Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Monkeyleg on June 17, 2013, 04:14:48 PM
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When did "no problem" become the common reply to "thank you"? I've been encountering this constantly in phone calls of every type. When I thank someone, he or she invariably says, "no problem."
"No problem" should be a response to "I'm sorry" or something similar. "You're welcome" is (or was) the proper response to "thank you."
%!#*&#@ public schools.
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It's a yankee-ism which I am ashamed to say I have started using
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No problem, I understand you completely. =|
bob
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I believe you mean, "No problemo"
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Conjecture: In spanish, we were taught that the correct response to "gracias" is "da nada", da nada being equivalent to "You're welcome." But, da nada literally translates to "it's nothing". Perhaps "No problem" is an outgrowth of Spanish and English speaking cultures mixing?
FWIW, I say "no problem" all the time. I consider is similar to the Australian "No worries", another saying I use. A way of acknowledging the thank you while communicating back that what I am being thanked for isn't a big deal at all, that I don't feel inconvenienced or otherwise annoyed having done whatever I'm being thanked for.
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Even I wouldn't complain about that.
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Jocassee, I hear it in AL all the time.
Fistful, it's just one of those little things that bug me. A bigger annoyance is Sean Hannity referring to people as "that", as in "people that voted for Obama", and then referring to things as "who", as in "corporations who do business in the US". He does it constantly.
Don't even get me started on "like". ;)
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Don't even get me started on "like". ;)
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Conjecture: In spanish, we were taught that the correct response to "gracias" is "da nada", da nada being equivalent to "You're welcome." But, da nada literally translates to "it's nothing". Perhaps "No problem" is an outgrowth of Spanish and English speaking cultures mixing?
FWIW, I say "no problem" all the time. I consider is similar to the Australian "No worries", another saying I use. A way of acknowledging the thank you while communicating back that what I am being thanked for isn't a big deal at all, that I don't feel inconvenienced or otherwise annoyed having done whatever I'm being thanked for.
In Japanese, their response means, "don't mention it", but literally, as in, do not mention that because it makes me uncomfortable.
I think that, uh, concept or perspective(?) might provide some insight into the spirit of what bothers ML.
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It's your life! =D
'S e do bheatha is what they say in Gaelic ;)
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When did "no problem" become the common reply to "thank you"? I've been encountering this constantly in phone calls of every type. When I thank someone, he or she invariably says, "no problem."
"No problem" should be a response to "I'm sorry" or something similar. "You're welcome" is (or was) the proper response to "thank you."
%!#*&#@ public schools.
???
No problem, I'll kill you if you do that again, no worries, don't mention it, etc are all fairly common ways of responding. It's not a grammatical thing. I'm sorry->No Problem and Thank You->You're Welcome are common, but not rules under anything even social norms.
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Jocassee, I hear it in AL all the time.
Fistful, it's just one of those little things that bug me. A bigger annoyance is Sean Hannity referring to people as "that", as in "people that voted for Obama", and then referring to things as "who", as in "corporations who do business in the US". He does it constantly.
Don't even get me started on "like". ;)
In defense of the second critique of Hannity, corporations are people. Specifically a group of people. A group of people can be referred to as either that or who.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
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How is that a "yankee-ism", when I heard it all the time in Florida?
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Don't even get me started on "like". ;)
It's, like, no problem.
Brad
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How is that a "yankee-ism", when I heard it all the time in Florida?
Exactly :lol:
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Bitte Sehr. ;)
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It's a yankee-ism ...
I dispute that. I first encountered it in the middle Atlantic states (especially Virginia). Right about the time I began encountering waitpersons addressing groups of mixed gender as "You guys." (That was also in Virginia.)
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In defense of the second critique of Hannity, corporations are people. Specifically a group of people. A group of people can be referred to as either that or who.
No, a corporation is not people. A corporation is a legal entity. It can be owned by people, run by people, and employ people to make it function, but it is not people.
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A corporate tax return is not signed by someone on behalf of someone. It is signed by someone representing the entity. Like, if you had a club where the people that were members paid dues, and that had to file a tax return, the club who owed the taxes would have to file the return.
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I dispute that. I first encountered it in the middle Atlantic states (especially Virginia). Right about the time I began encountering waitpersons addressing groups of mixed gender as "You guys." (That was also in Virginia.)
How did they address them before?
Honestly wondering; English lacks an official plural 2nd person pronoun. I much prefer "yall" and think it's a million times better than the "you guys" that seems to be considered standard American English (even Woody from Toy Story says "you guys").
For possessive, I commonly hear "yer guys's" which makes me want to impale someone.
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How did they address them before?
Honestly wondering; English lacks an official plural 2nd person pronoun. I much prefer "yall" and think it's a million times better than the "you guys" that seems to be considered standard American English.
For possessive, I commonly hear "yer guys's" which makes me want to impale someone.
Seconded.
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I dispute that. I first encountered it in the middle Atlantic states (especially Virginia). Right about the time I began encountering waitpersons addressing groups of mixed gender as "You guys." (That was also in Virginia.)
Any waitron in Virginia adressing a group as "you guys" was and is not from around here.
Hawkmoon, when I talk about y'all you can be sure I am making reference to you and you alone. If I meant to include those morans that came in with you I would have said someything about all y'all.
"No problem" seems to have grown from a feeling of uncomfortableness in making another beholden to you, which it seems within the last 15 or so years the response "you're welcome" was more and more understood to convey. It appears to have grown along with the replacement of "thank you" by such utterances as "sure", "sure thing", and "you bet" (not to be confused with the Scandahoovian "you betcha").
Every once in a while some field reportologist will respond to the NPR head talker's "Thank you" with a heartfelt "You're welcome". It always seems to cause a lengthy pause as if the head talker is not sure just how many times this is "thank you" thing is supposed to go back and forth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0p6VtgxbH0
My Ludditian conclusion is that electronical devices that involve the rapid mashing of thumbs and the use of acronyms such as OMG LOL IRL instead of actual whole-word verbal communication - especially the substitution of the use of electronical devisage for conversation when the two "conversants" are within whispering distance of each other - are to blame.
stay safe.
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One response to someone thanking you for doing something for them is to say "no thanks needed, it was no problem at all" or something of that sort. Or getting someone's stuff off the printer, and in response to thank you, saying it was no problem or no bother, I was going by there anyway. That is the way I mean it. You're welcome is probably the better and more universal response.
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How did they address them before?
Honestly wondering; English lacks an official plural 2nd person pronoun. I much prefer "yall" and think it's a million times better than the "you guys" that seems to be considered standard American English (even Woody from Toy Story says "you guys").
For possessive, I commonly hear "yer guys's" which makes me want to impale someone.
I just wish all ya'll guys would make up your minds.
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I decided a while ago to not get too hung up on figures of speech that bother me. There's still plenty that bother me, but I've come to accept that language changes, and it's not necessarily going to change in a way that I like and try not to let it bother me.
Reminds me of a thread I was involved in on THR many years ago where I was being berated for using the word "shrapnel" to generically refer to fragments from an exploding bomb, when the "proper" usage, according to the berating poster, only referred to a very specific type of bomb created by General Shrapnel in the 1800's. Language changes. At some point bad Latin became good Italian.
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Maybe the berating poster was General Shrapnel.
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Would you rather the several paragraph long "Thank you for this opportunity to serve you today?"
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Since this topic has surfaced I have taken more close note of how service persons respond to me. I am one of those types that insist on making requests that begin with "May I please have" and when the request is fulfilled I say "Thank you". Say "please" when placing an order through the speaker for a soda at the drive-through window. Say "thank you" when they tell me how much it will cost me. Say "thank you" again when they shove it out the window at me. I go through the same when ordering at any kind of sit-down foodery from greasy spoon to prix fixe sooper-swanky place. Same at the deli counter, the auto parts store, or the local flea market swap meet.
So far in response to "thank you" I've gotten:
- "OK" from the speaker, but "Sure" from the person thrusting the icy beverage out the window.
- "You're welcome" at the deli counter (but the lady working there is older than me and grew up in Greece)
- Nada/zip/bupkis at the parts place
- Everything from "you're welcome" to "sure, baby" at the local diner where I'm a regular, depending on which person is serving, and "You are certainly welcome" from the waitress at the Waffle House who has lasted longer than anyone expected and actually seems to like that as a job.
- "But of course" seems to be drilled into everybody at the prix fixe sooper-swanky place, based on one visit there.
- "De nada" from everybody at the flea market, regardless of obvious or not-so-obvious country of origin. (Is Mississippi a foreign country? I'm asking because the gentleman I asked about his use of Spanish said he is not from 'Murrica but from Mississippi. If he were any blacker he would start sucking planets in. But he's the only one who packs the vegetables he picked early in the morning in straw to keep them fresh.
stay safe.
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If he were any blacker he would start sucking planets in.
:lol:
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whutz yinz talkin bout now?
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he is not from 'Murrica but from Mississippi
Of course, Mississippi is in The South :facepalm:
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[indian accent]I am pleased to be thanking you![/indian accent]
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[indian accent]I am pleased to be thanking you![/indian accent]
Never heerd no redskin talk thataway.
stay safe.
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Mumbay accent, then.
Sheesh.
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It would seem that I say this a lot (intended as a form of "Don't mention it").
Sorry Monkeyleg.
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Skid, I was born and raised in Virginia and I say "You guys"... I do not say "Yous guys" though, so I think we're safe.
But, no problems, dude.
(actually, I don't really say "no problem". I say "You're welcome". I do say "dude", though... A lot... Sorry)
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Skid, I was born and raised in Virginia and I say "You guys"... I do not say "Yous guys" though, so I think we're safe.
But do you say "You guys" if the group you are addressing is comprised at least 50 percent of women?
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But do you say "You guys" if the group you are addressing is comprised at least 50 percent of women?
I've said it to groups comprimised of ALL woman.
In all fairness, the language has many all encompassesing words that discribe mixed gender groups in masculine terms.
I don't see why it offends you if I continue on the theme since MANkind has neglegted to provide enough word variations that arn't stupid for females. (if you call a group of ladies with me in it 'Gals' I might shoot you. Stupid word)
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[indian accent]Welcoming to technical support. My name is Bob. I am pleased to be thanking you![/indian accent]
FIFY
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[indian accent]Welcoming to technical support. My name is Bob. I am pleased to be thanking you![/indian accent]
Except you can't understand a word of it anyway ;/
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For the non-Texan's benefit...
Y'all - group singular
All Y'all - group plural
Misuse is punishable by death. Or exile to Oklahoma.
Brad
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For the non-Texan's benefit...
Y'all - group singular
All Y'all - group plural
Misuse is punishable by death. Or exile to Oklahoma.
Brad
You can't exile me. I am a native born Texican =D
But I don't hang around in Texass much any more ;)
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But do you say "You guys" if the group you are addressing is comprised at least 50 percent of women?
Nope. You folks. =)
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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57580598/no-problem-yes-its-a-big-problem/
My answer: Who cares.
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I don't see why it offends you if I continue on the theme since MANkind has neglegted to provide enough word variations that arn't stupid for females. (if you call a group of ladies with me in it 'Gals' I might shoot you. Stupid word)
It offends me on behalf of my late grandmother, who would NOT have tolerated such. If she were in a mixed gender group and a waitperson addressed the group that way, either the group would have left the restaurant or my grandmother would have left the group.
If I were a waitperson serving a mixed group, I would probably address them as "Ladies and gentlemen." If it were an all-female group, I would certainly address them as "Ladies."
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Except you can't understand a word of it anyway ;/
True.
When I complained once to "Samantha" that I couldn't understand her, she came back with "I are speaking English very good."
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But do you say "You guys" if the group you are addressing is comprised at least 50 percent of women?
Words that unify groups of people into a single unit can often have gender assigned to them. The gender is irrelevant. Talking directly to a mixed gender group in spanish, you would say "ustedes" (or "vosotros/vosotras" if in Castillian Spain). and if you were talking about a mixed gender group as a third party, you'd say "ellos" (which is masculine). In the case of the Castillian example, mixed gender groups would still be "vosotros" and default any women present to being referred to in the group as masculine.
I understand that German has 3 genders, though I've never studied the language.
Spanish gender is so mixed up that the word for tampon is masculine in gender, as is the notion of an "egg" in human reproduction (ovulo).
"You guys" is nothing compared to all these games in other languages. As confusing as English is to learn, I'm glad it at least lacks gender in its verb conjugation and parts of speech.
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In Gaelic, there is singular/familiar thu ("hoo") and plural/formal sibh ("shiv").
So if you are addressing an older person or a stranger or one in authority or even a customer, you would use the plural form, even to just one person.
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TP, where did you learn Gaelic? I've never seen it offered anywhere. Just open a book and start on your own, coupled with audiotapes?
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In Gaelic, there is singular/familiar thu ("hoo") and plural/formal sibh ("shiv").
So if you are addressing an older person or a stranger or one in authority or even a customer, you would use the plural form, even to just one person.
I may be wrong, but I believe English "you" is actually plural. In other words, "you" originally meant "yall". The singular word for "you" is "thee".
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I may be wrong, but I believe English "you" is actually plural. In other words, "you" originally meant "yall". The singular word for "you" is "thee".
Thou art nearly correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou
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Thou art nearly correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou
Wow. I guess it is true that you learn something new every day.
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Wow. I guess it is true that you learn something new every day.
You could have said "thank thee" =D
No problem. :lol:
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You could have said "thank thee" =D
No problem. :lol:
=D Nice
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You could have said "thank thee" =D
No problem. :lol:
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Touché!
(Credit: James Thurber)
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The English construct I absolutely loathe is usually in spoken form, and it consists of an imbedded question or statement. Examples:
It's a matter of "Are we speaking correct English".
It's like he's "Well, I don't know".
It makes me want to shriek.
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To address Dick's OP, I hear "no problem" a lot too, and I use it sometimes, but only under specific circumstances. "You're welcome" is appropriate in response to any thanks. But "no problem" is appropriate only in situations where you are clarifying for the thanker that it really was not a problem. If a friend calls me to go pick them up and drive them home after a night of drinking, when they thank me as I drop them off, I might say "no problem." If someone asked me to pick up lunch for them while I was out and thanked me when I gave it to them, I might say "no problem." However, if I complimented someone in some fashion, gave someone a gift, or did some task for them without being asked, I would respond to their thanks with "you're welcome," never with "no problem."
Addressing individuals and groups:
You - singular
Y'all - plural
All y'all - multiple groups (half the folks in the room are conservative, the other half of the folks are liberal, someone addressing the entire group might say "all y'all" to note that there's a division or difference or two or more distinct factions)
And growing up in rural southern Missouri - and it's the only place I've EVER heard it - when addressing more than one person the word is you'uns. "You'uns comin' by for Sund'y dinner?"
(I could be spelling that wrong as it obviously is not an actual word, but that's phonetically correct.) :facepalm:
Oh, and whoever made the comment about the distinction between "that" and "who" - that's one of my biggest peeves too. Second only to the incessant use of the word "had" by folks who ought to know better. Next in line is overuse of "the." When editing one of my former writer's columns, the first thing I did was use the "find" feature. In one particular 700 word column I trimmed "the" out 102 times, which left 67 remaining. Still makes my jaw clench to think about it.
Edited to correct use of "too" - another of my peeves. :D
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I usually use "you folks" for the plural you. I remember one Bible I used to use as a kid which used a capitalized "You" for the plural.
"Oh, and whoever made the comment about the distinction between "that" and "who" - that's one of my biggest peeves too." Me too, but I'm letting a lot of things slide of late.
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"Who's that?"
:P
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distinction between "that" and "who"
It's all a matter of "Which to use?"
;)