said people won't fix it but I might feel less grumpy for it