Trash and dog poop top a list of European’s pet hates according to a survey carried out in 17 countries which appeared on Friday in the Readers’ Digest magazine.
Littering enraged 86% of the 3 400 adults questioned, making it the foremost source of irritation for respondents from Manchester to Moscow.
But doggy-doo came a close second, with a pan-European average of 82% saying canine mess in parks and streets was offensive. In dog-friendly France, Portugal and Belgium, the response was even sharper, with more than nine out of 10 people saying they found the excrement unacceptable.
Queue-jumping also ranked, with 81% detesting seeing someone cut in in front of them, while spitting in public (76%) got people’s goat across the continent, particularly in Russia and Hungary.
”Europeans may be divided about the EU constitution but they are united about the little things that can make ordinary life so annoying,” said the head of Readers’ Digest‘s European operations, Bob Low.
”They clearly dislike anti-social people who make our public spaces so unpleasant to walk around, by dropping litter, spitting or letting their dogs foul the pavement,” he said.
According to the survey, the poor personal hygiene of others exasperated an average 74% — or more than eight out of 10 people in France and Spain.
Tailgating (73%) and hard-to-open plastic wrapping (57%) also featured on the list.
There were some cultural divergences. For instance, the lack of politeness — saying ”thank you”, ”merci” or ”danke” — drew the wrath of 80% of the British and the French, although only 35% of Russians said it bothered them.
And when respondents were asked to put down anything else that got under their skin, the number of grievances grew to include: pigeons, chewing gum, cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road, and the misuse of umbrellas.
About the only thing that did not upset those questioned was people who display too much flesh. A mere 22% said they found it intolerable — and in Norway that dropped to just 5%.-Sapa-AFP