please peeve me

August 14, 2007 5:54 AM

What is the opposite of a pet peeve?

Just like there are the little things that annoy the crap out of us, there are little things that delight us. For example, I love it when I wash the dishes in a double sink, and the soap makes a bubble tower come up through the opposite drain. What do you call this kind of anti-pet peeve? A pet joy? Is there an offical term for this?

posted by kidsleepy to Writing & Language (24 answers total)

Life's Little Victories
posted by cowbellemoo at 6:03 AM on August 14, 2007

I'd say just basic feel good moments. Little glimmers of sunshine throughout the day.
posted by banannafish at 6:08 AM on August 14, 2007

My favorite things
posted by iviken at 6:08 AM on August 14, 2007

Kinks.
posted by devilsbrigade at 6:19 AM on August 14, 2007

My friends and I called them "the little things." As in, "Are admiring your soap bubble tower again? I guess it's the little things that make life worth it."
posted by christinetheslp at 6:33 AM on August 14, 2007

"Favorite"?
posted by cmiller at 6:44 AM on August 14, 2007

Not exactly, but: Cheap thrills
posted by pardonyou? at 6:46 AM on August 14, 2007

Cartoonist Lynda Barry calls them "right-ons". (I don't know this blogger, but she/he explains the concept well)
posted by kimdog at 6:48 AM on August 14, 2007

A "warm fuzzy", perhaps. Typically, "warm fuzzy" refers to an interpersonal emotional experience, but I think it can be extended to anything that kind of makes your day.
posted by cog_nate at 6:52 AM on August 14, 2007

You get a "kick" out of them.
posted by creasy boy at 7:04 AM on August 14, 2007

A friend of mine howls 'TOP FIVE' in a squeaky munchkin voice whenever something like this happens.
posted by Happy Dave at 7:33 AM on August 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

A pet "like", as opposed to a "dislike".
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:32 AM on August 14, 2007

Happy mundane?

"Good things"?
posted by CiaoMela at 11:17 AM on August 14, 2007

Simple Pleasures
posted by solipsophistocracy at 11:28 AM on August 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

Fetish
posted by LordSludge at 11:42 AM on August 14, 2007

"Pet peeve," to me, suggests that you're identifying with and defining yourself by the things you dislike. It's interesting to me that none of these suggestions (except maybe "kink" and "fetish") carry that same connotation.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:48 AM on August 14, 2007

secret delights?

guilty pleasures?

undomesticated peeves?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:54 AM on August 14, 2007

(To put it another way: they're your pet peeves — or kinks, or fetishes, or buttons; the vaguely-sexual ones seem to be outliers here — but they're life's little victories, feel-good moments, cheap thrills or good things. I think that's an interesting contrast.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:55 AM on August 14, 2007

you have a soft spot for bubble towers.
posted by clunkyrobot at 12:27 PM on August 14, 2007

I don't think you can put the word 'pet' together with any sort of synonym for pleasure without making it sound dirty.
posted by happyturtle at 1:37 PM on August 14, 2007

button-pushers
(also, for true pets, lickspots)
posted by rob511 at 5:26 PM on August 14, 2007

Second for 'simple pleasures'. Short, sweet, concise, without a bunch of questionable baggage, or sounding like you're absurdly thrilled at these little things which tickle your fancy.
posted by Goofyy at 6:15 AM on August 15, 2007

A perfect sample of the question (& answers): Foutaises with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. (Re-post)
posted by growabrain at 7:37 AM on August 15, 2007

^ ^ ^ With English subtitles ^ ^ ^
posted by growabrain at 7:39 AM on August 15, 2007