America's Most Annoying Pet Peeves
If kids who are ill-behaved in public fray your last nerve, then you're far from alone: Parents who let their little monsters run wild, according to a new Harris Poll about pet peeves in America, are what annoy Americans the most, driving 86 percent of those surveyed crazy.
More on Yahoo Shine: 6 Baby Name Pet Peeves
The results of the poll, which targeted 2,234 adults online in March, were released on Monday. It found that there is no shortage of ways to get under Americans' skin — although Harris suggested the ways, and the results represent how those surveyed chose to rank the options.
More on Yahoo: Road Rage Incident Leaves Man in Hospital
After disruptive children, the other most "popular" pet peeves include the following: openly rude people (85 percent find them irritating); “slobs” (80 percent); people who are chronically late for dates and appointments (80 percent); loud talkers (71 percent); people who yak at high volume in public on their cellphones (65 percent); and those fellow air travelers who misuse the overhead luggage bins by stuffing in too many items or by using the bins that do not correspond with their assigned seats (65 percent).
The survey broke annoyances down by topic, one of which was drivers. In that category, 53 percent of those polled were most bothered by tailgaters, while 47 percent said they couldn’t deal with motorists who planted themselves in the passing lane. When it comes to digital communications, meanwhile, 60 percent of folks say they can’t deal with emails written in ALL CAPS, while 40 percent are irritated by emails that are too terse or brief. Others save their ire for “reply all” emails (51 percent), no email reply at all (49 percent), social media complainers (55 percent), and social media braggers (45 percent).
Other bothersome types of air travelers include those who dare to recline their seats in coach (35 percent), while other annoying social grievances include people who misuse common words (57 percent), self-appointed editors who give unsolicited grammar advice (43 percent), those who complain about the heat a lot (57 percent), and people who insist on special ordering in restaurants (60 percent).
So how can we keep our own list of pet peeves from getting the best of us?
“Assume you wake up with a dollar’s worth of energy,” Pennsylvania-based psychologist Pauline Wallin, author of “Taming Your Inner Brat: A Guide for Transforming Self-Defeating Behavior,” suggests to Yahoo Shine. “Do you want to spend 80 cents on that annoying driver behind you — especially if it won’t make a difference in five minutes?”
To illustrate what’s at the heart of pet peeves, Wallin likes to quote comedian George Carlin. “He says, ‘Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anybody going faster than you is a maniac,’” she says, laughing. “That is just to show how we are so self-centered … and that we assume people look at the world the same way we do, and have the same priorities.” And it’s helpful to remember: They don’t.
More on Yahoo Shine:
Anne Burrell's Restaurant Pet Peeves (Video)
8 Parenting Habits I Thought Were Totally Annoying — Until I Became a Mom