The melody of Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” drifted through my mind as I watched the waiter make his way across the dining room with what I was sure was my bowl of gumbo. I don’t usually eat gumbo outside the confines of Louisiana, but I had had it at this spot in Annapolis before and knew it to be delicious. Sure enough, only a few seconds later the waiter brought the bowl of steaming, aromatic stew down over my shoulder and placed it before me. Wow. This was going to be great!
“Thank you,” I chimed excitedly as I reached for my spoon.
And then came the more than mild irritant that I had somewhat expected.
“No problem,” he said.
Not “you’re welcome.” Not “my pleasure.” Not “enjoy” or even “bon appétit.”
No problem!
Well, guess what? I know it wasn’t a problem—or, at least, it shouldn’t have been. After all, I was a customer in a restaurant and he was a waiter. I am supposed to order food and he is supposed to deliver it. There wasn’t a “problem” involved. And the proper response to “thank you” is “you are welcome.”
Now, this little episode didn’t ruin my day and certainly didn’t prevent me from enjoying my gumbo. But this wasn’t the first time I had heard this little perversion of the English language—take notice and I think that you will find that improper usage of “no problem” has made some real inroads into our language.
Thank someone who holds a door open for you and you may well hear “no problem.” I got one a while back from the nice fellow who came to fix the washing machine. He had only one reason for being in my house—to fix my washing machine. It wasn’t a problem for him to fix the machine. It was his job. So why was the response to my “thank you,” “no problem”?
My comments here may bring the charge of nit picking. But the English language is a beautiful thing, and while its evolution is necessary, that evolution should be driven by logic, not thoughtless drift.
#eeicom #English #language #grammar #thank you #no problem #you’re welcome
Jim deGraffenreid is Chairman at EEI Communications.
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