lack of basic conversational skills
In reverse order of Peevity:

4) Speak English, please. I'm not suggesting you talk like a BBC newsreader, but there's a reason why that one person can be understood by everyone from Inverness to Exeter.

3) Smalltalk: it's easy, and when I do it I know it's sometimes bollocks. The correct response is to engage the other person in smalltalk, even if your smalltalk goes off at a tangent to their smalltalk, into a different kind of bollocks. Smalltalk is like booze: social lubrication, so just dive in there.

2) Volume: you need to speak loudly enough for the other person to hear you, allowing for accents etc. My hearing is just fine for my age, I've had it tested: the problem is that some people speak at a level below the background noise - it might be 60dbA, and you're talking at 40dbA. That might work when it's just your family and friends, who are tuned in to your accent, but it's a problem when meeting new people.
On the other hand: sometimes a room's acoustics reflect sound oddly, so that a loud conversation sounds louder 20yds away. You can't fix the room, so modulate your voice if you hear it bouncing off the walls. (Sometimes a stage whisper helps in those cases.)

1) Listening skill, lack of, is my biggest conversational peeve:
- Listen! Don't pre-judge what the other person has to say.
- Show that you're listening: give feedback! (You know: "hmm?", "Ha!", "that's weeeeird..." and so on.
- if you can't hear, SAY SO, and, QUICKLY! Don't wait until several paragraphs of speech have passed before...
- shouting "HUH?" or "WHAT?" is not a polite way of expressing your inability to hear. Try giving more detail about the problem, such as "can you speak a bit louder?" or "more slowly?". The other person probably doesn't know why YOU can't hear them - give them some credit for trying, and help them fix the problem.
- If it's too loud for a sensible conversation: MOVE to somewhere quieter, or WAIT till later. Smalltalk is not smalltalk if you have to shout each sentence three times. I SAID! SMALLTALK IS NOT SMALLTALK IF YOU... OH, BUGGER IT.

Weird case: I knew a guy who would shout "HUH?" at me if he didn't immediately get the first words I was saying... so I learned to wait for a few seconds for his brain to catch up with his mouth. If that's you... I hate you already. For the rest of you, well, conversation skills are something you can work on and get better at.
( bnt what, me worry?, Fri 2 May 2008, 1:40, 4 replies)

But I like talking like a BBC newsreader
RP has to be the best accent.
(Cuthbert Annihilator, Fri 2 May 2008, 2:28, closed)

It was me
HUH? Oh.......Really sorry buddy, I don't do it anymore I promise.
(Meganinja, Fri 2 May 2008, 9:19, closed)

Comprehension delay
It's a real pain in the arse - I get it a lot, especially if I'm tired. It's also one of the many, many symptoms of dyslexia as it's all to do with how fast your brain takes in the information and then bounces it back and forth over the hemispheres before finding a bit of the brain that's actually working and not thinking about kittens.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Fri 2 May 2008, 12:43, closed)

awwww.... kittens!
What was that again? 8)
( bnt what, me worry?, Fri 2 May 2008, 15:53, closed)