"You are welcome" + Rule of Three (1819)

[Lal Zimman]

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "You are welcome" + Rule of Three (1819)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> How about "No problem!" which has pretty much replaced it among under-40s ?
>
> Other responses include "Sure!" and "Oh, That's all right!"
>
> JL

I use "no problem" and "sure" regularly as responses to "thank you" but
it hasn't *categorically* replaced "you're welcome" (for me at least) -
it has to do with the level of sincerity in the "thank you"/"thanks".
When it's a purely formulaic thank you, or a socially optional one (e.g.
when passing papers back in a classroom, some students say "thanks", but
most don't, or even after having a door held open..) they'll get the
more casual response of "sure" or "no problem". OTOH, if someone thanked
me seriously for something I'd done that was really deserving of thanks,
I'd use "you're welcome."


-Lal