Such stealth subsidies are unlikely to irritate voters, impatient with traffic jams and cancelled flights.

ECONOMIST: High-speed rail

Ozone aggravates asthma and can irritate anyone's upper respiratory system, especially when it interacts with common household cleaners.

CNN: Your own clean-air act

Deprived of the enemies it has evolved to cope with, it responds to stimuli that would not normally irritate it.

ECONOMIST: Plagued by cures

He may well irritate those on his side of the table, but what is more important is that he can work with those on the other side of the table.

FORBES: Fiscal Cliff Lead Negotiator Timothy Geithner Is The Right Man For The Job

The fundamental issue I have with most of these tactics (and they are tactics, not strategies) is that they tend to irritate consumers and at times insult their intelligence.

FORBES: Price; Marketing's Most Delicate "P"