Pet Peeves 2004

Discussion Open Forum
61

Teachers and parents who fill students’ heads with their own stereotypes or just plain nonsense. Two examples:

  1. “My teacher says that China is the biggest country in the world.”
    “Well, look at this map. Look at China, now look at Russia. (or CIS, or whatever name it goes by). What do you see? The biggest is Russia.”
    “But my teacher says…”

  2. “Teacher, my elementary school teacher told me that foreigners don’t have black hair. You have black hair, how come you can speak English?”
    “Tell your teacher that some foreigners have black hair, even though they are not from Asia.”
    “But she says that foreigners can’t speak Chinese. You have black hair and you speak Chinese, so how can you be a foreigner?”
    “…”

Actually, the second one was kind of a funny conversation to have. I just get annoyed with the kind of people who, despite being presented with evidence right in front of them, insist that they are right.

62

Luckily, I’ve taught my students to realise that what other teachers teach them is often wrong, but what Brian tells them is always right. :wink:

63

I’m getting really irritated at the cab drivers who insist on stopping right in front of me when I’m trying to cross the street. “Oh, there’s a foreigner! Foreigners don’t walk across the street to the 7-11 to get a bottle of tea, they get into a cab and have the cabbie pull a U-turn!”

Hey, there’s a joke in that.

Why did the weiguoren cross the road?

To get to the 7-11.

64

Heh. Add to that the rhetoric on how Taiwan is this world-leading nation that’s tops in human rights, democracy, military power, etc etc. It’s just appalling how much misinformation is fed to the students here. :raspberry:

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Heh. Add to that the rhetoric on how Taiwan is this world-leading nation that’s tops in human rights, democracy, military power, etc etc. It’s just appalling how much misinformation is fed to the students here. :raspberry:[/quote]

Or the way the Taiwan government insists that its goal is to make Taiwan an “Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center”, yet at the same time does everything it can to STOP that from happening: mind-boggling bureaucracy, poor infrastructure, heavy tarriffs, no direct transport to and from China, etc.

66

Taking a bank check to the same bank and trying to cash it. “Oh, this was issued out of a different branch. You have to go to that branch to cash it.”
Same bank, just a different branch. It’s like the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing… :fume:

67

People that say, “dui dui dui dui dui”.

68

I still hear that old chestnut a lot and it still peeves me.

69

Right, Big Fluffy Matthew is also clearly visible from space.

70

Right. But BFM is not man-made. He is a natural phenomenon. (Edit :blush: )

71

I often peeve others by gleefully pointing out common grammatical errors. :smiley:

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I often peeve others by gleefully pointing out common grammatical errors. :smiley:[/quote]

11:04 AM and I’ve already learned something. Thanks Spack. :notworthy:

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The biggest peeve for me is the parents. Looking in on my classes 24/7, teaching their children a “no respect policy” for foreign teachers, and asking unreasonable requests!!!

I once had one parent ask me if I could write bigger, so the children could see. When I walked into class it turned out that her child was sitting in the back of the class with her friends…

One parent suggested that we (the teachers) should change the seating plan daily… Yeah right!

My Taiwanese wife works at a cram school, and she has the same problems with the parents. Her peeve is when her boss says “you’re not a parent, so you don’t understand.”

74

People who buy pets on a whim and then dump them later.

101 Dalmations movie release = 101 strays 6 months later.

Though again, not a strictly Taiwan-related behaviour it does seem rampant here.

One slight improvement I’ve noticed is the reminder that appears on screen with all the promotions for the new Japanese golden labrador movie. It says something along the lines of ‘buy your pets responsibly’.

75

Every second girl in Japan now seems to have a labrador puppy. Latest fashion accessory.

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Maybe the Japanese government is not running those public service announcements along with the movie. :s

I wonder where a stray would be better off - Taiwan or Japan?

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[quote=“rooftop”]
I wonder where a stray would be better off - Taiwan or Japan?[/quote]Hmm. Well I don’t think a stray would be abused as much and the dog-catchers are more humane in Japan, but then again there isn’t as much food left laying around as in Taiwan, and the winters are colder… It has to suck either way.

78

People who do not take Aloha Fridays seriously. I’ve got jeans and a polo shirt on and I’m just kicking back at work today. Then “Joe Chen” gets all serious like it was Thursday. Screw that. I’ll take care of it on Monday.

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79

People who grave dig and start drinking hours before I do on a Friday.

4 Likes
80

The last time I wore a Hawaiian shirt to work on Friday was 2004, lol.

It was in DC, during the sniper killings, and I had also picked up this leather fedora at LLBean. My roommates and I drew straws to get out and pump gas, as someone had been shot just a mile down the road. I had the hat in the car and figured I’d demonstrate balls. And zero taste :stuck_out_tongue:

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