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Original poster

Petty things that annoy you on Mumsnet.

311 replies

PettyAndIKnowIt · 08/12/2022 09:01

What little things on MN annoy you more than they should?

People responding to others on a thread but not quoting them so I have to scroll back pages and hunt for the comment that they were responding to.

People referring to 3 and 4 year olds as toddlers.

If someone's posts annoy me and their name involves something that I love, then that bothers me even more.

The one poster who always responds to a "What's your favourite episode of a show? or What's your favourite dish from the Chinese takeaway?or similar threads by informing us how much they hate takeaways or wouldn't watch said show if they had a gun held to their head.

The phrase "Give your head a wobble." It's utterly infuriating.

OP posts:
ShirleywasaLady · 08/12/2022 11:31

Ooh also (this really is very therapeutic, thanks OK!) where posters create some fantasy in their heads about the OP/characters in the OP's story and get enraged on their behalf "How do you know that rude man doesn't have SEN? And he might have just come back from the hospital having visited his injured wife who was cruelly run over by a tractor, his mother might have died the week before from a long and stressful illness and he's at risk of redundancy. I can't believe people aren't being kinder to this poor man after everything he's been through!!"

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:31

when people just lecturing others about their choices then yeah I do think they are hypocritical because of the lecture if they are not perfect themselves

I must say, this is my exact thinking whenever Charles or William implore us to 'think of the environment'. There's that statistic about how, if the whole world lived to the same level of consumption and environmental impact as the western privileged nations, we would need multiple planets; how many times more would that be if we all lived in the opulent profligacy that the royals consider their everyday mundane?

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:32

People who explain something very clearly and say at the end; "if you see what I mean" or "if that makes sense".

Yes, I can see what you mean / it does make sense as; a) I can read and b) my comprehension is quite good so no need for that sentence at the end.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:32

....I'm tempted to enter my 'idea' for the Earthshot prize that we all live in a single flat or modest house instead of multiple palaces, but I don't hold much hope of PW picking it as his winner.

pinkpotatoez · 08/12/2022 11:32

Asking 'Are you very young OP?'. I always imagine they are saying it an Amanda from motherland type of way. So condescending

WandaWonder · 08/12/2022 11:32

ShirleywasaLady · 08/12/2022 11:31

Ooh also (this really is very therapeutic, thanks OK!) where posters create some fantasy in their heads about the OP/characters in the OP's story and get enraged on their behalf "How do you know that rude man doesn't have SEN? And he might have just come back from the hospital having visited his injured wife who was cruelly run over by a tractor, his mother might have died the week before from a long and stressful illness and he's at risk of redundancy. I can't believe people aren't being kinder to this poor man after everything he's been through!!"

I think this is my favourite, as in I agree with you

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:36

People offering "unmunsnetty hugs" whatever they might be. I mean, I know what's meant but it sounds ridiculous. Either offer someone a hug or don't but leave out the "unmunsnetty" shite.

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:37

"The hills are that way" retort. Hilarious.

BrightSaturn · 08/12/2022 11:37

determinedtomakethiswork · 08/12/2022 09:09

When there is a really long opening post, and the very next person quotes it and then makes a one sentence comment.

This!!!

and the phrase “get your ducks in a row” … hate it for some reason 😅

wandawaves · 08/12/2022 11:38

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:11

Alot, abit, beable...

I always think they sound like they should be Dickens characters - Constance Abit, Jeremiah Beable etc.!

People who make an AIBU thread where it's obvious there's only one appropriate answer, like "AIBU to think this nasty abusive house guest who trashed my house, is in the wrong?".

That reminds me of an old Smashie & Nicey sketch, where they were soliciting listeners' to phone in with their view on the 'difficult' dilemma of "Should we preserve areas of great naaaaduraal beauty.... or should we muck 'em up with old shopping trolleys and mudguards and stuff?" Grin

The word ‘outwith’.

What on earth is wrong with it?

It's posters assuming that everybody must be English (I'm English) - usually from the south of England. The same people who will rebuke an English Midlander or Northerner for referring to their evening meal as 'tea' and claim that they're genuinely confused when somebody refers to sitting down at 6pm to eat what they will only ever accept as meaning a hot drink.

People using American spellings and expressions are also frequently berated for being 'wrong' - by people who apparently don't seem to grasp the basic concept that the internet is worldwide - and the poster very well may be one of our many valued American MNers (or somebody without English as a first language who doesn't know the unimportant nuances).

Have you heard of The Alot? He makes me laugh!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:39

where posters create some fantasy in their heads about the OP/characters in the OP's story and get enraged on their behalf "How do you know that rude man doesn't have SEN?

The recent thread about the obnoxious schoolboy taking up three seats on the bus. ASD, all sorts of SEN and anxiety disorders being proposed that he never seemed to have a few weeks previously, before he decided to flick his 'brat' switch on. Also, the leg injury that he quite possibly had that had magically transmitted itself to his bag, which thus needed its own seat as well!

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:40

People who have feelings about something but need MN to validate those feelings before they can allow themselves to fully feel them.

"DH just called me a big fat lazy pig. I felt really hurt when he said that but he says I'm too sensitive. AIBU for feeling upset?"

If we all said "yes, you are completely unreasonable, it was probably banter. Or perhaps he was right. Either way your feelings are wrong". Would OP then go "Oh, ok then, now I feel fine."

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:41

People who describe themselves as "people pleasers" or, worse, "too nice". Please 🙄

stuntbubbles · 08/12/2022 11:41

pinkpotatoez · 08/12/2022 11:32

Asking 'Are you very young OP?'. I always imagine they are saying it an Amanda from motherland type of way. So condescending

Haha, there was the reverse of this on a secret Santa thread with the excellent addition of “kindly”, which is always used as a precursor to something knobbish: “Kindly, are you quite old?” – or something to that effect.

BrightSaturn · 08/12/2022 11:43

Brunilde · 08/12/2022 09:51

I'm on a roll

People who feel they have to state they've name changed and mention old posts to prove how long they've been around. Not to avoid being thought of as a troll, but because they think there's some sort of mumsnet hierarchy based on length of service 😂

I’ve NC for this….

I totally agree. 😂😂😂

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:43

Have you heard of The Alot? He makes me laugh!

Thanks for that link - funny AND so true!

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:44

Wallstick · 08/12/2022 09:47

Faux naivety (like the specsavers autistic child one where 90% of posters didn't know hand gestures exist alongside verbal communication). And zero reading comprehension when on the attack (recent royal mail thread comes to mind).

Oh and calling everything that isn't being a doormat controlling. You always do the weekly shop? Are you always so controlling? You got angry when DH threw your jewellery away by mistake? No wonder he lies to you, so controlling 🙄

Ohhh and the irony of calling everyone batshit crazy and then virtue signalling about mental health. Because batshit crazy is okay but loony, mad, crazy (without the batshit), etc. are all slurs.

Shouldn't have got me started 😅

Ah yes "controlling". There was one thread where the DH/OP/SO or whatever had booked a weekend away as a surprise and was accused of being "controlling"! In my world that's just called a really nice surprise / treat. DH and I have done this for each other for many years and not once have I felt like I should LTB for it 😀

Lycanthropology · 08/12/2022 11:44

florentina1 · 08/12/2022 11:03

Anyone who starts a post stating how long they have been on MN. Nobody cares, it does make your post superior to others. What really makes me want to murder people, is when they validate their claim by quoting a MN Classic.

Ah, but this is actually getting pretty rare; to the extent that complaining about these posters is, in a way, the new “I’ve been here a long time” because you remember the posters who used to do that! 😉

Squirrelgate · 08/12/2022 11:46

The age of any child over 18 months being referred to in months instead of years!

When people reply to OP with comments like 'why do you care'.

Useitorloseit · 08/12/2022 11:47

People calling their ex husband 'EXDH' there can't be much dear/darling about him if he's an ex 😂.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:47

People who just reply with 'Oh dear' and nothing else, unalloyed with any sense of a friendly tease or good-natured joke.

Totally fair game if somebody has just made a wicked racist statement or suggested that we should drown everybody on benefits in the ocean; but when somebody has just expressed a liking for 'Live, Laugh, Love' house signs or the music of Chris de Burgh?

Wishimaywishimight · 08/12/2022 11:48

""No" is a complete sentence." Stop saying that. It's not. It's just a word.

in most real world conversations if someone requests something of you and your response is "no" there will generally be an expectation of some further dialogue, otherwise you just stand there looking at each other.

Boss: " will we meet tomorrow's deadline?"

Me: "No"

Boss: ""Um, can you elaborate?"

Me: "No"

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 08/12/2022 11:50

The age of any child over 18 months being referred to in months instead of years!

That reminds me of Dave Gorman's comment on people who are well into adulthood giving their age as 'X and a half'!

MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake · 08/12/2022 11:51

The constant 'What words do you hate?' threads.

They're always the same. 89 people saying they hate the word 'moist' and 78 people saying they hate the word 'gusset'. And then it will move on to people getting irate at those who say 'pacifically'.

The class obsession shite. The faux naivete of things like 'But how can tea be a meal? Tea is a drink'. It can be amusing but ultimately it's a bit tragic, to see people in the year 2022 talking about what's U and what's Non-U. You're not a Mitford. Stop trying to be a Mitford. And what's more, the Mitfords were largely a pack of wankers.

NiLunNiLautre · 08/12/2022 11:54

When a poster complains that there have already been plenty of threads about something, or that it has been “done to death”.
This is fine if it’s about a current news story or something, but when it’s about a personal situation or quandary, then surely an OP would like responses to their own situation, not to search for and read an old thread which is similar but not exactly the same, and whose posters are not around to ask questions of or to elaborate on things they’ve said.