第754期：每个人都有自己不可告人的 pet peeve

我们每个人都有特别讨厌的事或行为，例如佛老特别讨厌人在公共场所大声讲话、讨厌在人行道上被两三个人并排慢悠悠走着的人挡道、讨厌人吃饭时发出很大的声音……

昨天我在Huffpost上看到一篇文章，作者跟我一样，当时我就笑了。

We all have our pet peeves ― like people who talk with their mouths full, line cutters,
interrupters and, of course, slow-walking tourists in New York City who
take up the entire sidewalk and insist on stopping every five steps to
take a photo (No? Just me?).

你难道不反感 line cutters（插队、加塞儿的人）吗？

这种反感就叫 pet peeve，每个人的pet peeve不一样。今天我们就来详细讲讲这个词。

A pet peeve is something one finds annoying, a particular thing that a person finds to be obnoxious.

Pet peeves are those little annoyances that get under our skin and we just can’t ignore, no matter how hard we try.

意思很好懂，pet peeve就是你特别反感，特别讨厌，特别不能忍受的东西、事情或行为。但在别人眼里，那些东西、事情或行为并不一定烦人。

为什么叫 pet peeve呢？

这个词跟宠物没关系，这里的pet不是宠物的意思。

Pet有很多意思，除了宠物，还有“心爱的”和“生气”的意思。例如 pettish 这个词意思就是“易怒的、爱发脾气的”。

Pettish有个近义词 peevish，如果你不认识，读完今天这一期就认识了。Peevish的意思是“易怒的、暴躁的”。

例如英语中有 in a pet的说法，意思是正在生气。

Hush, Mom is in a pet. 嘘，妈正生气呢。

He resigned in a pet. 他一气之下辞职了。（in a pet = in a puff)

知道了 pettish 和 peevish 这两个词都表示“易怒”，就不难理解 pet peeve了。

Pet peeve 也叫做 pet aversion 或 pet hate. 这里的 pet 取的意思是“心爱的”，something you cherish or prefer, 表示的是这个 peeve (annoyance)是你隐秘的心理，是你最不能忍受的事。

例如美剧《老友记》里面就有这样一句：

What’s Monica’s biggest pet peeve? 莫妮卡最受不了什么？

每个人都有自己独特的 pet peeve，这是很隐秘的心理，一般不会跟别人分享或讨论，只是默默地反感着。

再说说佛老自己的 pet peeve吧。

我在公司有一个关于email的 pet peeve —— 特别讨厌别人给我写邮件时，哪怕是很普通的邮件，也抄送我老板。

这种 email 行为特别讨厌，我特别反感 — My biggest email pet peeve is when someone emails you about a trivial thing but copies your boss on the email.

下面列举一些人们普遍的pet peeves：

• When a computer or phone won’t load a page fast enough.
• People who talk loudly on the phone.
• Noisy eaters.
• People who talk while their mouth is full.
• Couples who sit next to each other (instead of across from each other) in a booth.
• When the toilet seat is left up.
• When a light is left on in a room that isn’t being used.
• Slow drivers.
• Rude drivers.
• People who interrupt when you are speaking.
• Getting gum on your shoe.
• Dirty dishes in the sink.
• When you’re talking to someone and they won’t stop staring at their phone screen.
• When someone says “No offense, but…” and proceeds to say something offensive.
• When people sneeze or cough without covering their mouths.
• When you’re in a public bathroom but there is no toilet paper in the stall.
• When someone wakes you up in the middle of the night or ungodly early in the morning and asks, “Oh, did I wake you up?”
• Slow elevators.