When I say “you’re welcome” to my German friend, the reply is always “I know.” It has always confused me but I haven’t dared ask.
Your friend a big Star Wars fan?
As a matter of fact, absurdly so, as am I.
Duh.
Nice going. You found the obvious answer. Repeat: obvious, and there is nothing ungrammatical about it.
It sure beats the godawful “no problem”, as if, for example, it could possibly be a “problem” for a waiter
to bring me my food.
Right on.
No. it is an expression of gratitude, and no fiction need be read into it.
This is my sense:
“You need not have thanked me, because you are welcome to whatever it was you thanked me for.”
Whatever, dude.
I’ve always wondered if it came from something like “You’re well come.” Like you’ve come though this unscathed.
Why do you assume that any response to “Thank you” is required? In Britain, no response is generally either given or expected. Once “Thank you” has been said, the niceties have been observed and the exchange is finished. Polite responses have to end somewhere. Indeed, British comedians will sometimes mock Americans for their insistence on the empty formalism that “Thank you” be responded to with “You’re welcome”.
Here, it’s considered impolite not to respond with something. I think what underlies it is an idea that it’s impolite to accept thanks as if you deserve it. Just like it’s impolite to accept an apology as if you were really due one. You deflect it by saying something to the effect that thanks/apology was not necessary, but only after one has been offered.
I always liked “no bother” but it doesn’t sound right with an American accent.
I don’t know how long the modern Danish language has been around, but I heard a lot of “Velbecomme” while I was there. I hope that is spelled correctly.
Saying explicitly that something* isn’t* a problem doesn’t then suggest it might have been one. That logic seems convoluted to me.
Yeah, um, that’s my fault. I picked it up in Australia in 1984 and brought it to North America via Colorado and then Alberta and New Brunswick. It really picked up a lot more steam that ‘fair dinkum’ did.
Sorry.
Yes, I am well aware that that is the current convention in America. Tomndebb, however, appeared to puzzled as to what people could have said instead of “You’re welcome” before it was used. The answer is that they probably said nothing, as is still the custom in Britain. It is not a universal law of etiquette that “Thank you” requires a response. I would not be at all surprised if it is only Americans, in relatively recent times, who have trained themselves to think that it does.
Gah. I hate this reading. How can it be impolite to accept earned gratitude, or apology? It would feel wrong to me, on either side of the exchange, for either of us to pretend that the acknowledgement was not appropriate when we know it is.
Because it’s obnoxious to behave as if you’ve earned gratitude. A person who holds the social upper hand, such as in the form of being owed a social debt, should never behave as if it’s true. Once someone has offered thanks or apology, your must make them feel like they don’t need to. Once the concession is made, if you act as if you were really owed it, that’s asserting social power over someone. Only assholes do that.
Besides, it’s the same thing as a lot of the other acceptable responses, such as “no problem,” “it’s nothing,” etc.
Additionally, in a commercial transaction, which is mutually beneficial, it makes no sense for one party to be owed a debt of gratitude.
Concurring, my search of google books before 1939 was pretty flimsy. Here are some examples anyway:
Boys Life Dec 1919:
“Thank you very much for your courtesy Mr. . . .”
“My name is Harry Thurston. You are very welcome.”
Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse By Anna Sewell
orig published 1877. 1895 version.
“Thank you a thousand times,” she said. “I could have never got here alone.”
“You’re kindly welcome; and I hope the dear child will soon be better.”
Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse - Anna Sewell - Google Books
And this supports Nemo’s earlier hypothesis:
Every Body’s Album Volume 1
Charles Alexander, 1836
“Snip, snap, snorum,” said the parson – for it was he who had renounced: “I beg pardon, gentlemen.”
“You are most welcome to it, sir,” said William; “for on that renounce we count three more, which gives us exactly the game and the rubber.” I’m not sure what they’re getting at here, but it’s easy to imagine “You are most welcome to it” becoming contracted to “You’re welcome”.