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Why do we get annoyed?

In another thread, it was discussed what things other people do, quirks and such that annoy us. Chewing with your mouth open, listening to someone else crunch their food, nervously tapping...

And me? Singing, whistling, humming...that's not actually singing, whistling or humming. It drives me nuts. My ex did this. She'd hum with the intro of every show, whistle commercial jingles, sing the parts of songs she'd remember while driving (no radio on). But it's not just her. My brother's husband does this. We like to binge watch American Dad and he sings with the theme song every goddam time He humms with the x files. He hums with The Orville intro. I wanna stab him in the throat with a fork LOL

The question I have is, why? These things people do that annoy us. They're no threat. Nobody's getting hurt. Nobody's in danger. Nobody is losing anything. Why are we annoyed?

ScienceBiker 8 Feb 12
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I'm annoyed when people sitting close to me shake their legs, feet, or fidget constantly. I think the reason for this is quite obvious,generally they shake the whole damn row with them, and I have a week inner ear lol. Also it's very distracting
General annoyances either mildly trigger some old subconscious unpleasant memories, or just plain are offensive to our senses. High pitched voices bug me, I suffer through lectures with people who speak at high frequencies. In a way it probably hurts my ears, but manifests as annoyance and not pain. Now that I said it I noticed that most my sources of annoyance come from unpleasant sounds, which makes sense, I do have a very sensitive hearing. Perhaps my nervous system just gets overloaded through that specific path. Who knows

Interesting.

@ScienceBiker haha! I usually don't know if I should say something or not. I read an article about fidgeting, and the people seem to do it when they have to release some built up tension. Usually happens with those who don't get enough physical activity. It's an interesting hypothesis, but I find it so annoying nevertheless

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Self sooth....is why we do it. [healdove.com]

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Human nature

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I don't know why we get annoyed. But, I have my LONG list. I laughed out loud at your "...wanna stab him in the throat with a fork." LOL!

I'll gladly hand you the fork for people who:

Hum
Sing with off timing (my ex was always about . 5 seconds behind the lyrics)
Chewing with mouth open
Drinking beverage while mouth is full of food
Sucking teeth (instead of using a toothpick)
Putting makeup on at the table where people are sharing a meal
Use a toothpick indiscreetly - especially in public
Belch with wild abandon and think it's funny or just perfectly okay with others present
Sniff repeatedly (instead of blowing nose)
Men indiscreetly or absentmindedly adjusting their genitals around others
Spits indiscreetly
Use bare hands to repeatedly wipe runny nose
Pop their gum when others are within earshot - ugh.....
Talk indiscreetly on cell phones in waiting lines or in an elevator

I get it -- I'll be single forever and ever. And that's perfectly okay. 🙂

@ScienceBiker Ewwwwwwwwwww - lol! Definitely an exception.

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we better keep our distance! I have a weird way of whistling softly to myself when I am alone. I never realized I did it until my helper pointed it out. I remember someone who would get infuriated if she heard someone eat a banana even in the most discrete way. who knows. I have to think of my quirks I am sure I have them. The general cacophany of commercials on TV is one

Now, for this one, I am really laughing because it is recently relevant to me!! When I lived with my ex and was at the grocery store, I tried to purposely buy only enough bananas for him to have one (every day) on mornings that I would NOT be home. So, if he was off on the weekend, I either tried to have him run out of bananas on Friday -- or, worst case scenario, I had to leave the room when he ate a banana. Ugh....gross....ewwwww... Couldn't do it. He claimed he couldn't really enjoy it unless he made all those gross noises.

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The best answer I have is that it's incongruent with the "mind set" we want to be in. For example, the fact that I ended my last sentence with a preposition, might irritate people who are in the mindset that we should use proper English here.

🙂 Ending a sentence with a preposition does not bother me at all when other people do it.
It makes me a wee bit anxious if I do it and don't take the time to correct it.

@ScienceBiker LOL!!! Fascinating. Makes a lot of sense. And, it made me laugh because it reminded me of three others: people clipping their nails (a guy at work does this all the time); mosquitoes [if one is in the house and I know it, I'm a little wacky until I find it]; and people [most often men] making NOISES while working out. The grunts, the slamming of weights, the grunts, the halfalogue cell phone calls on the treadmill next to me, and for sure the grunts.

Also reminded me of my niece texting and telling me that the food/mouth noises her boyfriend made her hate him or something extreme. LOL!

@ScienceBiker what do I win?

@ScienceBiker lol

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Before puberty, I was like a boy..carefree, full of jokes, tolerant, etc.
But in my case, increased female hormones at puberty triggered PMS irritability.

You might have some female trait leanings.
Check your fingers; index fingers longer than ring fingers indicate high levels of prenatal female hormones. My own ring fingers are slightly longer than my index ones, indicating high levels of prenatal male hormones, and that was certainly the case.

Every month, with PMS, it was like I was waking up; I'd dump my (current) boyfriend, reconsider my job options, start working on a better life plan, have zero tolerance for bad behavior, etc.
But after menopause, I returned to a stable, cheerful, male-like existence. Not much bothers me now.

So in this case,who did you blame?

@ScienceBiker So, you may have had even levels of male/female hormones in the womb. I am about 60/40 male/female in traits, according to online tests, so slightly more male, but my female hormones still made my nerves twist into knots and my temper flare during PMS.
But in all fairness, I'm male enough to want to sock guys in the nose who are personally dissing me, such as calling me "sissy."

Ha! Just what I suspected all along. All women are bat shit crazy until menopause.

@Anonbene In my case, I was somewhat normal until a week before ovulation, so..2/3rds of the time I was blase, upbeat.

@ScienceBiker Nope, I'm not bothered by stuff I used to flip out over during PMS. I mostly just shrug now. Don't care. Don't bother to react. But when I still had high levels of female hormones, everything my ex did got on my nerves during PMS.

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