Fulsome means offensively excessive, loathesome, disgusting, which is not what I think ira meant in the original posting and not appropriate as a description of what "merci beaucoup" might mean in any circumstance.

Anyway, there's absolutely no problem with using "merci bien," and as someone else mentioned, the French will always choose to use more words rather than fewer, so a simple "merci" seems actually kind of curt to me.

ira: Yes, I did mean literally nauseating. From the OED:

"satiating, filling...offensive to the senses, disgusting, foul or loathsome..."

PatrickLondon...I was corrected by a French relative once when I used "de rien", for what I believed was using it in the wrong context as a response...Can anyone here expand on this issue?

"De rien" is one form of saying thank you--sort of, Don't mention it. Just what was your context?

I'm not absolutely sure about this, but I think "de rien" is again a kind of curt way of saying "it's nothing" or "no problem." Perhaps your relative thought it was too informal for the occasion and that it might have been better to say "ce n'est rien" or "il n'y a pas de problème," or even "pas de problème." "De rien" is kind of shorthand, and maybe seen as slightly rude in certain situations.

I'm totally in agreement on merci bien--use it all the time-- As to "de rien", it is quite proper, no bad connotation and completely acceptable in my experience--we teach it and use it routinely.

Take care,
Robyn France

Re "de rien" -- the first time I heard it used was by a friend married to a French husband. (She's not French by birth.)

So I'd imagine that she knows what she was doing.

:-)

Like St Cirq, I hear it all the time, and de rien = it's nothing or don't mention it(in the thank you vein)

mesdames et messieurs bonsoir!
we talked about "de rien" a month ago in that thread :
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34561541

Hi tedgale,

Is it not possible for something can be "satiating, filling...offensive to the senses, disgusting, foul or loathsome..." without actually inducing nausea?

((I))

Yes, most probably my "de rien" response was inappropriate for the moment due to the brevity, kind of like doesn't matter...but it was a very subtle construct and involving people I know very well.