Bard’s Pet Peeves And Where To Find Them

Sammy Meskill and Jane Henry ’29

From “tamales” to “nouning verbs,” in this article we will be narrating — in great detail — our humorous and eventful journey to uncover what truly annoys the teachers and staff of Bard Manhattan. This school strives to be a place with kind, interesting people as well as a welcoming community. With grade-wide town halls what feels like every week, the sense of community is alive and well. However, the people who come into contact with annoying and obnoxious teenagers do sometimes get annoyed. So, this article will be a list of their pet peeves — from the ones they have relating to school, and to their personal lives.

A pet peeve is, simply put, something that a person finds annoying. It's usually quirky, or oddly specific. And everybody — unless they are the nicest person in the world — has one.

During fourth period on Thursday, and seventh period on Friday, we interviewed around twenty professors and faculty members. There were some people who we got responses from, but there were others we did not. It was a heck of a free period. It even involved hiding from a teacher in a stairwell.

Hurriedly making our way into the Academic Resource Department, we went over to Professor Fernberg first. “What’s your pet peeve?” we asked him. As teenagers usually do, we asked the question frantically, interrupting each other as we spoke.

“Wha—”

“—t is your pe—”

“—t peeve?”

In response, he said, “My pet peeve is when people interrupt each other.” Targeted much? He looked at us sternly until we left the room, trying to emulate the aura of a vitriolic teacher (which we know he’s not).

We then moved onto the Math Department. We went over to Professor Rosenberg first. He said that he disliked acronyms that represent mathematical concepts, such as PEMDAS (the algebraic order of operations) and SOHCAHTOA (a means of memorizing trigonometric ratios). As students in his class, we know this all too well.

Professor Reich explained her hate for improper grammar. Giving an example, she said “nouning verbs” and “verbing nouns” are not okay. This was later emphasized by Ms. Turitz. She vehemently hates it when students ask, “Where you at?”

Popping into a mid-Pacer test auditorium, we asked Coach Wit about his pet peeves. Having just witnessed someone fake their Pacer test score, he turned to us and said he didn’t like it when students do that.

Then walking into the Physical Education Department, we immediately spotted Professor Karelis. As many people can relate to, his pet peeve is when toilet paper goes under rather than over — “It’s meant to go over,” he said.

When we walked into the Science Department, it was noticeably quieter and more peaceful than the offices of other departments. There were only two professors inside. It was also noticeably mustier — no doubt due to scientific experiments? The room was crammed full of desks, plants, and science equipment. After taking the hike over to Professor Seoh’s desk, he shared with us that he “hates dog poop on the sidewalk,” an annoyance that is pretty standard. Professor Hale told us that the singular of “tamales” is “tamal,” not “tamale.” He hates it when restaurants get this wrong. As we were leaving, we ran into Professor Gjika. She said that her pet peeve is that she can’t walk her cat on a leash, like one would walk a dog, which, in our opinion, seems like a societal problem, not a pet peeve.

In the English Department, Professors Embola and Campbell seemed the most excited to reveal their pet peeves. In her words, Professor Embola expressed that her pet peeve is when “students show up at the end of the semester asking what they can do to improve their grade when they’ve been fooling around the whole semester!”

Professor Campbell’s response was different, as it wasn’t school related: she hates it when the tines on forks are uneven. Professor Cho said he hates it when students wave their hands when others are talking — as he mentions very often to our class.

Going over to Professor Kiley, we saw — and heard — the usual clamour of students impatiently trying to get his attention. So, with little time to give and the eyes of his students upon us, he gave a very short, though honest, answer to our question. He hates it when people rip up paper.

As we walked into the History Department, everyone was focused on what they were working on. Professor Mazie was listening to something on his headphones, Professor Vallejo was moving around her section of the room, and Dr. Freund was meeting with a student, telling them what they had to do over break. Approaching Dr. Mazie first, we told him what we were setting out to do — we wanted to compile a list of all the pet peeves teachers had. The History Department was by far the most successful place that we visited. Once Mazie shared his pet peeve — when absent students write “I’m sorry for the inconvenience” — many teachers started to build on. He candidly said, “it’s not an inconvenience to me when a student is absent!”

Then, Professor Turoff joined in, saying “I have so many!” After the usual ones teachers give relating to their classroom — hers in specific related to students not putting away iPads — she let us in on her true feelings, which there were a lot of. First of all, she hates overcooked pasta. She also gets annoyed when people refer to a “panino” as “panini” (panino is the singular of panini). She also hates boring people.

Even though Dr. Freund was working with a student, he seemed to be excited to join the conversation. He hates it when students raise their hands and say, “Can I ask a question?” The nerve! We then moved onto Professor Sena. He hates it when students ask, “Are we doing anything today?” or “Are there a lot of pictures in this reading?”

Most of the teachers in the department joined the discussion, laughing at what others said or heartily agreeing. Coming from our History of the Americas class, we had already asked Professor Vallejo about her pet peeve. She professed her hate for the New York Times’ game Wordle and those who have an obsession with it. Though Professor Vallejo didn’t join in the conversation with her colleagues, she could be seen laughing from her corner of the room.

And as we were leaving, Professor Weber added that he hates smoking on the train, which seems par for the course. He purposely didn’t share his true pet peeves – the ones he would be most annoyed by — as he said that they weren't fit to share with the world.

Ms. Nolan, the librarian, said she specifically hates it when students don’t clean up the chess board. It is fine with any other game, just not the chess board. Professor Curran hates it when he’s walking behind people who are on their phone. Specifically, when he’s walking up the stairs. We forgot to ask him about when he’s walking down the stairs!

Professor Zimbelmann said he finds it annoying when subway doors open and no one moves to accommodate those getting on, even though there is a lot of room in the center of the train car. Principal Pew hates wobbly chairs. And even more, he hates a wobbly table.