Hell, I’ve been lurking and posting on the boards (in one incarnation or another) long enough to know that fighting over ridiculously picky details is exactly what Dopers do best, but this is stretching things even by our usually argumentative standards! 
I know very well how quotation marks work.
You said that when you hear “No problem,” you think “problem.”
Similarly, calling you “No idiot” should lead you to think “idiot.” Which, in this case—unlike everything else you’ve said in this thread—would have been a reasonable interpretation.
Jesus H. Christ, i just noticed your location.
Your idiocy would have been bad enough if you were from somewhere like America or Canada, where locutions like “No worries” and “No problem,” while perfectly reasonable, are still probably less common than “You’re Welcome.”
But you live in Australia, a place where “No worries” is virtually a national slogan, and where “No problem” isn’t far behind in frequency of use.
If you truly, as you claim, don’t know what someone means when they use these terms in response to a question like “Are you able to deliver this chair before the 25th?”, then i really don’t know how you live from day to day without your head exploding. And if you really ask everyone who uses such phrases to keep giving a new response until you receive one than conforms to your iconoclastic stupidity, then i’m surprised that no-one has taken a piece of 4 x 2 to your skull.
The problem is that there are many people who answer ‘No problem’ and/or ‘No worries’ to a lot of things. The meaining is not ‘yes’. That is my point. In the OP’s complaint these phrases do not mean ‘yes’. That is the problem.
You can go away now.
And you need to be…
Maybe you people need some actual examples that show that many people use these phrases in ambiguous ways ( at least here in Australia).
I was in a furniture shop in Sydney recently. I was asking many questions about a chair that I wanted.
Me -" Does this come in blue ?"
Sales staff “No worries.”
Me -" Great. I would like 2 of these chairs as long as they are blue."
Sales staff-" No problem. I will check."
Staff member goes off and checks. He comes back.
Sales staff-" We cannot get them in blue."
Me-" Okay. Could I get two black chairs delivered. Can you deliver to
Melbourne ?"
Sales staff -“No worries. I will go to check.”
Staff member goes off and checks. He comes back.
Sales staff-" We cannot deliver outside of New South Wales."
Me-" Well it does sound like a problem. Thanks anyway."
Recently I went to a restaurant with my wife. We walk in and a waiter greets us.
Me -" Wow. It is hot in here!"
Waiter-" No worries."
Me- “Pardon?”
Waiter- “Oh. Where would you like to sit?”
Me- " By the window please."
Waiter-" No worries."
We are now sitting at that table.
Me-" We would like two Crown lagers please."
Waiter-" No worries." Waiter goes off and gets us two bottles.
Me-" Could we get two glasses please?"
Waiter-" No worries." Waiter goes off and never comes back.
I have to ask another waiter who replies with " No worries." To that I say “Why would there be a worry.”
Was I asking you, pinhead?
I see no problem with the phrase ‘justified contempt’ used in this context. Feel free not to reply.
But you put the ‘no idiot’ part in quotation marks and not the ‘you’re’. You do not understand. So please go away.
Try not to use words that you know not the meaning.
I know where I live. At least you actually realise the extent of use of said phrases. But you obviously know not the problems in communication from so many Australians haphazardly using these phrases.
bb, is English your first language?
Yes.
Why would you ask?
In that case, I’ll join in the chorus that you are indeed a fucking tool (again). The last time we tangoed on the board here you were dribbling on about some other grammatical/linguistic pet peeve…and if I recall correctly, you were whipped soundly in that one too.
Given the quaint nature of your posting/writing style, I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt re coming from a NES background which might have explained your apparent unfamiliarity with our local version of English.
But you’re not, so your ramblings are worthless.
Is there something about the hot weather that fucks up with your head or summat?
:rolleyes:
You ask me whether I am a native english speaker when you dribble like that !
Wow. You are a moron.
As I have explained here very clearly, I have a problem with the haphazard usuage of the phrases ‘No problem’ and ‘No worries’. They are used in many contradictory ways. Often I hear them used the same way ‘Hai’ is used in Japanese to indicate ‘yes I am listening to you’.
But it is not consistently used in that way. I have no difficulty understanding ‘Hai’ in Japanese.
Tell me, are the examples I gave you not clear ? If you are so stupid to not understand them, I will use smaller words so that a small person like you can understand.
Just to make it clear, I only agree with the OP to a small extent. I have no problem with people replying with ‘No worries’, when I thank them. Try reading my first post.
Who talks like that?
Nor do I. Although it’s a bit wordy for someone who has such difficulty working out the contextual meaning for simple English phrases such as “No worries” and “No problem” in ordinary, everyday conversation. But, actually, I was referring to your snooty and pretentious use of the word “shall.”
Feel free to kiss my arse.
I am interested in your theories, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
[nitpick]Um. It’s ‘drivel’. And people don’t ‘dribble’. They might spout some drivel, and I’ve seen ‘dribble’ used in that context, but it’s wrong. [/nitpick]
There’s drivel and then there’s dribble.
I stand by my use of the word in this particular context.
What’s snooty and pretentious about the word “shall”? It’s a perfectly good word.
“You got a greeting that started with ‘h’. How’s twenty dollars sound?”
He’s using it to assume an air of sophistication he clearly doesn’t possess naturally. That’s the very definition of pretentious.