The worst sound in the whole world, worse than car alarms, is the sound of someone rattling plastic bags in a theaqtre while I am trying to act on the stage. I decided that last night, while someone was rattlnig plasic bags as I was trying to act. Go figure. To quote James Lipton, what sound or noise do you hate?

-- Kymm Zuckert (hedgehog@hedgehog.net), November 09, 2000

Answers

Bubblewrap popping and the clicking of high heels on an uncarpeted floor. Ick, I say.

-- Laura (lbhelfrich@yahoo.com), November 09, 2000.

The sound of dentists/doctors putting on latex gloves with that "snap" and the dental hygenist using that little metal hook to scrape your teeth during cleaning (or maybe I just hate dentists!).

-- Nancy Allen (nankeenoodle@aol.com), November 09, 2000.

Mouth noise while eating.

I had a housemate who would eat the same way every night. She would make up one of those prepackaged pasta or rice dishes in a sacuepan. Then she would pile 3/4 of the food on her plate, bring it into the lounge room where I was watching TV and eating and start eating.

Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack
Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack
Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack
Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack

The food on the plate would be finished, she'd go to the kitchen, brring backthe saucepan, and then this.

Scraaaape the saucepan, Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack
Scraaaape the saucepan, Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack
Scraaaape the saucepan, Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack
Scraaaape the saucepan, Spoonful of food, slurp, chew, smack smack, smack

Every motherfucking last time for weeks, she did this

One night, in the kitchen, I snapped. She piled on 3/4 of the food and as she turned away, I said "FOR FUCKS SAKE, you always eat all the food, just pile it all on the fucking plate, at least then I don't have to hear Scrape Scrape fuckingSCRAAAAAPE!".

We didn't share a house for much longer.

-- Amanda Page (amanda@amandasprecipice.com), November 09, 2000.

Snoring. I cannot stand listening to snoring if I'm laying in bed and can't fall asleep.. It goes through me like a warm knife through butter. (Everyone enjoy the cliche simile?)

-- Jen (Winter@nyc.com), November 09, 2000.

my roommate has the most unsubstantial pair of shower shoes created by man or god. as she has to be at work an hour before i do, i often lay in bed hearing:

"flip flop FLIP flip FLOP flip flip FLIP flip FLIP FLOP flip flip"

-- nose sniffles a close second (blurredphoto@hotmail.com), November 10, 2000.

In the words of Mrs. Kendrick, played by Spring Byington in JEZEBEL (1938, starring Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter, and Margarget Lindsay, among others, and directed by William Wyler), "I never could bear loud and sudden noises, even firecrackers give me palpatations!"

There's been this dreadful, irregular chugging noise coming from the wall between my closet and the bathroom for the last several weeks: DOOZH sproing (pause) DOOZH sproing (pause) DOOZH sproing (pause) at appalling intervals. It sets my teeth on edge.

And of course, the cell phone in the theatre is one of the -very- worst noises. Those people should be flogged.

/Robert

-- Robert (rbdimmick@earthlink.net), November 10, 2000.

Even just thinking of the sound of someone grinding their teeth makes me shiver and convulse.

Ick.

-- Sherry (sherina@masc.ca), November 13, 2000.

The worst noise in the world is the wet, crunching sound I hear when accidentally biting my tongue or cheek. The noise comes a split second before the pain and/or blood; a truly horrific moment.

-- Stu Ackerman (Ackerfamily@mindspring.com), November 14, 2000.

The sound of cats fighting (but only if my cat is outside).

Any sound that wakes me up in the middle of the night.

-- Catherine (catcoicrit@earthlink.net), November 15, 2000.

Doors slamming, utensils being thrown on a metal counter, and the hard-heeled sound of someone in Spice Girls clodhoppers trying to act intimidating.

My current flatmate does all three. Eleven more days and I'm outta there. Oh, and other people doing housework is a horrible noise, because then I can't read through it, and I feel guilty for not joining in (and I'm not going to join in, the place was clean to start with and life is too short for preventive maintenance).

-- Diana (diana@alum.mit.edu), November 20, 2000.

My cats licking plastic grocery bags in the middle of the night. For hours and hours on end.

-- Siobhan (resipsasiobhan@hotmail.com), November 24, 2000.

I hate that sudden sharp scream when your kids have hurt themselves really bad.You go to see what the problem is with images of missing fingers, missing limbs, lost eye balls..you name it.

-- Celina (celinagray@netscape.net), May 06, 2001.

Alarm ringing at wrong time....RINGGGGG!RINGGGG!RINGGGGG! *wakes up in the middle of the night* RINGGGGGG!*noisy alarm clock* RINGGGGG! *stupid alarm clock* RINGGBOOM! *crushed alarm clock* Grrrrr, gets on my nerves!!!

-- Wolf (Mix@aco.com), May 10, 2001.

The sound of one of the world's largest, homeliest, and most disgusting trailerpark women yelling at her equally horrid fat, whining kids from clear the other side of the swimming pool--with her gigantic mouth full of God-knows-what. Jesus H. Christ, get some manners, shut the fuck up, and just go away from interaction with people who have a shred of common decency! Unfortunately, there isn't just ONE of these pigs, it's one of MANY, who are members of the only tennis and fitness club in Auburn, California. That town, by the way, is the redneck, tatooed Harley-biker center-point of the universe. Of course, you've seen the movie, "Deliverence," right? It would have been scarier if they'd filmed it in Auburn, CA. The by- God ugliest women on earth reside in that town, and the all the men are over weight WWF and monster truck wanna-be's. Ghaaaaack!

No, I should correct some of that; the area around Georgetown, California (near Auburn, of course) is really scary. There are more people in Georgetown than there are teeth.

-- Samuel Clemens III (its2icky@hotmail.com), October 08, 2003.

The sound of the away fans cheering, set against the silence of home fans when the away team scores a goal. It is a hideous sound and can bring misery to anywhere between 1,000 and 80,000 people ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Close up and personal annoying sound that makes me want to kill? Walkman/Diskman/mp3 player headphones while on the Tube: "tss-t-tss-t-tss-t-tss-t-tss-t-tss-t-tss-t-...". Solutions? 1. If you recognise the song, start miming the words while in the line of sight of the offender. 2. Dance along in an exhuberant manner. 3. Attract the attention of the offender and ask them to turn it up, it's a great f**kin' song, we wanna hear it too.

-- James Sanders (james@indigocoms.com), November 27, 2003.

Yeah, I hate the whole eating thing. I had this room mate, who was a cool dude. But damn was he a loud eater!!! I hate that. I brought over some fried chicken and gave him a box. He would eat smack. Like chinese water torture. I also have this co worker that makes the most horrid smack sound. I mean there has been times where I wanted to smash his face into his monitor. I mean who the hell taught you to eat!?!?!?!?!!!

-- anonymously answered, February 11, 2004