[Ads-l] "You're welcome!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Incredibly, OED has this acknowledgment of a thank-you only from 1907
(bracketed for some reason, with the first fully accepted ex. from 1960[!]).


1844 _The Bury and Norwich Post_ (Bury, Eng.) (Dec. 24) 4: I thanked you
for letting him ride, and you said, "you are quite welcome."

1849 _Arkansas Intelligencer_ (Van Buren, Ark.) (Sept. 15) 1: "And we thank
you, too." ... "You're quite welcome."

1851 H.G. Ollendorf _A Key to the Exercises in Ollendorff's New Method of
Learning to Read, Write, and Speak the French Language_  (N.Y.: Appleton)
74: Thank you. You are welcome.

1903 _Spokane Press_ (Dec. 16) 2: "Thank you, Miss Hart." "You are welcome,
Joe."

1906 _The Gazette_ (Cedar Rapids, Ia.) (Jan. 12)  6: The expressions "Thank
you" and "you are welcome" from frequent use are in danger of being
formally or insincerely uttered, unless one is taken to keep in mind their
meaning.

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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