Its fuːd, not fud

Pet peeves - doesn't the word sound just silly? The uncertain origin of it also points in the same direction. The term is possibly modelled on Latin perversus "reversed, perverse," or "capricious, silly". While it may sound silly or capricious for that matter, it is a natural part of any human behaviour. We all have those pet peeves that we wish we didn't have to live with, but clench our teeth and smile through it.

Being a student of the English language, and being engaged in the field of media and communication, almost all my pet peeves has to do with the use of the English language.

But speaking about specificities, I think one of the biggest pet peeves that I have is when people say fud for food when it should actually be pronounced fuːd. Coming from the south Indian state of Kerala, we do have our own version of Indian English which no matter how hard we try to cover up, will pop up in our conversation giving our identity away. And one of the easiest way to catch our Malayaliness is if you hear us say food. At the workplace, I have been going around correcting people with the right pronunciation that now when they say the word food, they immediately rectify it to the proper pronunciation if I am around (and only when I am around). While I might have this pet peeve, my friends and better half are quick to point out that I am no worse than others while pronouncing shirt and burger (I apparently assert them as ʃ(r)t and b(r)ɡə(r)). Seems like I am a pureblood Malayali after all. 

There is another language-related pet peeve that gets on my nerve every single time - SMS lingo. Y u do dis? How much time will you waste if you type in the whole word? Almost every single phone these days has word input/autocorrect/dictionary, so why don't you type the entire word and create a decipherable sentence? The sad part is that this shortened lingo has even entered our daily lives, moving away from the glares of the mobile/computer screens. Sometimes I have to google up stuff when kids converse with me these days. 

I promise you this is the last pet peeve for the day - yet another language-related one. I really do not get it when people use too many punctuation marks in their communication. Oh, you are excited? How about you put in three exclamation points? Oh, you are still excited? How about I put in an ellipsis after those exclamation marks? I really wonder at times if it is genuinely done or they are ignorant about the usage of punctuations. I took the liberty to take a class at my workplace just to talk about this absolutely avoidable incorrect usage. But the very next moment I received an email: "Dear all, Greetings!!!!". Sigh. 

All said and done, it is these pet peeves that make us human. And while I hope I get over these pet peeves one day (or the world turns itself around), for the moment, I am glad to learn that some live through such instances every single day of their lives.