A few weeks ago a Sydney radio station held a phone-in about rage. I was floored as I sat and listened to the people who called in to vent some spleen.
Foremost among them, of course, was that routine form of frenzy known as road rage. This is when drivers behave recklessly, generally threatening those in cars around them. There is apparently even a phenomenon called rage payback, which occurs when a driver-victim of another's road rage sees red and goes on a road-rage rampage themself — tailgating the erstwhile rager, flashing rude digits, and so on. According to some authorities, 68 percent of road ragers consider their actions justified.
Another oft-seen case of losing it is supermarket-trolley rage. I'm sure we have all had the odd ankle rammed by just such an unrepentant rager. These trolley ragers stalking supermarket aisles often come armed with a mean-looking toddler standing in the trolley to give the wheeled weapon more ankle-crushing inertia. This form of rage is known as the collaterally damaging trolley-with-toddler rage. The only way to avoid it is to shop at trolley-free convenience stores.
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