If you’re able to, you should probably should use Andy Rooney’s voice in your head as you read this. It’s not because I’m writing about Andy Rooney but because this seems like the sort of thing he’d talk (complain) about.
No one seems to say “You’re Welcome” anymore. What’s happened to “You’re Welcome?” Why has it drifted away as the regular response to “Thank you?”
These days when one person says “Thank you” they get a “thank you ” as a response. As in “Thanks Andy for being in my post.” to which you’ll usually hear something along the lines of “Thank you!” Now, a thank you seems to most often receive another thank you in response.
Over the past few years I’ve noticed a response shift with “thank you” replacing “you’re welcome.” Once I noticed the shift, I heard it all the time. Just like if your friend buys a Ford F-150 truck, you suddenly notice them everywhere. You’d never before realized how many of that type of Ford truck were out there on the street.
Of course, it’s really not a big deal to answer “thank you” with “thank you,” but it’s odd when you think about it.
I know English is constantly changing: adding, dropping, and modifying words. For example, we now use Google as a verb, interesting, since it’s only been on the scene a little over ten years.
So maybe with this “thank you” substitution we’re witnessing is the morphing of an expression and the current conditions, I guess, must be favorable to this mutation. Still, I’m not used to it. When I hear a radio interviewer thank the guest for appearing and the guest shoots back a “thank you” in response I feel like I’ve just heard a song I know being played but ending with the wrong chord.
Thanks for listening.