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1. Zenguy
   Member Profile

   

   This just drive me nuts. I know it is not a problem...most of the time it is your job. I just hate that please and thank you seem to be old fashioned...I guess I will die an old fashioned guy.

   Thank you...no problem.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

2. SarahScoot
   Member Profile

   

   Ugh, this phenomenon drives me nuts. It's almost as bad as having to be the on to greet the employee first. The silent cashier movement is terrifying; it's bad enough when they don't verbalize the customer's total (yes, I can read it on the screen, but really?), but not even saying "hi" is just bad service.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

3. KBear
   Member Profile

   I think you mean "no problem" is a REPLY to "thank you", or "no problem" is a replacement for "you're welcome", right?

   Posted 1 year ago #         

4. redblack
   Member Profile

   

   zen: i think you mean, "you're welcome."

   i say it all the time.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

5. redblack
   Member Profile

   

   kbear: jinx! you owe me a coke.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

6. Zenguy
   Member Profile

   

   sorry, you are correct.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

7. KBear
   Member Profile

   No problem.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

8. chrisma
   Member Profile

   

   I LOL'd, KBear.

   Like urban living (I'm looking at you KM who can't take the sight of laundry on a line), the use and mis-use of the English language in the current era is not for the faint of heart or easily offended.

   But, definately don't loose any sleep over it. :-)

   Posted 1 year ago #         

9. Zenguy
   Member Profile

   

   Chrisma, your avatar looks like my dachshund at the vet.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

10. chrisma
    Member Profile

    

    Zenguy: It's an x-ray of a duck, but on the film there's what appears to be an alien face. You can kind of make it out on the lower right where the leg attaches, but here's a link to the full image and story

    http://www.ibrrc.org/alien_duck.html

    Posted 1 year ago #         

11. Zenguy
    Member Profile

    

    Maybe it swallowed a Holloween toy...my dog is only 7.5 lbs and could pass for a duck.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

12. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Agreed. It's condescending.
    I also agree with you Sarah; I HATE the silent cashier, so I silently and pointedly stare them down. If you aren't going to talk to me, one of the people who make their jobs necessary, then they will know by my glare that I will join them in their rude little game in hopes they understand what it feels like. Other times I get hyper-chatty, but only in a way that makes it seem like I am responding to them. I am easily amused.
    It doesn't seem to affect their type, though.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

13. maplesyrup
    Member Profile

    

    When you think about it, "you're welcome" isn't really a correct response to thank you either.

    Language and common expressions change over time. I have no problem with "no problem."

    Posted 1 year ago #         

14. RarelyEver
    Member Profile

    

    I agree with maplesyrup. English being my second language it's always puzzled me why I should be "welcome", and what that really means - I'd be curious as to the origin of this idiom.

    Where I come from the chain of niceties in response to a favor or service is, translated literally:

    Requestor: "Can I please get this item?"
    Respondent: "Here you are."
    Requestor: "Thanks!"
    Respondent: "Please!"

    Go figure...

    Posted 1 year ago #         

15. Zenguy
    Member Profile

    

    Still, this conveys appreciation..."no problem" conveys that I have not been inconvienced, which bothers me.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

16. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Jah, Bitte!
    But then, all over Bavaria, a common greeting is Grüss Gott(sp?), which seemed strange for a broadly secular society.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

17. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Exactly zen, it may not be the intent, but it is the result.
    It is as though someone is saying your insignificant request and appreciation are meaningless to me.
    But that takes way too long to say.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

18. Julie
    Member Profile

    

    While I prefer "you're welcome!", just because it feels less casual, "no problem" is quite similar to the standard response in other languages. For example, in Spanish, the standard response I was taught is "de nada" ("for nothing"); in Danish, one standard response--and I think, the one regarded as more polite--is "det var so lidt" ("it was so little").

    Language changes, but if there's a trend you abhor, you can entertain yourself with a quixotic quest to stem the tide....

    Posted 1 year ago #         

19. maplesyrup
    Member Profile

    

    You guys are too sensitive.

    Would you find the Spanish/French de nada/de rien ("it's nothing") insulting as well?

    (edit: oops beaten to the punch by Julie)

    Posted 1 year ago #         

20. KBear
    Member Profile

    I don't think "no problem" means "your request is insignificant" or "you have not been inconvenienced". I think it means something more like "Please do not be concerned about the inconvenience which your request may have caused me. I do not hold it against you." But it's much easier to just say "no problem", and that's why it usually doesn't bother me.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

21. datamuse
    Member Profile

    

    In French, I was taught to say "de rien", which means "it was nothing". Better? ;)

    (Ok, ok, you can also say "je vous en prie" which basically means "please".)

    RarelyEver, I think it's a shortening of "you are welcome to it"--which can also, depending on the context, mean that the giver is glad to be rid of it! But that usage is pretty infrequent nowadays.

    ZenGuy, I can't find a clear origin for "no problem", but it apparently replaced "think nothing of it" sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

22. Zenguy
    Member Profile

    

    Well, I will go to my grave as an old fart saying you're welcome...capitalizing and punctuating my text messages.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

23. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Same Zen. Old farts unite for civility!

    Posted 1 year ago #         

24. RarelyEver
    Member Profile

    

    dawsonct -

    More odd than "Gruess Gott" being a greeting used widely in a very secular society is that, in essence, you're telling your fellow Bavarian to "say hi to God" - presumably when you next run into Him.

    I never understood that one, but being Swabian the proper reaction to ANYTHING Bavarian is shrugging your shoulders and carrying on. :)

    Posted 1 year ago #         

25. maplesyrup
    Member Profile

    

    This thread reminded me that thank you in Portuguese is "obrigado," which is a bastardization of the Japanese "arigato" and brought over in the 1600's.

    If you believe the interwebs, the origin of "arigato" is two Chinese characters that when combined mean something along the lines of "I am humbled by your presence; I don't even belong here."

    [/Cliff Clavin]

    I suppose arigato is sufficient supplication for our resident old farts.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

26. JoB
    Member Profile

    it's all good
    except it's not

    arigato

    Posted 1 year ago #         

27. Gina
    Member Profile

    

    dawsonct--I hope you never have the results from playing the showing up the silent cashier game that I experienced with a co-worker.

    Co-worker was in the early months of pregnancy. She had to make frequent sudden dashes from her position. She would get very quiet before having to dash. The person that she was serving was telling her she wasn't very chatty, trying to force a response from her. He lengthened the transaction long enough that the inevitable occurred before someone could relieve her. He went quietly away as the clean up was going on.

    Sometimes quiet servants are a good thing.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

28. austin
    Member Profile

    

    Always a new and absurd complaint on the west seattle blog forums.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

29. me on 28th Ave SW
    Member Profile

    I have gone back and forth over this. The "no problem" response is what I commonly get from my own teenage daughter and yes, it has consistantly bothered me. I have explained my thinking on it to her, but still get "no problem". But as you earlier posters pointed out, it is like "de nada", which I do not have any issue with so now I think I can adapt to it a bit more. Perhaps it's all those years of her taking French? More likely, all those years of ME saying "you're welcome" in response to "thank you".

    Posted 1 year ago #         

30. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Gina, I don't EVEN want to imagine that!
    ----
    My preferred reply to gracias is mi gusto!
    But then, I LIKE people enthusiastically doing things for me. It doesn't happen enough.
    ----
    We DO talk about a wide range of subjects here, don't we Austin?

    Posted 1 year ago #         

31. MB
    Member Profile

    Honestly, these days I'm just happy to get a response at all. I CAN'T STAND IT when I say thank you to someone (which i always do) and don't even get a smile in return. I don't know if it's that people just don't care enough to respond or if they are so used to not hearing a "thank you" that they actually don't hear it...either way, it ticks me off. That's usually when i say it again, louder and less politely. I didn't miss that day in preschool, but apparently quite a few people did ;)

    Posted 1 year ago #         

32. charlabob
    Member Profile

    

    And then there's the ubiquitous "no worries" which seems to have replaced "no problem" in some cases. I can't imagine what question I could possibly ask to which that would be an appropriate answer. :-)

    Posted 1 year ago #         

33. Ken
    Member Profile

    

    welcome

    O.E. wilcuma, exclamation of kindly greeting, from earlier wilcuma (n.) "welcome guest," lit. "one whose coming is in accord with another's will," from willa "pleasure, desire, choice" (see will (v.)) + cuma "guest," related to cuman (see come). Cf. O.H.G. willicomo, M.Du. wellecome. Meaning "entertainment or public reception as a greeting" is recorded from 1530. You're welcome as a formulaic response to thank you is attested from 1907. Welcome mat first recorded 1951; welcome wagon is attested from 1961. The verb is O.E. wilcumian.

    http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=welcome

    Posted 1 year ago #         

34. Zenguy
    Member Profile

    

    I guess it is no different than when you say God bless you,

    Posted 1 year ago #         

35. GenHillOne
    Member Profile

    I'm guilty of all versions - but I say SOMETHING. "No worries" usually comes when someone is apologizing or thanking apologetically; it happens. Just for you, Zenguy, I will try to work the classic "no problemo" into my repertoire as well ;)

    Posted 1 year ago #         

36. maplesyrup
    Member Profile

    

    I bet old farts in 1907 were complaining about people who said "you're welcome."

    Posted 1 year ago #         

37. Zenguy
    Member Profile

    

    Maplesyrup, I am sure you are right. I use no worries, just not in replacemet for your welcome.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

38. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    It's actually "no problemA" GH1.
    You're welcome!

    Posted 1 year ago #         

39. GenHillOne
    Member Profile

    Thanks dawsonct, you're right! I WAS trying to find the most annoying response, so maybe I should have said "no problemmmo with a wink and a point of the finger" to make the cheese-factor clear. :)

    Posted 1 year ago #         

40. dawsonct
    Member Profile

    Yo comprende!

    Posted 1 year ago #         

41. Zenguy
    Member Profile

    

    Don't forget the glasses.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

42. Ken
    Member Profile

    

    http://etymonline.com/columns/do-be-thee.htm

    Posted 1 year ago #         

43. datamuse
    Member Profile

    

    "No worries" is an Australian thing, apparently. At least, I picked it up from Australian friends.

    While we're on the subject, "Good-bye" is a shortening of "God be with you". :D

    Posted 1 year ago #         

44. hopey
    Member Profile

    

    I always take "no problem" to mean "it wasn't a problem for me to do the thing you just thanked me for," in the same vein as "it was nothing."

    Posted 1 year ago #         

45. redblack
    Member Profile

    

    datamuse: and adios is from "go with god." or at least it should be, instead of the literal translation, which is "to god" or "go to god." which sounds like you want the listener to die.

    maplesyrup: don't make me snap my cane off in your keester!

    i use "you're welcome," because it's customary, polite, and shows me to be a person of quality to other persons of quality. and i take umbrage at your tone and insinuations, sir!

    also, in accordance with my godless ways, if someone sneezes near me, and the right of first refusal is passed to me, i say, "gesundheit." because it's also customary.

    hey, it's better than "uff da."

    gdr

    Posted 1 year ago #         

46. miws
    Member Profile

    

    Without reading back through all of the replies, I don't know if this has really been touched on, but I wonder if it has to to with tone of voice/inflection.

    For example, the following scenario:

    Just past 6:00 pm, on a Sunday, you go rushing to the store which you at earlier in the day, because you lost your wedding ring, and realize it must have ended up in the restroom trashcan as you dried your hands.

    The employee that is locking the door on his way out, as you pull up is dressed in is best fanciest duds, because he's going out on a first date with this really hot chick.

    You frantically explain your situation, and the employee explains that, of course, yesterday's many garbage filled bags are already in the dumpster. Not only that, there are two wheelbarrow fulls of chupacabra droppings, (unbagged) which another employee had scooped up from the parking lot earlier in the day, scattered across the top of them, and then today's current many garbage filled bags on the very top.

    The employee is about to ask if there's any way you could come back after the store opens the next morning, then remembers that tomorrow is garbage pick-up day, and the truck comes long before even the earliest store employee arrives.

    So, the employee smiles and sez; "Well, let's just have a look!" He then proceeds to dig through today's many garbage bags, the (unbagged) chupacabra droppings, until he reaches the many bags from yesterday.

    After digging through bag after bag, he finally finds it in the second to last bag! (Who sez it's always in the last possible place to look?)

    So, here he is, 90 minutes later, all out of breath, he and his best fanciest duds coated with (unbagged) chupacabra droppings, and he hands the wedding ring to you, and you profusely and sincerely thank him, he smiles, (while imagining his really hot first date sitting there, in her best, fanciest duds, all P.O.'d, wondering why the hell he's an hour late?!?!?!!1111), and sez in perhaps a bit of an exasperated tone; "No problem!"

    Mike

    Posted 1 year ago #         

47. DOC
    Member Profile

    You're welcome = No problem

    It seems to me that by saying "you're welcome", it means the individual is "welcome" to bother you for the item/service at any time and you would have "no problem" in getting it/doing it for the individual.

    Aside from a store, think of this in a home environment. A guest is welcome to your house, or you would have no problem hosting them at your abode. Either way, the meaning is essentially the same.

    I feel that "you're welcome" is simply the accepted norm, but the same analyization that was brought upon "no problem" was not wrought on "you're welcome"

    Posted 1 year ago #         

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