Stuff I hate

 There are some stuff in the world that I hate.

• underline
• 'former' and 'latter'
• 12 AM and 12 PM

One may call these 'pet peeves.'

I would like to go through each thing and explain why I hate them.

Underline

Underline is a common formatting option available on many text-editing platforms.

Unlike bold or italics, color of the text, which modifies the way the text is presented, the underline formatting option adds a line below the text.

Why do I hate it?

One reason, is that it could be mistaken for a link. Look at the underlined text above -- don't you feel like you could click it? (Although, the this argument could also be made about color.)

But the main reason I hate underline: It looks bad.

I understand the use of underline in handwritten text -- it's a convenient and easy way for you to make a piece of text stand out, and it doesn't require other tools (like a highlighter).

However, we are in the digital age. Compared to the other formatting options one has to make a piece of text stand out, underline is perhaps the worst looking one.

Let's compare the formatting options

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam fringilla sollicitudin libero semper pretium. Donec dapibus ipsum et dapibus scelerisque. Nullam mauris metus, porttitor varius laoreet id, mollis et diam. Proin sed sapien ut tortor vestibulum lobortis eget sit amet leo. Sed maximus velit ipsum, eget hendrerit libero convallis ut. Quisque diam nisi, finibus non libero a, pretium blandit ante. Donec ullamcorper lectus ac tincidunt mattis. In ut scelerisque odio, a dictum urna. Aliquam erat volutpat.

Bold heading

Donec vel lacinia nisl. Vestibulum vulputate lacinia bibendum. Ut finibus ipsum eu leo volutpat, pellentesque cursus elit porttitor. Proin nec porta turpis, sed laoreet leo. Etiam cursus metus lacus, in hendrerit urna semper a. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce vel mi mattis, placerat velit efficitur, dignissim ex. Donec finibus, arcu a fringilla varius, turpis arcu blandit diam, ac sodales mi ex et dolor. Quisque maximus, elit vitae egestas scelerisque, ligula lorem lobortis turpis, nec posuere odio nulla accumsan risus. Fusce quis ex gravida, maximus dui sit amet, rhoncus odio. Quisque ac ligula ut nunc porta imperdiet eget quis velit.

Italic heading

Aenean magna nulla, egestas pellentesque est eget, venenatis malesuada est. Ut sed rutrum neque. Vestibulum sollicitudin sem sit amet libero sagittis molestie. Mauris hendrerit purus mi, quis mattis elit eleifend eget. Praesent elementum ultricies ex ut condimentum. Phasellus vel mattis magna. Proin nec sem rutrum massa ornare facilisis. Mauris aliquam quam a feugiat accumsan. Morbi imperdiet vehicula pharetra. Suspendisse potenti.

Color heading

Mauris luctus turpis eu mauris bibendum, nec molestie dui dapibus. Etiam in fringilla mauris. Etiam at congue elit. Quisque eu nisi dictum turpis aliquam ultricies et id elit. Duis placerat sapien ac libero tincidunt, eu vehicula purus fringilla. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Curabitur posuere erat in metus dapibus, vitae sodales odio molestie. Pellentesque eu enim placerat, facilisis ligula at, dapibus enim.

Underline heading

Nulla sollicitudin maximus convallis. Integer ac justo turpis. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Quisque egestas sapien bibendum faucibus lacinia. Mauris lobortis dui sed velit mollis, eu dignissim est malesuada. Vivamus vitae consectetur odio. Donec cursus velit id eros porttitor, quis cursus felis egestas. Phasellus luctus ac mi posuere luctus. Donec efficitur nisl ac arcu fringilla aliquet. Integer viverra placerat neque et molestie. Integer eget augue ac nisl rhoncus auctor. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Suspendisse iaculis nibh quis sapien volutpat, id commodo dolor finibus.

I'm sure you would agree that the underline heading looks a lot worse than the other formatting options.

Of course, I'm not saying all horizontal lines under text is terrible. There are good heading designs that use horizontal lines under text, but not underline.

Example of a horizontal line below text

^I think headings that use those look pretty nice.

 

What if you wanted to highlight paragraphs?

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam fringilla sollicitudin libero semper pretium. Donec dapibus ipsum et dapibus scelerisque. Nullam mauris metus, porttitor varius laoreet id, mollis et diam. Proin sed sapien ut tortor vestibulum lobortis eget sit amet leo. Sed maximus velit ipsum, eget hendrerit libero convallis ut. Quisque diam nisi, finibus non libero a, pretium blandit ante. Donec ullamcorper lectus ac tincidunt mattis. In ut scelerisque odio, a dictum urna. Aliquam erat volutpat.

Donec vel lacinia nisl. Vestibulum vulputate lacinia bibendum. Ut finibus ipsum eu leo volutpat, pellentesque cursus elit porttitor. Proin nec porta turpis, sed laoreet leo. Etiam cursus metus lacus, in hendrerit urna semper a. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Fusce vel mi mattis, placerat velit efficitur, dignissim ex. Donec finibus, arcu a fringilla varius, turpis arcu blandit diam, ac sodales mi ex et dolor. Quisque maximus, elit vitae egestas scelerisque, ligula lorem lobortis turpis, nec posuere odio nulla accumsan risus. Fusce quis ex gravida, maximus dui sit amet, rhoncus odio. Quisque ac ligula ut nunc porta imperdiet eget quis velit.

Aenean magna nulla, egestas pellentesque est eget, venenatis malesuada est. Ut sed rutrum neque. Vestibulum sollicitudin sem sit amet libero sagittis molestie. Mauris hendrerit purus mi, quis mattis elit eleifend eget. Praesent elementum ultricies ex ut condimentum. Phasellus vel mattis magna. Proin nec sem rutrum massa ornare facilisis. Mauris aliquam quam a feugiat accumsan. Morbi imperdiet vehicula pharetra. Suspendisse potenti.

Mauris luctus turpis eu mauris bibendum, nec molestie dui dapibus. Etiam in fringilla mauris. Etiam at congue elit. Quisque eu nisi dictum turpis aliquam ultricies et id elit. Duis placerat sapien ac libero tincidunt, eu vehicula purus fringilla. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Curabitur posuere erat in metus dapibus, vitae sodales odio molestie. Pellentesque eu enim placerat, facilisis ligula at, dapibus enim.

I think it's clear that underline would not be the way to go here, asethetically.

 

Former and Latter

If you were to ask me if I hated the latter or former more, I would say I hated the former more.

Hold on. Do I hate ‘former’ or ‘latter’ more?

The ‘former’ refers to the first of two.
The ‘latter’ refers to the second of two.
However, the first item I referred to is “the latter,” and the second item is “the former.”

So I could hate “the former” more, or I could hate “the latter” more (which is the first item I referred to)…

That sentence is ambiguous (and confusing). 

However, I do hate one more than the other.

But first, I’d like to answer ‘why’ I hate these two words in the first place.

Using ‘former’ and ‘latter’ forces the reader to remember the order that you mentioned two items. (In my example sentence, the order I mentioned the two items are (1) latter, then (2) former.)

So if the reader forgets the order, then your reader won’t know what you’re referencing. So now the reader needs to go back and find where you mentioned those two things.

The reader should not be blamed for forgetting the order – the order in which you mentioned the two items (usually) doesn’t matter! Humans are wired to forget things that aren’t important!

At least with “the latter,” the reader doesn’t need to go back as far as “the former.”

Therefore, I hate “the former” more than “the latter.”

12:00 AM and 12:00 PM

AM and PM are used to indicate, in 12-hour time, if it’s before or after noon.

So 1:00 AM is ‘one hour since the start of the day’
and 1:00 PM is ‘one hour since noon’ or ‘13 hours since the start of the day.’

Anyone could guess that if there is any argument I have against 12-hour time, it would be with 12:00 AM and 12:00 PM.

By pattern, one would expect 12:00 AM to be ‘12 hours since the start of the day,’ however, it’s actually ‘0 hours since the start of the day!’

Similarly, one would expect 12:00 PM to be ‘12 hours since noon,’ but it’s actually ‘0 hours since noon.’

Come on. 0:00 AM, 0:00 PM. Let’s use that instead.

Until society makes that change, I’m going to be sticking with 24-hour time, because 24-hour time gets it.

0:00 is 0 hours since the start of the day.
12:00 is 12 hours since the start of the day.
23:00 is 23 hours since the start of the day.

There’s no ‘AM’ or ‘PM.’ I feel like if every country wants to use the same time format, and eliminate timezones, 24-hour time is going to be the key. This is because 12:00 doesn’t have to be noon.

(Yes, I am a believer of 24-hour time.)