Dive bombing insects are annoying. So are canceled flights. How about authors who do years of research to write a book that tells us something we all know? Boston Globe science writer Karen Weintraub reports on one such effort, "Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us," by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman. Weintraub tells us what the biggest bugs are–from little things like buzzing mosquitoes to more substantial inconveniences like people who don't appear to offer any evolutionary advantage. Here, below, are four biggies, identified by Michael R. Cunningham, a psychologist at the University of Louisville.
Impolite personal habits, such as public nose picking, knuckle cracking, passing gas.
Inconsiderate activities, such as keeping someone waiting, checking e-mail repeatedly while you’re with someone, forgetting to pick up milk on the way home.
Intrusive behaviors such as insisting on giving an opinion on everything, nagging, and critiquing behavior.
Rule breaking, such as running red lights, not paying taxes, or smoking in a nonsmoking zone.
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The #1 a-holes of the road: Tail-Gaters.
Idiots who write articles like annoy me most of all.
Barking neighbors dog!!
Smoking everywhere, anywhere. Cigarettes, the curse of humanity. Also known as the indian (of america) curse.
(Tobacco started in North America).
Bad drivers, up to the point of aggresiveness.
Inconsiderate people on all matters of human cooperation.
people that complain about what annoys them!
using cell phones in movies
Parents who think it is their privilege to block aisles and shelves in supermarkets with their kids strollers.
Bike riders who think they own the road and never use the million bike paths made especially for them.
People that park in handicap parking spaces because they are too lazy to walk from the nearest empty parking space.
People who get annoyed at petty things because they have no perspective about what’s important and what isn’t. (although i gotta admit, some smokers, parents with kids, drivers, bikers, handicapped parkers and cell phone users are really bad)
Businesses you can’t contact via telephone anymore before listening to a menu that has no reference to what your concerns are.
Or when you only want to discontiue a service and the rep continues to try to sell you something else before completing the transaction I’d requested.