In a nutshell:
Drivers who fail to use roundabouts correctly - Lane discipline is not hard. In general, it's left hand lane for left turns and straight on, and right hand lane for turning right. Unless otherwise stated, it's pretty simple. So why do so many muppets get in the right hand lane to go forward completely cutting up the person trying to go forward on the left hand side... This also rather neatly leads to...

Drivers who don't use indicators - We're not f*ckin' mind readers y'know. They are there for a reason and did not come as optional extras on your beloved four-wheeled suit of armour.

Cars which have been 'Souped-up' to the point of idiocy - No point to it. Why tart up a shitbox worth less than £500 with equipment and decoration worth over £5000? Why not just invest the £5500 in a decent little runner to begin with and put the rest away, allowing it to earn interest, so you have a tidy sum to spend when you're mature enough to use it wisely. How can driving a Vauxhall Nova which looks like Optimus Prime's afterbirth be considered 'Mint'?

Over-use of the word 'truth' A big one for me, and mainly linked to the endless conspiracy ramblings the internet has allowed since its widespread use. I do question things, I can formulate my own opinions, and of course I can question what authority says and does. BUT. Just because I might want to seek out a different viewpoint to something established or put forward by authority, don't tart up a different point of view by calling it TRUTH, when it is, in fact, merely another opinion on the same criteria. Viewpoints are not truth, and it diminishes the meaning of the word itself.

Spongers - Basically, they take the piss. I run my own business, and also do some freelance lecturing. My other half, the present Mrs. Architect, also works full time. We try and plan for our future by our earnings, paying taxes, and putting aside money to get ourselves on and up the housing ladder, starting a family and all the other little things that help life go on with some level of stability. Thing is though, we're mugs. If I'd have 'screwed my loaf' 7 years ago when I met the ever-lovely present Mrs. Architect, and subsequently done the aforementioned thing with the loaf to the Present Mrs. Architect, our resulting offspring would now be living in a well maintained 3 bedroom house, where we would be paying probably no more than £40-£50 a week in rent and getting somewhere in the region of £30,000+ in handouts a year and also maintaining a healthy Stella Artois and Lambert & Butler habit. This boils down to the 'pet peeve' of people having kids for the sake of a roof over their head, and 'free' money to them. The system is also too contrived to be effective in doing anything about it.

Soap Operas - What's the point of them? One long, continuous barrage of banality. Now, I'll admit, I do enjoy some of the long series (mainly U.S.) that get broadcast over here that have a 12-24 week run. (Lost, 24, CSI etc) I like these because I know the programme will have a definite beginning, middle and end, and things will 'tie up'. With a Soap opera, it just goes on and on and on with no end in sight, and re-hashes storylines from long ago and stolen from other Soaps and made to fit the characters. Most are meant to portray 'real life'. Here's a tip. Try switching off the TV for half and hour whenever 'Enders, Corrie or suchlike comes on, pick up the phone, go round to a friends and try having a go at enjoying 'real life' instead with a laugh, joke and a cuppa or pint.

'Celeb' magazines - Mainly for the reasons as mentioned above. These glossy views into the lives of the rich and famous only go to serve a point that you'll never be like them and must resort to handing over £1.50 every week to feel jealous of someone else's legs/arse/house/kids/dress/boyfriend/girlfriend/car*
*delete as applicable
Don't peddle this shit or allow it to be peddled. Life is what you make it, not how someone else tells you to should be making it to be like the next A list celebrity.

School-run Mums - Generally in their 4x4s, BMWs, Mercs. etc etc all crowded around the school at 8.30. Parking wherever the hell they like, allowing their little darlings to run about all over the road and standing chatting idly while some of us are needing to drive through this battlefield to get to work. - They've also never heard of the concept of car-sharing and organising small rotas between them to divide up the travel, and thus reduce the amount of cars present, increasing the number of safe parking spaces available.

Wikipedia - Yes, a GREAT resource, but it's been allowed to filter it's way through to our educational system as a first-stop shop for information. In fact, it's practically encouraged in certain schools and establishments. As stated above, I do some freelance lecturing on both higher and further education. The 16-19 year old group have, for the most part, copied and pasted wikipedia articles in their entirety to express a point, and they never read it over. I don't stand for that shit and regularly hand it back for complete re-writing, and yet I have been called up on the fact I'm 'stifling' their work as they are having to go to other sources to get information for their assignments - which are assignments designed to give them the very basic skills and knowledge needed to get a foot on the ladder in the Construction Industry. Tough shit kids. There are loads of resources out there, including books, and I can tell you something, in 2-3 years when you start out in the Industry you'll be needing to call on that information I made you re-write to ensure you understood it.

To name but a few. There may be a part two to this, or an extended edit to this later on.
( The Great Architect is still waiting for his account to be deleted on, Sun 4 May 2008, 17:09, 6 replies)

Please tell me that you ran for election on Thursday.
Please?
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sun 4 May 2008, 18:46, closed)

I fully agree with you on the first two points...
...having just passed my driving test on tuesday, I've already found myself getting really pissed off with drivers who don't use their indicators and who use the right lane for going straight ahead...god knows how pissed off I will be in 5 years time
(Foulkesy123 The one and only..., Sun 4 May 2008, 20:49, closed)

I agree with all this in general terms
and concur wholeheartedly.
( Smallbrainfield, Mon 5 May 2008, 0:04, closed)

Wikipedia
What Wikipedia is good for is general information. I love to use Wikipedia when I have absolutely no idea what the subject in question is about. (For example, I didn't catch on to who this Gary Glitter person is I always see everyone mentioning. Wiki explained.)

Silly fools, though, Wikipedia CITES AND LISTS ITS SOURCES. Anyone can look something up on Wikipedia, then click its sources at the bottom and cite from there. Done.
(AlfishKK, Tue 6 May 2008, 9:01, closed)

Wow Archie
All very well put points
( Big Ian has stopped changing his sig, Tue 6 May 2008, 10:56, closed)

I love wikipedia
But it has to be taken with a pinch of salt. At university we have been told multiple times that it is not a reliable source when any member of the public can edit it and fill it full of nonsense.

What it does though, is give you a great general overview of a subject (want to read a quick history on Anne Frank or The Millenium wheel?). Then you can use one of its apparently well hidden secrets - the sources that all this information was culled from and proven, which can often be from some very reliable institutions.
(442, Wed 7 May 2008, 10:37, closed)