Curious to hear hubskier opinion on this
"Thank you" = "I appreciate what you did for me, because it may have required an expense of time, energy, or other resource." "No problem" = "You do not need to be concerned about the resources i may have had to expend for you; it was not a problem to accomplish the task." edit: that said I think "dont mention it" is a great one, if only it were a bit more casual
I appreciate the case, but I do not find it compelling. The author makes no reference to the social tableau implied by any exchange of gratitude. "No problem" (or, more likely, "no prob") are a response to a casual "thanks." However, a casual "thanks" is generally more formal than whatever language we use regularly, so any "thank you" "you're welcome" assumes more monument than otherwise. We control two things by acknowledging gratitude: the tenor of our interactions in our immediate future with the grateful and the level of agreement as to the balance of indebtedness. If someone says "thanks so much I really appreciate it" and you answer "no prob" you're essentially stating that you do not wish further entanglements with that person. If you instead answer "you're very welcome" you're acknowledging that you did a big favor for that person and are comfortable that they would (will) reciprocate if the shoe were on the other foot. In casual discussions, amongst casual friends, dealing with casual favors, "no prob" is entirely appropriate. It fits the register.
Yes, it doesn't make sense to critique most idioms on the merit of their literal meaning. A phrase can mean whatever we agree it means. Certainly there are situations where an idiom may be rooted in, for example, racism, and in that case it's probably better to abandon it. But by and large, ascribing anything more than what we all accept a phrase to mean in context, is a waste of time.The author makes no reference to the social tableau implied by any exchange of gratitude.
Classic french response to Merci (Thank you): "De Rien". literally translated, "It's nothing" I don't see the problem. what you're saying is "I did this because I wanted to do it, not because i wanted you to owe me something. I completed this act of my own free will, and you owe me no spiritual or cultural debt."
1. The author is reading too much into too little data. Why should I believe that people saying "No problem" is "a culturally significant obliteration of the difference between giving and demanding" and not just a verbal shift? 2. "No problem" doesn't imply that the audience's thanks ought to have been an apology. Rather it's a humble reduction of one's efforts in taking the gratifying action. In other words, when I tell people "no problem," I'm expressing that my behavior hardly necessitated thanks. If anything, "no problem" is kinder than "you're welcome" insofar as it diminishes the perceived worth of the instigating action.
I tend to prefer "No problem", in the sense of "You now owe me immensely, and I will see that you repay this debt, when I find the right time and place for you to take the fall for one of my mistakes." I also tend to be very sarcastic. Seriously, I've never put much thought to this phrase, although it rolls of my tongue all too easily. I do though, like the sound of "no problem" paired with, "I'm glad to help a friend like you, and am glad to be helpful as you've been to me." Something like that.
See, at work, I find myself frequently in situations where it's important or necessary that I provide an affirmative noise of some sort, but the noise doesn't really have to mean much. Saying "okay" over and over again, especially when the repetition is clearly obvious, like in IM, looks/sounds bad to me, and I see how it could be misread as attitude. So over the years I've build up an arsenal of affirmative phrases: "no problem," "sounds good/sounds great," "OK," "sure thing," etc, littler my vocabulary because I don't want to sound redundant and I simply need to register with the other person that I've heard and will do what they want/need. I use these phrases frequently and innocently, so to see this article looking into the potential "deeper meanings" of the phrase intrigued me because usually, I'm BIG on reading into little phrases. However, I did feel the author went a bit overboard on their interpretation of the topic. Either way, it seemed like a good thing to ask Hubski about - I'd still like to hear from lil on this for sure.
I read another article on the no-problem problem a few years back. It irritates many people. I agree with the author of this article, but also don't care. The phrase will probably pass out of favour in due course. If I had to be bothered by phrases, here's my two most hated: "with all due respect" -- It should mean "Let me respectfully disagree with you" - but whenever I've heard it, the person actually means, "with all due scorn" "let me play devil's advocate" -- yes, I know. There's a place for challenging people's decisions, beliefs, opinions, etc. But when someone uses that, I want to yell: Don't play anything. Just tell me what you really think. Lil: "Sorry for changing the topic."
Refugee: No problem. Lil: Thanks for the shoutout.
Ref: No problem --- ooops, I mean you're welcome.