btlzu2's Journal: what drives you bloody insane?

you know what makes me see red? when i see a review on amazon for a technical book that says: "bad book--not for beginners." there are *so* many reviews like that. and you know what? none of the books i've read with those reviews claim to be for beginners! so fucking what if you can't understand the book because it wasn't written specifically for you? don't bash something you don't understand. if the book *claims* to be for beginners, but appears much too complex, fine. if you find inaccuracies or poorly explained topics, fine. just don't write a goddammed review that says, "waaaah, i can't understand this, so it's bad!" whiny bitches. there goes my new years hopes and dreams... ;)

most of the reviews i've looked at that have pissed me off were for books that i've gained an immense amount of information from--perhaps they weren't for beginners, but who said all books are supposed to cater to the beginner anyway?

has anyone else seen these idiotic types of reviews?

what meaningless nonsense drives you mental? :)

My favorite

[nizo]

When they write stuff like "book arrived late". Hello retard, this is a review of the ITEM, not how fast/slow/lame Amazon or UPS is.

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[dexterpexter]

Yes. Although I recently found it very helpful that someone mentioned (several people, actually) that there was a small incidence of "duds" for a piece of electronics that I wanted to purchase (which wasn't suprising as it is still a problem that is being worked out industry-wide for this technology), but then also helpfully listed Amazon's policy for return of that particular product, and and the experience they went through in trying to get a functional product.

The positive reviews convinced me that I p

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[Cyberdyne]

This toaster is lousy: it makes terrible coffee!

Yes. Although I recently found it very helpful that someone mentioned (several people, actually) that there was a small incidence of "duds" for a piece of electronics that I wanted to purchase (which wasn't suprising as it is still a problem that is being worked out industry-wide for this technology), but then also helpfully listed Amazon's policy for return of that particular product, and and the experience they went through in trying to get a functional pr

Really?

[dexterpexter]

Haha. I have some time on my hands tonight, so I am going to instigate things. :)

I have found some of those reviews very helpful, particularly regarding books about learning languages or preparing unusual cuisine. I guess as far as technical books go, most of the books I have purchased on related subjects were for things at which I was a beginner, so I never noticed a problem with people reviewing the books as such. If it was something on which I was trained but wanted more/newer information for maintain

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[btlzu2]

let's just say, if you're buying a graduate level book on quantum physics and there's a review that says "boo--not for beginners", I reserve the right to tell the reviewer to take a leap into lake michigan in january. :)

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[ces]

what drive me nuts about the "bad book -- not for beginners" type of reviews is twofold:

1) First is the bad review both in the score given and in saying it is a bad book. If the material is too advanced for you then you are hardly qualified to offer a review of the overall quality of the material presented.
2) Second in all too many cases the books getting these reviews have titles with words like "advanced", "experts guide to", "complete", "in-depth", or "reference" in them which should be an indication one

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[btlzu2]

ahhhhh! you dig. righteous. :)

whole nother

[Mantorp]

drives me absolutely batshit crazy, get that n out of there

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[btlzu2]

ewwww, that's disgusting. if i ever see anyone doing that, i won't refrain from doling out a nother hardy bitch-slap... ;)

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[Some Woman]

Irregardless.
I could care less.
Borrow me a pencil.

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[Mantorp]

same difference

misunderestimate

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[Some Woman]

I loathe "same difference."

Also, I am trying to never again use "normalcy" because I just found out last month that it isn't a real word. Normality!

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[Mantorp]

pressurizing instead of pressuring irks me too, I need to relax

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[btlzu2]

pressurize is valid in the right context though. if someone said, "i'm pressurizing mantorp to relax", i'd slap them like the grammar nazi that i am. if someone said, "i'm pressurizing my tires", i'd congratulate them for the proper use of 'pressurize'! :)

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[Mantorp]

yeah, but sportscasters and coaches are always using it where I think they shouldn't

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[iminplaya]

Sportscasters...Do they still wear those giant "Mickey Mouse Ears" headsets and the yellow jackets with the big shoulder pads? You know, it's just not the same without Howard Cosell. Who else could arouse such emotion out of the fans watching the TV?

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[Ethelred Unraed]

Heh. How odd -- just the other day I was thinking about Cosell for the first time in many years.

Who else could arouse such emotion out of the fans watching the TV?

From what I remember of him, and in particular what I remember of my parents saying of him at the time, I'd say he aroused emotion just through his own obnoxious person, rather than anything happening on the screen. ;-)

Cheers,

Ethelred

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[btlzu2]

he was certainly obnoxious and my folks didn't like him too much from what i remember, but looking back, he did have a certain charisma i think. sort of a cocky, sports-loving uncle or something.

hey, what's the deal? i was driving through Virginia a month ago and got a ticket. when the cop came up to me (in the Appalachians), i was really worried in a prejudiced, city-boy sort of way that he was gonna say, "you have a purty mouth." :) it *was* 2am, after all, on a dark highway next to a huge tunnel bore

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[Tet]

Using "leverage" as a verb. It's a noun. The verb is "lever".

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[btlzu2]

ugh--i hate when people use "normalcy". "same difference" is cool with me though because i think it's a midwestern thing and i'm used to it. "same difference" is technically inclusive of "no difference". :)

i actually despise it when people say "utilize" instead of "use". sounds like a sorry-ass way to sound important.

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[Mantorp]

back in a former life I was heading up a project outsourcing some tedious work to India and those guys would constantly say things like utilizationing, or understandingment etc, but with them I just thought it was funny and for some reason I didn't get mad. Perhaps I need to think of everyone as Indians.

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[btlzu2]

well, it's not their primary language. i work with a lot of Indian people and most of them are very smart, but don't often use proper English. i'm not gonna nazi-ize them! :)

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[Some Woman]

Maybe certain freakish parts of the midwest. When I moved to MN from IA, these are the linguistic differences I noticed:

• "Same difference" instead of "Same thing."
• Constant misuse of the word "borrow." "Lend" appeared to be absent from their vocabulary.
• "Duck, duck, grey duck" when everybody knows that the game is called "Duck, duck, goose."
• "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less."

It's nice to drive 3 hours south and suddenly noticed a surge in the ability of locals to speak English.

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[btlzu2]

when i was a kid and heard someone say, "i could care less", i was always confused about that. it really took up a great deal of my free time thinking about what the hell that was supposed to mean. probably why i'm so far behind in more important things. :) i could've used the internet back then.

i do hate the borrow thing too. so bad.

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[iminplaya]

Drive a few hours further (farther?) south and enter the twilight zone where 11:30am is pertnear dinnertime.

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[Ethelred Unraed]

How d'ye think it was for poor ol' me, moving to Minnesnowta in my early teens, speaking a variety of normal English*, and constantly being corrected on such things by the aboriginals**. I had never, even in the hills of them thar Appalachians where "ain't" is proper English and "y'all" is the plural of "you" and a "grudge" is where you park your car, heard the use of "borrow" in the sense of "lend", and yet people looked at me like I was from Mars*** when I used "lend" instead.

The "duck, duck, grey duck"

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[btlzu2]

actually, wouldn't "duck, duck, grey duck" be sexist? :)

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[TechnoLust]

I got into an argument with a lady at an old job about "I could care less." It started off as me going, "So you care?" and her saying "Huh?" and drooling on herself a little. Sometimes I like to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person just to make myself giggle on the inside.

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[Some Woman]

Aw, now that's just cruel. They can't help themselves! :^)

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[Tet]

Sometimes I like to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person just to make myself giggle on the inside.

Indeed: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=217126&cid=176 32080 [slashdot.org].

PS. You have to love those mutually recursive references :-)

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[TechnoLust]

It's been a long time since, but IIRC, I friended you because of your sharp sarcastic wit and formidable bantering skills. :-)

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[Tet]

"its" vs "it's" -- why is such a simple rule so hard to learn?

Using "and I" where it should be "and me" -- "It was given to Charles and I". Bleurgh.

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[btlzu2]

I don't know how this mental process worked, but i can say after 35 years of practice that i no longer mentally need to drop the "Charles" to figure out whether to use "I" or "me" (ie "It was given to I?" or "It was given to me?") It's somehow become natural to chose the correct one. I can speak quite a bit faster now. ;)

The "its" one is annoying too, but i must admit in a hurry, i use the wrong one at times--not for lack of understanding, but just typical human error.

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[dthable]

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