Sometimes we are bugged by some commonplace behavior, belief, or attitude, but bringing it up will come off as obnoxious and elitist. We all have those. I will tell you two of mine, in hope I am not unknowingly a snide weirdo.
1 - And/Or is redundant: Just use OR
At some point it was funny in context (like "the OP is stupid and/or crazy). I can hardly find a context that is not similar to this (arguably) ableist template.
In formal logic there is no use case for saying ‘and’ OR ‘or’, because simply OR entails AND.
If there was a valid case it should represent the logical structure of ‘AND’ OR ‘XOR’, but it is obvious that this is OR.
So, whenever we are tempted to say “and/or” it is kinda definitive that just OR should suffice.
2 - A ‘steep’ learning curve means the skill is quickly mastered : Just use ‘learning curve’
Apparently stemming from an embodied metaphor between the steepness of a hill and the difficulty of climbing it, this misnomer is annoyingly common.
I have yet to find a single source that does not yield to this erroneous, ubiquitous misconception.
Same goes for the fancier alternative ‘sharp’ learning curve.
In fact, in a diagram where the vertical axis is the skill mastery and the horizontal is time, a steep curve would mean that the task is quick or easy to master, since it reaches the higher level quickly, hence the steepness.
Since the literal alternative (‘Rust has a smooth learning curve’) will be counter-intuitive and confusing, and I bet nobody will adopt it, I suggest the following solution.
Almost every time you feel the need to reach for this phrase, YSK that probably just using ‘learning curve’ should suffice. For example ‘This language has a learning curve’. It gets the message across, without making others question your position in the graph interpretation learning curve.
What are your mundane grievances?
This one baffles me: leaving a huge gap when stopping a vehicle at a traffic signal. Ordinary intersection in flat terrain, I’ll pull right up to the marker/crosswalk/vehicle ahead:
|=|[::]Sometimes see other drivers a bit back. OK fine, maybe it’s alright. Suppose it’s good in the event of a stopped rear-end collision, to protect pedestrians/vehicles in front:
|=| [::]But what’s with this nonsense? Is it just me? I don’t remember seeing this earlier than the last ten years or so. Not a sensible safety gap, no. I’m talking two, three or more car lengths of space! Nowhere near the inductive loop sensor:
|=|<---------->[::]This is without any property entrances on either side, mind you. That I could understand since it leaves a space for traffic to pull out, or in from the oncoming lane. This just seems to occupy space for no purpose other than to reduce traffic density on one block and increase it in the trailing block (?).
Completely baffled; what am I missing? Where did this come from? Is it just me? Even worse is when I stop my vehicle behind theirs and then they creep forward a car length or two, making me look like a dummy.
I’m grieved by the opposite: people that cover or go past the crosswalk and then stop.
That one gets me too :) If I’m on foot I often consider just hopping up and walking across the hood.
edit: Actually there is one circumstance in which I will drive past the crosswalk and stop: green-signaled left turn where oncoming traffic has right of way. Stop past the crosswalk, complete the turn when the way is clear. It’s legal where I live, at any rate.
Tall people in cars where the upward visibility is poor? Sometimes that’s me and my son is 7" taller than me and sometimes he drives my car.
They’re trying to cheat the traffic sensors to make the light turn faster. Traffic lights usually have weight sensors beneath the road to detect how much traffic is waiting on the light, and if you stop on a position further back it makes the light think there are more people waiting than there really are.
(Don’t try to do this unless you can tell where the sensors are.)
This bothers me a bit, too, but then I remind myself about my former co-worker who almost died when somebody slammed into him at 45 mph while he was stopped behind another car, slamming his face into the steering wheel before the airbag even had a chance to deploy, then slamming his car into the back of the one in front of him.
I usually leave a little extra room ever since that happened. I’ll always remember seeing his busted up face and broken teeth.