Of The Day's Annoyances

International Amateur Radio Day
Pet Owner's Independence Day
Third World Day
Anniversary - Paul Revere's Ride
Independence Day (Zimbabwe)

 

Pet Peeve #326

 

Highlighter in my used coursebooks. I made the mistake this term of buying a book without flipping through it first, only to pick it up later and discover that some twit had gone highlighter-happy with it. In multiple colors. And they didn’t just highlight important sections; they did it to everything, like some two-year-old coloring his favorite picture book. What, I ask you, is the point of highlighting the entire book? I thought I’d be all right with it, but I’m gonna try to take it back because I find that instead of thinking about Gender Issues when I read I am thinking, “Fuck you, phantom student, fuck you and your rainbow of highlighters.”

Also, it hurt my retinae.

 

Pet Peeve #548

 

When people confuse the words “palpate” and “palpitate,” especially in professional articles about medical checkups. Yes, I found this in a Reliable Source for Medical Information, and it was wrong. “Palpate” is what your doctor does when s/he feels for swellings and figures out what kinds of swellings they are on the body using hir fingers. “Palpitate” is what your heart is doing when it’s beating irregularly.  And “Palpatine” is a guy who looked like your nice grandpa until he turned on the ugly beams and took over the galaxy, converting Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side and throwing the senate at Yoda in the process.  You probably won’t use that much in the doctor’s office, unless you have a really cool doctor. But it is not a verb. Yet.

Utahn Antipride

You’ve all presumably heard of the spread of Utardation to Texas. It’s getting more entertaining, too; the ensuing court cases are starting to sound like an insane domino effect of objections.

I used to wonder why people made lawyer jokes.

Also, the Salt Lake Tribune is having an absolute festival of headlines here, even more than the national news. The only one I found remotely interesting was the one on how some polygamists seem to fit in just fine. It’s a portrait of other polygamists in this country, but I found some gaps in the report just from being an anthropologist and knowing just a few polyamorous individuals—I’d be interested to see what someone more in tune with it had to say. (You get the impression from the article that all polygamists, at least around here in this Civilized Country, are a. Mormon and b. polygynous.) I have a very different image of polygamy and polyamory from either that article or the reports of the crazy FLDS—or, more accurately, I have a broader image. I’m not sure how most people might view it. It’s good to get a reminder sometimes.