Pet peeves

Everyone has them. Here are a few of mine:

First off, is there any TV show more annoying than Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee? It's what is inspiring this post. Why does she have to be right between Barefoot Contessa (swoon) and Paula Deen? I like both of these other ladies. I like that they come on right while Jack is sleeping, so I can put my feet up, rest a little bit and maybe get some dinner ideas while he's taking a nap, and to have to change the channel in between is such a pain. But her voice drives me so crazy that I can't get to the remote fast enough. The other day, she did a show featuring all lemon-flavored things, and every time she said the word "lemon" she held the "l" out so long that I was cringing after each one while searching for the remote that would make it stop (which reminds me, four remote controls is another pet peeve - it takes three just to put on a Baby Einstein DVD for Jack). "LLLLLLLemon chicken", "LLLLLLemonade", "LLLLLLLLLemon chiffon cake". Her outfits, the kitchen, her "tablescapes". Ugh - I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it...

Then there's driving across the painted lines in a parking lot. This has always bugged me. I mean, sure, if it's midnight and the lot is otherwise empty, go for it. Or, if you get the Drive-Through Bonus (DTB) - pulling into a spot to find that the spot across from it is empty too, enabling you to front-out instead of backing-out - then you drive right over that line between, no question! But yesterday I was leaving the grocery store with Jack, driving down my little aisle between the lines of parked cars, when this lady in an enormous SUV drives on an angle right across the lines and into my aisle in such a way that I have to slam on my brakes to accommodate her bigass car and to keep it from plowing right into the front right side of mine. Grrrr. Add that she was talking on her cell phone, and I was definitely getting pushed to my limit.

Finally, I'm definitely a stickler for grammar, and while I understand that our everyday spoken vernacular might not exactly be the place to hold someone to non-dangling participles or possessives before their gerunds, I think there is simply no excuse for bad grammar in advertisements. Apostrophe ses for plurals, it's versus its, there is just no excuse for not cleaning these things up before putting them out there for all the world to see - whether on TV or in print. There's one local commercial here that urges viewers at the end that they can "make a difference in you and your family's future!" Doesn't that just sound weird for the announcer to say? I don't know - maybe it's the teacher in me.

Ok, so what's your pet peeve? Come on, people. I can't be the only one who gets unreasonably annoyed at stupid things - and I promise I won't critique the grammar in your comment!