# Perfect **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139 "2018-05-14T15:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/1 "2018-05-14T15:36:14Z")
Anyone else notice it: when you give people information, they reply by saying “Perfect.” This seems to be a fairly new conversational quirk. I first spotted it in a commercial (Well Fargo, I think), then realized that when I talk to people, they do it, too. I’m amused by it now. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/2 "2018-05-14T16:27:57Z")
Nope ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/3 "2018-05-14T16:30:43Z")
Yes, what’s even worse is when it’s Perfecto! I wanted to strangle a recent trainee with this irritating habit. She didn’t last long, luckily. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/4 "2018-05-14T16:42:09Z")
I find that as irritating as ‘git-er-done’. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/5 "2018-05-14T17:29:59Z")
I feel proud. But then I realize it was in response to something like spelling my own name correctly. :o ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/6 "2018-05-14T18:09:55Z")
I remember it from a McDonald’s commercial some years ago featuring a, uh, ‘special needs’ employee (possibly Down Syndrome). After lifting some fries, he smiled widely at the camera and proudly responded, ‘Perfect!’ ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/7 "2018-05-14T19:35:14Z")
I find myself using the term more often lately had no idea why I was using it more often. Have I been influenced somehow?? I usually use it when it comes to cooking but have also used it in response to answers I have gotten here. My thoughts on the word simply mean no further improvements needed. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/8 "2018-05-14T21:55:52Z")
Watching this weekend’s PGA Players Championship, I noticed the dialog between caddy and golfer (winner Webb Simpson, I believe) ended with the caddy’s final response to the player, “Perfect”. Not saying it was a bad thing, but it happened enough to catch my attention. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/9 "2018-05-14T22:01:51Z")
I take it you’re saying this term is being overused? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/10 "2018-05-14T23:09:32Z")
I’m more interested in the way it shows a change in language. In the past, people would say “thanks” in that situation and it seems to be changing. It’s like people saying “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome.” Another change in how people speak (and I have no problem with that, either.). ---
**Author:** ![Graymalkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@Graymalkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graymalkin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/11 "2018-05-15T02:28:36Z")
My AAA agent ended email with “Perfect” today. I took it as sort of a compliment. Now I’ll see/hear it all over the place, just as “No problem” replaced "You’re welcome’ (which is making a comeback maybe, or as “issue” replaced “problem.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/12 "2018-05-15T04:22:39Z")
Great, awesome, nice, cool, sweet, perfect, excellent, and similar words are all pretty common responses in my experience. Sometimes with the word stretched out as the person writes/types in the requested information. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/13 "2018-05-15T10:38:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s like people saying “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome.” Another change in how people speak (and I have no problem with that, either.). Doesn’t “de nada” in Spanish basically mean “no problem”? I wonder if that’s where “no problem” came from?? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/14 "2018-05-15T11:15:02Z")
I took a management class last week. A pet-peeve of the instructor was when someone replies “no problem” after someone thanks them. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/15 "2018-05-15T18:16:43Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Doesn’t “de nada” in Spanish basically mean “no problem”? I wonder if that’s where “no problem” came from?? _De nada_ literally means “of nothing”, although a better translation would be “it’s nothing”. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/16 "2018-05-15T18:31:04Z")
It’s a common French Canadian expression of thanks. Person A asks for something; Person B provides that something; Person A says, “Perfect, Merci bien.” Life proceeds as normal. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perfect/814139/17 "2018-05-15T21:48:55Z")
I’d accept “Perfect” as an alternative when the restaurant server asks how the food tastes\*, and on getting a positive response, says “All right!”. \*Being routinely asked how the food _tastes_ strikes me as inane and deserving of a response like “Too much fucking paprika”, but I have so far restrained myself. \*\*If I’m making faces, gulping down glasses of water or barfing, _then_ you can ask how the food tastes.