words, words

in response to thank you, how did we get from "you're welcome" to "no problem" to "you betcha"? of course I've heard the mannered elderly harp about how ungracious "no problem" is compared to "you're welcome" and so far as convention goes, yes it does seem a little less gracious. but then, what do we mean by "you're welcome"? I always thought it kind of meant, "you're welcome to inconvenience me," in which case that sounds far less gracious than "my pleasure" (it is a pleasure to help you) or even "no problem" (it has not been a problem to assist you), though the latter is certainly less elegant.

but "you betcha"? what does that mean? you bet you can count on me? asking for my help is a gamble? it's so silly! and yet suddenly it seems everywhere!

speaking of linguistic convention (cough, ahem), I've also been very pleased lately (you betcha!) to be reminded of the fact that english used to have both a formal and informal second person address. we've now, as our convention, adopted the formal as our only, with "you." "Thou," what we think of as this archaic, stuffy, king james phenomenon ("How Great Thou Art" is suddenly less grand) was the familiar, a father to his daughter, a lover to her lover, a boy to his pet kind of a thing.

I like to think that some old elizabethan is peering down on us from the heavens, in stitches, as we formally address max the family dog as if he were a priest, or that we are so respectful in our post-coital reveries. it's also funny to imagine that the reason we've inherited our single form of address is because as victorians we were all so stiff we made formality a convention that has undone itself.

yep. you bet.