# Is "thanks" a a slangy idiom, not considered standard English **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948 "2016-07-02T19:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/1 "2016-07-02T19:20:56Z")
As [jtur88](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19449597&postcount=30393) put it, derailing a thread game. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/2 "2016-07-02T19:29:49Z")
It’s colloquial, but not slang. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/3 "2016-07-02T19:35:00Z")
“Thanks” is informal, but not slang. There are more than two registers of English dictio. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/4 "2016-07-02T22:56:55Z")
I’m afraid I challenged him on his trivia ‘fact’ and started it all. But I haven’t been back to continue the argument (if it’s still going on), other than to say that I don’t think that “thanks” is a slangy idiom at all, and used the term “giving thanks” as an example. The word has been around for at least a few hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/5 "2016-07-03T00:20:57Z")
It’s a sentence fragment, and therefore not “formal” proper standard school-house English. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/6 "2016-07-03T00:53:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > “Thanks” is informal, but not slang. There are more than two registers of English dictio. This. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/7 "2016-07-03T01:14:59Z")
I just checked the OED, and “thanks” isn’t listed as slang there. I see that the term has also been in use for a very long time. In the sense of “a much abbreviated expression of gratitude for a favour received or recognition of a service; = _I give you my thanks, my thanks to you_, or the like”, the earliest cites they have are from Shakespeare. In the sense of “the expression of gratitude; the grateful acknowledgement of a benefit or favour” the earliest cite is so old (1340) that it’s spelled “þonkes”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/8 "2016-07-03T02:01:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As [jtur88](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19449597&postcount=30393) put it, derailing a thread game. I would have to ask, is English his first language?:dubious: What he wrote is ridiculous. “Thanks” is in no sense slang. As has been said it is somewhat informal, but it is not colloquial. It would be perfectly legitimate to translate “merci” as “thanks” in many circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/9 "2016-07-03T05:18:10Z")
Other. It is _standard_, but _informal_, which is not quite “slang” but I guess could be considered “slang **y**.” Edited to add: I see I was ninja’d by Shagnasty. But I give more leeway to “slang_y_.” ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/10 "2016-07-03T05:51:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I would have to ask, is English his first language?:dubious: Either that, or s/he just doesn’t really know the meaning of the terms _slang_ and _idiom_, and is tossing them around carelessly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/11 "2016-07-03T08:45:03Z")
Respec’ ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/12 "2016-07-03T09:05:06Z")
As the only “yes” voter, I should explain that I was thinking it is informal rather than slang, a broad interpretation of slang. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/13 "2016-07-03T10:12:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It would be perfectly legitimate to translate “merci” as “thanks” in many circumstances. Is it true that French has no “you’re welcome” reply? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/14 "2016-07-03T12:57:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Is it true that French has no “you’re welcome” reply? Whoever said that? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/15 "2016-07-03T13:12:46Z")
I was in England a few weeks ago and people used “Cheers” in place of thanks or thank you most of the time. If “thanks” is slang, is “cheers” also slang: after all it could simply mean a shortening of the phrase “cheers to you for [whatever you did that deserves cheers].” (As an aside, has this usage in England started only recently? I don’t think I had been exposed to this before in English media. Also, what’s the standard response? When people “cheered” me in England, I thought it would be awkward to say “no problem” or “you’re welcome”.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/16 "2016-07-03T13:32:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Is it true that French has no “you’re welcome” reply? _Je vous remercie_. Or the more informal _de rien_ or _pas de tout_. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/17 "2016-07-03T13:42:26Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Whoever said that? Probably that “the word ‘gullible’ isn’t in the dictionary” guy… ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/18 "2016-07-03T14:16:23Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > _Je vous remercie_. Or the more informal _de rien_ or _pas de tout_. In French class we learned “je vous en prie”, although I’ve heard that’s a bit formal. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/19 "2016-07-03T14:24:37Z")
I’d just like to say, as a professional translator, that I do in fact use the word “thanks” on occasion, if it fits the register of the original text. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948/20 "2016-07-03T14:34:42Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > As [jtur88](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19449597&postcount=30393) put it, derailing a thread game. Accuse me of whatever you want, but not derailing. The previous post by Chefguy derailed the thread, by asking me a question concerning the authenticity of the trivia that i had offered, to which I defended myself. You then joined in yourself, to keep it derailed. Furthermore, the empirical classification of something as “standardized” within an established academic or professional discipline is not subject to an informal internet poll for verification. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thanks-a-a-slangy-idiom-not-considered-standard-english/758948.md?page=2)