Trivial things that annoy you

Traveling on an escalator when the person in front of you reaches the top/bottom and then just stands there!!. Where do they think we are all going to go!!, same thing for lifts.

Also when aul wans stand directly in the door of a shop yapping and then give you the stink eye when you try and manoeuvre around them.

People who put butter in the fridge - it's no use to anyone when it's hard as stone. Just leave it on the kithcen counter / table in a covered butter dish and everyone is happy. It won't go off, I live alone and never put butter in the fridge and it doesn't go off.

Whatsernamex33 wrote: »

People using a butter knife, then dip that knife into a jar of jam. Who even has those together?

Buttery knife into jam is fine. It's the jammy knife into butter that's the problem.

kellogscoffey wrote: »

Buttery knife into jam is fine. It's the jammy knife into butter that's the problem.

Its not fine, that will make the jam go mouldy. Jam shouldnt go mouldy too easily because the sugar preserves it. Its the cross contamination that will cause it to go off.

Re "Thames/Thailand:" The generally-accepted standard pronunciation of both is with a silent "h," but the pronunciation of the "h" is so common that it's not really considered an error. They're also understandable because in most words with "th," the pronunciation is different from "t" on its own (as in "bath" and "bat").

Similarly, the "h" is usually pronounced in the name "Thomas," but it's quite acceptable not to pronounce it, particularly in many American accents.

What's crucial about all of these variations is that the meaning is still clear. I don't think pronunciation is important as long as it's quite clear what you're saying.

It's also problematic to pronounce certain pronunciations as "correct," as pronunciation is inextricably attached to accent.
Americans, for example, tend not to pronounce the "h" in words with "wh" like "white" and "whistle." For many of them, there's no difference between "Wales" and "whales."
Similarly, some British accents will pronounce "th" differently to Irish accents. Many Irish people don't even distinguish between "th" and "t."

I believe pronunciation should only be important in cases where deviations from the norm make it difficult to understand a person. Some important pronunciation issues I've asked been asked about by students recently include: "live" and "leave," "want" and "won't," and, crucially, "can't" and "c*nt."