I want them to use it only when they’re actually talking about a hashtag on Twitter etc. Not as ironic commentary or a joke.
Ditto “pretty great.” (And “pretty OK,” which makes me think of Steven Wright asking for a shirt in “extra medium.”)
Oh, I dunno: sometimes when people use it to express the degree to which important things have become marginalized I don’t mind. I can’t remember the actual event, but when the Malaysian plane was missing, the media was all over whether or not it was true that some celebrity had a hangnail or not, HASHTAG “JENNIFER ANISTON’S HANGNAIL”*, my husband said something like “HASHTAG, ‘in other news’, actual human suffering.”
Maybe I don’t get it though, because I never bother with Twitter.
*completely made up; do not hold against Ms. Aniston, whose fault it is not that the media drools over every tiny thing she does, even though I don’t think she’s even made a film in several years.
If you don’t fit in a booth it’s a belly, not a bump.
Not specific terms, but that whole thing of using foreign-language words when yours has a perfectly fine equivalent and you know it, but heeeey, the foreign word which you may not even be able to pronounce properly sounds spiffier. Calling it pomodoro sauce will not make it speak Italian, asking someone to dance with “más energy, chica, más swing” will not turn her into Shakira if she doesn’t know why God gave her hips (note: the last example is fine for someone whose first language is Spanglish, but not for someone from Murcia).
This non-American and all her classmates were taught “you’re welcome” in the same lesson as “thank you” and “thanks”.
Absolutely!
I’d rather that Twitter just die a squealing death, but that will do.
That’ll do, too.
“cromulent” has always made me want to throw up. I know the background – it comes from a Simpsons episode where there was argument about the validity of the word “embiggen”, and some sage person claimed “embiggen” to be “a perfectly cromulent word”. I don’t care – though not a fanatical Simpsons-hater, I’ve never thought this cartoon series to be up there with Shakespeare / Hawthorne / Tolstoy; and I bloody hate “embiggen” and “cromulent” both.
I feel the same way about “sammich” – for me, nauseating baby-talk. Maybe influenced by my being not American, but from the UK – “sammich” an American thing. Our baby-talk / diminutive word for a sandwich, is “sarnie” – which Americans might well find sickening.
“grok”, I have no problem with…
Would it be too much trouble for people to stop describing things, like “dietary supplements” as both “pure,” and “natural”? It’s kind of hard to be both. Something that’s been purified isn’t terribly natural (although I like both my drinking water and antibiotics this way), while something that is natural usually isn’t very pure. Most people who are hiking like a wild forest, but there might be time when you want an arboretum, with sidewalks, and the trees labeled, so you know what their names are.
It’s a bloody buggery POUND SIGN!
(And there you see the problem; people old enough to remember it being called a pound sign.)
I strongly disagree. If the response to “thank you” is “no problem,” it implies that in the recipient of the favor’s mind, the giver has had a problem with supplying the help in the first place. This is not usually the case at all — in most everyday exchanges of helpfulness, a “problem” is non-existent.
No, “You’re welcome to the help I’ve given you. I’ve given it willingly because it’s something I want to do.”
Exactly, just as we were taught in French class that the polite reply to “Merci” is “Il n’y a pas de quoi.” I know it’s doubtful that this full reply is used in casual speech, but we also learned that the phrase is an idiom (just as “you’re welcome” is), and we didn’t bother to tear it apart and translate it literally.
OK, I suppose you could say this about “No problem,” too…but to me this is, er, a solution in search of a problem. In other words, there’s nothing lacking in the standard response of “You’re welcome,” and “No problem” introduces a specific thought that is not justified by the circumstances in most instances.
Us really ancient ones remember something about “number sign.”
“selfie” and all derivatives of it. Especially the derivatives.
It is irrational I know but I will think less of you if you use those words and even more so should you actually take one.
If ever I come across one of these abominations in the media my immediate knee-jerk response is a mentally muttered “what a dick”.
While it has always been a number sign or a lbs. symbol, # being called a pound sign became much more common when it gained use on telephones. It would be pretty confusing to call it a number button when using a phone.
Literally - those who use it never use it right.
Ultimate - as in “Ultimate Mattress Sale” or “Ultimate Used Furniture Sale.” If they were truly ULTIMATE sales, everything would be free.
Clinically proven - You paid a bunch of human guinea pigs a few bucks to take your meds and they didn’t drop dead. They DID suffer a litany of side effects that you’re required to report, so all you’ve “clinically proven” is that your cure is worse than the disease.
On this board we’ve had native English speakers from places like Britain, Ireland, Australia, etc., comment on how weird they find “you’re welcome” to be as a response to “thank you.” So it’s not a universally standard response to “thank you” in the English language.
I find this argument to be extremely revealing about people’s mindset. Unless you are in the habit of thanking people out of the blue and for no reason at all, presumably, there was some problem that they have now addressed and is no longer an issue. Wouldn’t you prefer to know that it was a simple matter for them?
Just because a medication has side effects doesn’t make it worse than the disease. My decongestants make me a little thirsty, but they clear my nose up during allergy season so when I sleep, I breathe through my nose, and don’t wake up with a sore throat, and an even drier mouth. They also make me a little drowsy, but I need them only at bedtime, so, big deal.
Chemotherapy can make people really sick, but if it prevents their cancer from returning, and allows them to survive for twenty years post-surgery, rather than the four they might otherwise have survived, most people put that in the “win” column.
Do you thank people for giving you a gift? “No problem” would be a weird response to “Thank you for the lovely crystal bowl.”
It would also be a weird response to something that was clearly difficult, but gladly done, like if someone’s car is mired in the snow overnight, and you help them dig it out. You are a nice person, and maybe you like your neighbor, or owe them a favor, so you are quite happy to shovel snow, but it wasn’t easy, and in response to profuse thanks, “You’re very welcome,” or “I’m happy to do it,” are better responses than “No problem.”
“No problem” is what you might say when someone asks you the time, and so you check your phone and answer. Personally, I’d probably still say “You’re welcome,” but “No problem” is also a perfectly logical response. It really is clearly no problem, but it still merits some kind of acknowledgement. If you don’t say “thank you” to a stranger you told you the time, you come across as a little entitled, and maybe even a bit of a jerk. (Yes, I know I just switched perspectives there, but I think the examples are better that way.)
I would say ‘no problem’ in both those situations. Being the sort of person who will drop what they’re doing to help you dig your car out of the snow is exactly the sort of image I like to cultivate.
The only time I have a problem with “no problem” (or in this case the more common internet shortcut “np” because it almost always happens online) is in exchanges similar to the following:
Person A: Wow, that’s a great outfit your character is wearing!
Me: Thanks!
Person A: np
If you compliment someone and they say “thank you,” the proper response is not “np” or “no problem.” I’d argue that even “you’re welcome” is a little excessive (no response is really needed, IMO). But certainly not “np,” as if to imply that giving you a compliment might have been construed as a “problem.”