Room 101

[brummie]

Room 101 appeared in the novel 1984 as a kind of torture chamber where people were confronted with their worst fears or phobias,but on a more gentle note became a BBC series, first on radio then on TV, in which guests were invited to consign their most hated objects or things to oblivion in Room 101.
I thought it would be intersting to see what people here would like to see banished forever into Room 101 never to return.

A grumpy old man like me has so much to choose from, but I'll get the ball rolling with:

Chewing gum - What is the point of chewing gum other than to stick to peoples shoes when they walk on discarded blobs of it?

Simon Cowell - For crimes against British music and attempting to destroy it and takeover with his awful X-factor karaoke clones.

[Graham]

Good questions both, mate!

Chewing gum - What is the point of chewing gum other than to stick to peoples shoes when they walk on discarded blobs of it? - In my case because I have under-active salivary glands and chewing gum helps. Besides, I like it, and I was brought up very well and dispose of my gum in proper manner - i.e., on the buttons of lifts, card-slots of cash-machines, etc...

Simon Cowell - For crimes against British music and attempting to destroy it and takeover with his awful X-factor karaoke clones - Every dog has his day, and believe me Cowell's day will inevitably end. I loathe him and detest his programmes.

Cheers,

Graham (another Brummie)

[Limehouse]

Great thread Brummie!

Ok - here are my nominations:

Stretch limos! I HATE them and all they stand for. They are tasteless and ugly and undignified and usually full of empty-headed and wobbly - ill-clad types who think they are being classy.

Adverts that involve groups of women in a restaurant disclosing undignified bodily functions as if they are discussing their holidays. The conversation usually inlcludes unlikely sounding symptoms such as 'slower digestive transit' and the conditions under discussion range from 'leakage' to constipation.

[Robert]

Here's a few :

Rap music
Biscuits that fall in half when you dunk them
Bread that disintegrates when you bend it for a sandwich
Hugging for any and every little thing
Modern packaging
Supermarkets that keep moving their stuff around
Automated call centres
Automated shop checkouts

[Chris]

Automated shop checkouts

Well - if only they worked reliably they'd be a boon.

[mariab]

- Supermarkets that keep moving their stuff around
- Libraries that do the same
- Construction work and the associated sounds
- People talking too loud/children screaming in public places and when commuting (in the latter case, I kiss my iPod and turn it on )
- Going through the classifieds once per week to check the job market in my field

Grump, grump... I could go on for much longer...:

[brummie]

Let me also add

People who materialise out of shop doorways and make there way to the front of the queue the second a bus pulls up.

Telephone sales calls just as you sit down to lunch (especially the pre-recorded message ones)

[Ally]

The idiotic modern notion of instant gratification fostered by email and cell phones that every single call and message must be responded to immediately and without delay.

Facebook status abusers. People who think their every little thought, doing and medical issue must be discussed hourly, in detail and with accompanying pictures.

[mariab]

Yeah, Facebook and (almost all) blogs suck. Mostly they wind up being nothing but verbal/digital exhibitionism and discussions full of asinine banality. But casebook's not like that. casebook rules!
As for instant gratification by immediate responding to emails and text messages, it can be a blessed thing, depending on the persons with whom one communicates! (And the other ones can always be ignored...)

[brummie]

Teengers that wear their trousers almost round their knees and

The hip hop culture that means they have to speak with pseudo american accents

[mariab]

Ha ha! But the truth be said: Today it's hard to FIND cargo pants that don't leave one's bum half exposed, or girls' Tshirts that don't leave one's midriff also exposed. Very often I keep tucking my top down and my pants up, and I SWEAR to god that I didn't buy the clothes that way intentionally, with an exhibitionistic intent!

[c.d.]

That makes me wonder...how hard is for English people to affect an American accent?

c.d.

[Robert]

Why do politicians always talk of their "visions"? Why can't they have plans like everyone else?

[mariab]

C.D. wrote:
That makes me wonder...how hard is for English people to affect an American accent?
Besides Emma Thompson I've never heard of anyone who has done this succesfully. Mostly it's the other way around! Aussie actors have done it, but not many British. I don't recall if Richard Burton featured a Yankee accent in A night of the iguana? I've got it on video dubbed in...German, so it won't help much!!

Robert wrote: Why do politicians always talk of their "visions"? Why can't they have plans like everyone else?
“Visions“ or plans, I don't think that anyone expects them to be realized anyway!

[Robert]

I think we can all do John Wayne.