Things that annoy you


One thing that really annoys me in hotels is where the shower nozzle is only 6ft of the ground - I'm 6ft high which means I have to crouch, bend, squat etc to try and get any water on me. Also mirrors which are too low and I can't see my face when I am trying to shave. Obviously if regulations exist, they are not always taken into account.
 

Actually, the thing that annoys me is when the shower head is FIXED at a certain height (be it too high or too low) and you can't modify it to suit your height. It's much better when its on a sliding bar, and you can move it up or down to suit your height.
 

You should wear your heels
 
Can't imagine I'm alone here - something that really annoys me is 'euros' instead of euro or even worse, 'yoyos' !!

 
Caveat said:
Can't imagine I'm alone here - something that really annoys me is 'euros' instead of euro or even worse, 'yoyos' !!

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I totally disagree. The natural plural in English speaking countries is 'euros'. One euro. Two euros. Same with cents. While 'euro' is recognised as the official plural version in the English language, the documentation also acknowledges that this is an aberration, and that it is natural practice to say 'euros'.

I suspect the English 'euro' plural version came about because of the habit in countries such as France of not pronouncing the 's' - i.e. 'euros' sounds the same as 'euro'. So some clown chatting to his continental counterparts got it into his head that he should pronounce it the same way (not articulating the 's'), and therefore omitted the 's' when spelling it, and this then made its way into official EU documentation. But that doesn't make it appropriate. If you look at the official versions used in other languages, several use different forms for the singular and plural:
Spain - euro/euros
France - euro/euros
Portugal - euro/euros
Finland - euro/euroa
Slovenia - euro/eurov

The amusing thing is that most people - even those who don't pronounce or write 'euros' - still say 'cents'. I surmise that is because we're used to hearing the 's' pronounced in the context of American currency - three dollars, five cents etc.

When we had IR£, which did you say?
(a) "That costs three pound."
(b) "That costs three pounds."
I bet it was (b).

Or what about film titles: "A Fistful of Dollar" anyone?

Notwithstanding the fact that officially 'euro' is the plural in English, in my view the only situation in which it's preferable to use the form 'euro' in conjunction with a number >1 is when it's used as a descriptor.

For example:
A two euro bucket. (The bucket costs two euros.)

Similarly:
A ten pound turkey. (The turkey weighs ten pounds.)
A five mile jog. (Jogging for a distance of five miles.)

'Euros' is an unofficial plural version (in English). That doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
 
Caveat said:
I didn't say it was wrong - just that it annoyed me.
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Euros is wrong and you're correct Caveat, thats why it annoys you!

Euro is the official plural because using an 's' isn't used in all Euro countries as Damson gave examples of. The plural of pound is pounds and so it was correct to use it. The correct plural of Euro is not Euros. Its that simple. Some words add an 's', some don't.

Just coz its a plural doesn't mean it 'naturally' should end in 's', the plural of sheep isn't sheeps for example.
 

Intersting. I thought when you are referring to the currency you say 'Euro'. But when you are referring to the actual coins themselves you say 'Euros'.
Guess i was wrong. (as usual )
 
Oh yeah,
When the first poster (creator) of a thread has a long post and the first user to reply quotes the whole thing, kind of annoys me.

(PS - I realise i did something like this in my last post) <<---hypocrit!
 
No, euros is not wrong.

A word does not necessarily have only one plural. Look up the Oxford English Dictionary entry for cow, and you'll see several plural forms listed, the most familiar ones being cows, cattle and kine.

Similarly, in the English language, both euro and euros are acceptable plural forms of euro. For the purpose of consistency, euro was selected as the official plural form to be used in English language documentation. However, that doesn't invalidate the form euros.

And, in fact, euros is the official plural form in France, Spain and Portugal.
 

Unfortunately my OED is a little out of date and has as a definition for euro:
"Austral. a large reddish kangaroo [Aboriginal]"
It does say that the plural is -os.

But, in terms of the currency, answers.com says that both -ros and -ro are permissible.

So, let's more on to more annoying things.
 
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Fair enough

But whether officially permissable or not, for pure annoyance value, I think Euros sounds as bad as yens or liras.

Anyway, another fantastically annoying person: Jeremy Clarkson.
 
Since its switching to people then no thread can go with ref to the king of annoyance Pat Kenny - look at what he is up to right now!
 
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The correct use of the euro in the plural is euros (except in legal documents).

Marion
 


Top of my hate list as well.
I presume people have them because they think it'll make people behind them drive safer.
I'd love it if road crash statistics came out that actually showed you're much more likely to be involved in a crash if you've a "Baby on Board" sign at the back of your car.
 
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