Robot Number V said:
Well, a lot of the stuff people have said are also on my list, but the first thing that came to my mind was this:
Whenever a fandom makes up some bullshit pun-type-thing to describe their own fandom. Doesn't matter which fandom. Doesn't matter if I LIKE that thing in question. It annoys me every damn time. This includes but is not limited to:
-Brony
-Trekkie
-Lostie
-Gleek
-Whovian
-Sherlockian
The list goes on, but you get the idea. What's wrong with just LIKING something? Why do you have to pretend you're a member of some kind of fucking exclusive club?
Heh, I remember someone on Twitter once saying that "OMG Kurt Cobain is NOT better than Justin Bieber!!! He doesn't have the largest fanbase on Twitter in the world!" and the first thing that my mind came up with as a response was "Yeah, and thank fuck for that, because you just KNOW they'd come up with the most asinine possible name for themselves." It also took me a few months to figure out that a directioner wasn't some new TomTom thing.
As for phrases that royally piss me off:
"Just be thankful we saved your ass in WW2 or else you'd be speaking German right now!" The second World War ended nearly 70 fucking years ago for us. In fact, we're coming up on the moment that the last living person to serve in it will have died from old age. Thank you for casually rewriting 7 decades of history based solely on the idea that the only possible reason for that war ending was because the Americans graciously intervened. Also, you didn't help win the war, unless you were pushing 90 at this point, you either hadn't been born yet or were too young to have made any difference. Besides, I DO speak German.
Related, I also HATE it when American politicians start throwing the word Commie/Communist around in order to insult Liberal politicians. On a full political spectrum, liberalism falls on the right wing, the only reason it's on the left for you is because it's the only alternative to the further-to-the-right Conservatives.
"Fair and Balanced" Look, Fox, I get what you're doing, I really do. And more power to you, freedom of the press is one of the greatest things about western civilization. But you do NOT get to complain about blatant political bias of news networks when you're just doing the exact same in the other direction. That's not balanced, that's hypocritical. And just to clarify, it's not the fact that they're blatantly biased that bugs me, it;s th fact that they pretend not to be that is the problem.
But before we get too political, a few more general ones:
"Don't get me wrong, but" I'm guilty of this sometimes myself, but, well, isn't the main idea behind communication to be understood? If you don't want people to "get you wrong," then work on your phrasing to remove that ambiguity from what you're trying to say.
"Not all men do this." Often a response to someone pointing out blatant misogyny. What you're trying to say is "I don't do this." But it comes across as you trying to say that this isn't a problem because it's not universal to all members of a specific gender. Moreover, it comes across as a statement that it's not a problem at all and therefore shouldn't be addressed. This would be like a fire chief proclaiming that not all the rooms of a house aren't on fire anymore, so let's just pack up and leave because most of the house is put out.
"I'm not -ist, but" chances are that if you need to preface a statement this way, you're about to say some -ist shit. Expect to be called out on this.
"You're violating my first amendment rights." The first amendment to the US constitution means the goverment cannot arrest you simply for saying something. Nothing more. It does not protect you from consequences or even from breaking other laws by saying the wrong thing. Saying that you're going to kill the President ((or anyone else, for that matter) will still get you arrested.