OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[847badgerfan]

I don't sound like a country bumpkin and don't have a strong accent of any type. Occasionally there's a very light Chicago accent, but growing up out in the suburbs I never picked a strong one up. And as weak as it was 25 years ago when I left, it's softened even since then.

But I can't stand the tone. I don't know if it's real, but somehow I hear a "nasal" quality to it that I absolutely hate.

That's a Midwest thing, but I don't have it, thankfully.

No Chicago accent either, being from the NW side/burbs and all.

Dat's more of a Sout Side Ting.

[Brutus Buckeye]

A bird crashed into my window today. I opened the door, and it was just lying on it's back twitching on the porch. All of a sudden another bird of the same species swooped in, grabbed it up, and flew off with it. 

I didn't know that they did that. 

I think they were doves. Both were fully grown. 

[FearlessF]

cannibal doves make me grumpy

[betarhoalphadelta]

Have you ever heard something come out of someone's mouth and it just makes you astounded that someone would say/think that out loud? 

A woman my wife knows--mind you that I put it that way to alert you that she was neither a friend or even a social acquaintance, because when you hear what she said, you'll know I wouldn't voluntarily associate with such a person--overheard her talking about the issues we have with the Flex. Our plan is to sell it off at this point for a song to one of those "we buy cars" places because it's basically a total loss given the cost of repair and the value of the vehicle. 

She said... 

Don't you know anyone who could "steal" it and then go crash it somewhere? 

Uhh, no. No. Hell no. Such an idea isn't something that would ever enter my head, and if it did, I'd chide myself for even thinking it. 

WTF is wrong with people?!?!

[847badgerfan]

Have you ever heard something come out of someone's mouth and it just makes you astounded that someone would say/think that out loud?

A woman my wife knows--mind you that I put it that way to alert you that she was neither a friend or even a social acquaintance, because when you hear what she said, you'll know I wouldn't voluntarily associate with such a person--overheard her talking about the issues we have with the Flex. Our plan is to sell it off at this point for a song to one of those "we buy cars" places because it's basically a total loss given the cost of repair and the value of the vehicle.

She said...

Don't you know anyone who could "steal" it and then go crash it somewhere?

Uhh, no. No. Hell no. Such an idea isn't something that would ever enter my head, and if it did, I'd chide myself for even thinking it.

WTF is wrong with people?!?!

I used to know a few people who did that stuff for a living.

[FearlessF]

on the south side

I'm gonna guess the lady is blonde

[847badgerfan]

West side.

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'm gonna guess the lady is blonde

Not going to get deeper into the demographic.

However I will say that she is as dumb as a box of rocks. Just disappointing that she's both dumb AND unethical. 

[FearlessF]

ya gotta be a certain amount of dumb to consider something that unethical that could very well come back to bite ya

[CatsbyAZ]

She said...

Don't you know anyone who could "steal" it and then go crash it somewhere?

Uhh, no. No. Hell no. Such an idea isn't something that would ever enter my head, and if it did, I'd chide myself for even thinking it.

WTF is wrong with people?!?!

My reaction would be to laugh out loud as though she is joking, then continue to laugh to embed it in my brain that she *is* joking. Then in another ten years when wide awake at 3am it hits me - she wasn't joking!

I will admit, yes, I have known people that stupid on a first name basis. However, they disappeared from my life once I completely stopped hanging out in dive bars.

[FearlessF]

that's part of the charm of dive bars

[Gigem]

This is more of a perpetual annoyance thing than a grumpy old man thing, but....

I can't stand the sound of my voice, the accent in particular.  It sounds fine to me via the bone conduction we hear ourselves with, but gratingly irritating via the usual compression waves through which we perceive sound.  (If you've ever wondered why you sound different to yourself compared to when you hear yourself played back on a recording, while everybody else says it sounds just like you, that's why.)

I have some kind of disastrous, unholy mesh of hillbilly, hick, southern, he-must-be-partially-deaf-and-probably-learning-disabled accent that just makes me sad.  I'd forgive anyone meeting me for the first time for assuming I'm mentally retarded.  I manage to forget about it, mostly, and it's never really hurt my self-confidence, but when I'm forced to hear myself, I have a lot of sympathy for friends, family, and coworkers who are afflicted constantly with the sound of my voice. 

I'm doing some software tutorial videos for faculty and staff use, and it requires me to listen to myself while checking and editing them.  It's hard to believe we don't have standards that prohibit this kind of thing.  What kind of workplace that takes itself seriously disseminates videos that make people say "Oh god, here goes that gator-humping, inbred sympathy hire again?"

I just wanna get done with these and then go another several years without having to hear me again. 

Same. I bet my accent makes yours sound sophisticated. 

[utee94]

buncha hayseeds.

Over the phone or on conference calls, people usually guess that I'm from California.  It's offensive. 

[MrNubbz]

I think they were doves. Both were fully grown.

You don't know what they look like? Or were you peering thru beer goggles