#20191 - Thu Feb 14 2002 01:47 PM
Pet Peeves
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Enthusiast
Registered: Mon Feb 04 2002
Posts: 393
Loc: Pennsylvania USA
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Ya know what drives me crazy? When saying, for example, a phone number people who say 'O' (the letter) instead of 'zero.' People who use a Kleenex more than once. They are disposble! Sales people and others who address you by your first name, like you've been friends for years. Any others?
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People try to change the world, instead of themselves. John Cleese
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#20192 - Thu Feb 14 2002 06:03 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Mainstay
Registered: Mon Feb 14 2000
Posts: 622
Loc: Minnesota U.S.A.
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My pet peeves are 1. When people talk about being American as if only people living in the U.S.A. are American. Canadians are Americans, Peruvians are Americans, Mexicans are Americans..... 2. PDA's in the hallway at school
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I have a catapault. Give me all of your money, or I will throw enormus rocks at your head.
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#20193 - Thu Feb 14 2002 06:29 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Forum Champion
Registered: Fri Feb 01 2002
Posts: 6246
Loc: Kitimat BC
Canada
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Kinda embarassed here, Geek...but... Being a Canadian...I like being "Canadian"...not "American"! I love the distinction, and feel quite offended, when in Europe, as not being identified as "Canadian"! Technically you are correct, of course! But I'm afraid I LOVE the distinction!
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#20194 - Thu Feb 14 2002 06:57 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Mainstay
Registered: Mon Feb 14 2000
Posts: 622
Loc: Minnesota U.S.A.
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I quite understand, and of course it makes sense to make that type of distinction because of the distinctions between "Americans" of diffrent areas. I was just being pedantic in response to a commercial that annoys me.
_________________________
I have a catapault. Give me all of your money, or I will throw enormus rocks at your head.
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#20195 - Fri Feb 15 2002 04:38 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Multiloquent
Registered: Sat Dec 25 1999
Posts: 2824
Loc: Fairhaven Massachusetts USA
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My pet peeves? As I stated in the Movies and TV section, I can't stand movies that are played at earsplitting levels. Isn't there enough noise in our world already? In fact I hate noise PERIOD! People who don't use tissues at all but just their hands to sneeze into. YUK! Magazine articles that are continued on another page. Silly-sounding perhaps, but I still hate it! tjoeb};>
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Terry Bigham
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#20196 - Sat Feb 16 2002 12:00 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Star Poster
Registered: Sat Feb 10 2001
Posts: 18899
Loc: California USA
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I can't abide tailgaters! I really can't. I hate it when people tailgate you in places that are impossible to pass in, nor can you go any faster. I just pull over discretely in case it's one of my next door apt. neighbors, and let them take the head on collision on the mountain road I take! I can't stand people talking to others as if they were stupid. I treat everyone, even newborns as if they were individuals, as they are. I hate, absolutely, a person who I've called for help on my pc or something treat me like an idiot because I'm a woman! That really drives me up a wall. It's the only time I've ever asked for a manager to complain about a salesperson. Bought a printer and tried to install it about ten times but the manual and the supposed plug and play function didn't work.
So I called the shop and asked for advice, they said I'd have to change the bios so I'd better get someone who knew what they were doing to help me!
I just went through the roof. I've installed at least thirty printers and never had to do that, and so if it was common why wasn't it in the manual! Calm down Heather.
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I was born under a wandering star.
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#20197 - Sat Feb 16 2002 12:17 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Mainstay
Registered: Wed Dec 12 2001
Posts: 910
Loc: Florida USA
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,,,ummm,,,perhaps,,,people who get so upset over trivial things,,, 
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....only i can hear me...i'm stuck inside a cloud....(george harrison)
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#20198 - Sat Feb 16 2002 01:14 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Forum Champion
Registered: Thu Feb 08 2001
Posts: 5985
Loc: Ottawa
Ontario Canada
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I have to agree with lefois. One thing that gets my goat, and it's true of many Canadians, is being confused with being American. I'm NORTH American; that I'll accept. I live in the AMERICAS - that's fine, too. But I am NOT an American. But I agree with Geek about PDAs in the hallways at school. Ick! Get a room! Also people who stand around in groups and completely block traffic in the hallway. And as long as we're on the topic of school, I cannot stand people who cheat (see my posts in the Commons). And to add one of my own: it drives me buggy when anglophones put cafe' for café, as if it's the same thing! It's not as bad when it's at the end of the word, but when they write words like e^tre or fiance'e, then it just looks ridiculous. Just give it up already! We can figure out where the accents go!
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Chan fhiach cuirm gun a comhradh.
A feast is no use without good talk.
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#20199 - Sat Feb 16 2002 01:26 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Multiloquent
Registered: Sun Dec 02 2001
Posts: 2224
Loc: North Carolina USA
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Do you really want to know what I absolutely can't stand? It is rudeness. It shows meaness of spirit and a lack of concern for other's feeing that is unforgiveable. And I do not appreciate people that come here thinking mountain people are hicks, or rednecks. I am just as well educated as the next person, better than some. Just because I don't snap at everybody around me or expect them to jump when I speak, means I have good upbringing, not that I am in some way slow witted.
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I dont think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto
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#20200 - Thu Mar 21 2002 06:22 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Enthusiast
Registered: Sat Mar 09 2002
Posts: 423
Loc: Canada
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I get very annoyed in conversation with someone when they use the word "disorientAYted". To the best of my knowledge the word is "disoriented". I ofen encounter people using this annoying word on radio and television.
I know I'm just going to be a magnet for some heated responses here, but why in Britain do they pronounce the word "aluminum" as "aluminIUM?
I absolutely abhor the word "plateaued", it that is how it is spelled. I type correspondence for several people and a few of them over the years have used this most ugly word and I absolutely REFUSE to use it. Instead of that particular word, I use the phrase "reached a plateau". I think it sounds much better. Plateaued is just a plain ugly word and it really does annoy me no end.
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Wealth, taste and leisure can bring many things, but they do not bring happiness. - Winston Churchill
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#20201 - Thu Mar 21 2002 06:30 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Forum Champion
Registered: Fri Feb 01 2002
Posts: 6246
Loc: Kitimat BC
Canada
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HEY, jubjub! I thought you were in a GOOD mood these days! Of course, you know I'm annoyed by pretty much what annoys you...Listen, I have to take folks out to dinner, so maybe I'll catch you later!
...and LindaC...I want to apologize, if necessary, because a few times I've referred to myself as a "redneck" when taking forceful views, and I'm sorry if I offended you! I'll be more thoughtful in the future!
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#20202 - Fri Mar 22 2002 03:41 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Moderator
Registered: Wed Oct 17 2001
Posts: 8479
Loc: Hastings Sussex
England UK
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Jubjub, the reason why we Brits say "aluminium" is that we spell the word that way. But I don't know how the word came to have different forms in the UK and Morth America.
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Dilige et quod vis fac
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#20203 - Fri Mar 22 2002 05:56 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Star Poster
Registered: Sat Feb 10 2001
Posts: 18899
Loc: California USA
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Aluminium I am used to, no problems there. I just have to remain aware of the different pronunciations and give the happy medium while teaching here in France.
I do hate being constantly told I speak "americain" rather than English, I don't make a big deal out of the American vs British accents, try to give a pretty neutral version of English, but the French schools try to teach an accent that probably few Americans could do, nor could people from other areas of the UK even produce naturally, much less French schoolkids or their teachers! What on Earth difference does it make when you can't speak any version of English well enough to buy a train ticket or ask directions, if you say cannnn't or shan't? I get weary that's all.
And being told that I am incapable of speaking English correctly by French people who have no idea that the future King of England is in fact studying at one of my alma maters in my dept, well, it's just a burr under my saddle.
Another thing I occasionally say is that the Dutch are very good at languages, being the intermediaries in Europe, but that their accent is somewhere between the British and the American accent and that they do very well in the business world. So why would the French try for such an artificial accent?
They are doomed from the start.
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I was born under a wandering star.
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#20204 - Fri Mar 22 2002 02:51 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Enthusiast
Registered: Sun Nov 04 2001
Posts: 239
Loc: British Columbia Canada
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Well being disrespected by SOME Americans(specifically in chat rooms or if u visit the US) that bad mouth Canadians! I can't stand someone bad mouthing the country where i was born and grew up in!!! I'm proud to be Canadian and no one should make me or other Canadians feel bad about being patrotic to CANADA!! ![[Mad]](images/icons/mad.gif) Also to be bossed around by people younger than me!! ex. my lil sister...i can't stand her! she's a brat and she manipulates me so easily i can't stand people like that!
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Promises: keep them, especially those from the heart! These ones will survive any obstacle!!!
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#20205 - Fri Mar 22 2002 03:55 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Star Poster
Registered: Thu Sep 30 1999
Posts: 11250
Loc: Munchkinland
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quote:
Well being disrespected by SOME Americans
I know this isn't going to be something that's going to shock anyone here - we all know this, after all! But, I don't think being disrespectful to tourists or others is a uniquely American thing, Janie! There are rude people all over the world - every country can boast of having disrepectful people just as they can boast of having nice, polite ones. It's not really a country-specific thing as much of a human-specific one. I have to say that one of the places where I was most rudely treated as an American (and really don't want to return to because of the things that happened) is Italy. Some people there were extremely disrepectful and downright mean when I visited. But, having said that, I do have to say that there were many, many polite people there, too. So, I can't say "Italy is a rude place." What I can say, though, is "Italy has some rude people in it. And, America and Canada and Mexico and Outer Mongolia have rude people in them as well. Human beings inhabit them, so there's bound to be rudeness at times!"
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Cats know what we feel. They don't care, but they know.
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#20206 - Fri Mar 22 2002 05:18 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Forum Champion
Registered: Fri Feb 01 2002
Posts: 6246
Loc: Kitimat BC
Canada
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Well said, Linda1 ! Take note that Janie did say "SOME"! I'm a Canadian, and just sooooooooo multicultural you can't believe. It's so entrenched in me that if I do meet a "jerk" of another race/culture/country...I find it difficult to just ADMIT IT...without a guilty conscience? ![[Roll Eyes]](images/icons/rolleyes.gif)
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#20207 - Fri Mar 22 2002 08:11 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Enthusiast
Registered: Sat Mar 09 2002
Posts: 423
Loc: Canada
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A jerk is a jerk, a rude person is a rude person - the world will always be this way. It is secondary where they come from. I am personally of the opinion that most lawyers (attorneys, solicitors) are jerks, but on the other hand I know two or three personally who are really great people. Maybe they are only jerks when they have to be lawyerly!
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Wealth, taste and leisure can bring many things, but they do not bring happiness. - Winston Churchill
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#20209 - Sat Mar 23 2002 02:35 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Star Poster
Registered: Sat Feb 10 2001
Posts: 18899
Loc: California USA
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I'm a wandering soul, been all around the world, and I have to conclude that sometimes our experiences of a country or a place are coloured by the people's reactions to us. And if people have pre-conceived notions about Americans or Canadians or something, it doesn't matter who you are, you're going to be affected by this.
As I live in France, it doesn't matter who I am or what I believe in, if certain French people hate American politics or Bush, then I'm branded as the person who's going to hear about how corrupted our system is. I do get rather weary sometimes of being earmarked for political diatribes. Funny I don't even know anyone who voted for him either! But they don't know that, you could be the furthest to the left imaginable and you'd still be a facist for some people.
I'd give anyone about ten minutes in that hostile environment and see how they fight their way out!
Not many Americans have had this experience, of being considered as disagreable or obnoxious or even hateful, before they've even opened their mouths!
And I have the advantage of speaking the language and knowing most of the customs.
Sometimes in a tourist setting, Americans have preceded me and acted totally obnoxious, often times as they are frustrated at not being immediately understood in English and insisting that money can buy anything, and bingo, any American from that point on is labeled as being a jerk!
Canadians suffer the most from a bit of an identity crisis in the world, so they are fed up with being treated like country cousins of the States, I understand that. It's a nice country though, has a lot of good points.
When you work in a job where you are in contact with the public, you need to remember that you are often the ambassador of your country.
I had lunch at this little place here where I know the dialect of Italian they speak, and these obnoxious Americans were really insisting on something and complaining about everything. The guy was embarrassed for me. I didn't even intervene, just told him under my breath, "you know you do a great job of handling these folks, they aren't easy..."
So I think that sometimes we suffer from the people who have preceded us! If they've met one jerk then we're all jerks!
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I was born under a wandering star.
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#20211 - Sat Mar 23 2002 03:50 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Enthusiast
Registered: Sat Mar 09 2002
Posts: 423
Loc: Canada
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I'm back again......another pet peeve of mine is anyone who invades my personal space, people who find it necessary to position themselves within rubbing distance when it's not at all necessary. There's a time and a place, you know? People who wave their finger in my face I could just slap, but restrain myself! People who holler your name and expect you to come running I totally ignore. People who have no phone manners, i.e. using "please" and "thank you" I treat in kind. The only trouble there is they don't realize they've been dissed because they have no manners in the first place and therefore don't know the difference! Gotta go!
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Wealth, taste and leisure can bring many things, but they do not bring happiness. - Winston Churchill
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#20212 - Fri Mar 29 2002 11:10 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Explorer
Registered: Sun Jan 27 2002
Posts: 58
Loc: UK
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To return briefly to the aluminum/aluminium posting made earlier the following (from www.world-aluminium.org) may be of interest. It seems both spellings are acceptable around the world. Derived from the Latin ALUMEN for ALUM (Potassium aluminium sulphate). In 1761 French Chemist Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau proposed that ALUMINE for the base material of ALUM . De Morveau was instrumental in setting up a standardised system for chemical nomenclature and often collaborated with Antoine Lavoisier, who in 1787, suggested that ALUMINE was the oxide of a previously undiscovered metal. In 1808 Sir Humphrey Davy proposed the name ALUMIUM for the metal. This rather unwieldy name was soon replaced by ALUMINUM and later the word ALUMINIUM was adopted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists in order to conform with the "ium" ending of most elements. By the mid-1800s both spellings were in use, indeed Charles Dickens commented at the time that he felt both names were too difficult for the masses to pronounce! The patents of both Hall and Héroult refer to ALUMINIUM and the company Hall helped set up was originally called the Pittsburgh ALUMINIUM Company. It was shortly renamed the Pittsburgh Reduction Company and in the USA the metal gradually began to be known only as ALUMINUM (in 1907 Hall's company finally became the ALUMINUM Company of America). In 1925 the American Chemical Society decided to use the name ALUMINUM in their official publications. Most of the world have kept the I in ALUMINIUM but it is interesting to note that the name for the metal's oxide, ALUMINA has been universally accepted over its more convoluted alternatives, ALUMINE and ALUMINIA. Both ALUMINIUM and ALUMINUM have an equal claim to etymological and historical justification, and it seems that the difference in both pronunciation and spelling is likely to stay with us for the foreseeable future!
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#20213 - Fri Mar 29 2002 06:35 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Forum Champion
Registered: Fri Feb 01 2002
Posts: 6246
Loc: Kitimat BC
Canada
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jubjub's not around right now, Jeeves! SO...for my TWIN...I thank you for your in-depth research! I know she would, too! Oh my! ![[Smile]](images/icons/smile.gif)
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#20214 - Fri Mar 29 2002 07:19 PM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Enthusiast
Registered: Sat Mar 09 2002
Posts: 423
Loc: Canada
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Thank you very much Jeeves for the in-depth information. (Hey, lefois, I'll have you know I had an answer all typed out but it wouldn't send!) I was really surprised how much time and effort you put in to researching and explaining this one word. I want you to know that I don't find the word "aluminium" annoying, it's just that while I was on the subject of words, this one came to me as an afterthought and I appreciate you taking the time to explain it so thoroughly for me. Bye!
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Wealth, taste and leisure can bring many things, but they do not bring happiness. - Winston Churchill
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#20215 - Sat Mar 30 2002 06:52 AM
Re: Pet Peeves
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Explorer
Registered: Sun Jan 27 2002
Posts: 58
Loc: UK
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It just combined two of my interests: hunting down trivia and sources of words. If you have similar interests try reading Bill Bryson's book 'Made in America'.
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Re: Pet Peeves
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