We lived in the Bay Area back in the 70's. I am from the Boston area. A census-taker interviewed me one day, and at the end of the interview asked, "Are you from England?" I replied, "No, I'm from NEW England!"

Like I said to my girlfriend Mahreen Harnedy, such a good girl, ahways says "You're welcome, Mrs. Manna" to my ma, "Whatcha want to go out with one of the publics for?

Don'tcha know she wises up and ends up marrying Joe Rizza. Meets em down on my steps even, so I'm gonna be the one responsible. 40th coming up pretty soon and no Eyetalian beef at the Martinque this time, better for sure. Renewal vows in the old Tommy Moore Church?? I'll be there, Mo.

Actually, Al, unh-huh and uh-uh are African in origin. The Kings English is yes and no. Give the slaves some credit for keeping their own and then actually passing it on to the white folks.

Sure!
M

So says Robert Ferris Thompson.

TG: That's correct! But still, I dislike its use. Geneva Smitherman has written extensively on African American Vernacular English - it's quite an interesting read.

seetheworld, unh-huh! I will check that out.

Make that Robert F-A-rris Thompson.

I see no problem as being more like the "don't mention it" or "no mention" that I was used to in India.

But of late at work there are several people who say "you bet" in response to a thank you!! Never ceases to amaze me.

I actually find the 'you bet' a bit annoying, which I suppose is rather inconsistent of me as I do not find 'no problem' annoying ... ah, the joys of lanaguage.

I often have people change their mind after I have already done what they asked. They usually apologize to me for giving me extra work and my reply is almost always "Not a problem" meant as I am happy to get them whatever they want and it wasn't an inconvience.

A lot of people in service related industries don't make a lot of money but work their butts off. It's not very compassionate to want to rip someone's head off who's helping you just for saying a word you don't like when it wasn't meant offensivly.

lenleigh, Amen to that!

It would be a different world if the roles were reversed and the critical worked your job for just one week.

In CA we have so many immigrants.

Yes I know, some illegal. No comments necessary.

What matters to me is the kindness, the consideration that one shows.

"Your welcome", "it's nothing", "no problem", whatever the response is; if it is given with courtesy and a smile who cares IMHO what the response is.

Lenleigh, no one's ripping your head off for what you say -- and it's perfectly appropriate to say "no problem" when you've gone out of your way about something and it, truth to tell, WAS a bit of a problem for you. My "problem" comes when someone says that after doing something pretty simple and part of what they're paid for -- sometimes it's even without having a "thank you," just a knee jerk. Example, giving an order to a server: "umm, key lime pie and ice tea, please." "No problem!" Huh? If it was going to be a problem, maybe I shouldn't have even asked.

I've put in plenty of time in service jobs, and I know there are times to say, "oh, it was no problem, ma'am" or "a pleasure to help you." but they don't apply to 100% of the situations, and it's almost insulting when the answer is so automatic that you have to wonder if the person even heard you right.

One thing that both my husband and I notice a lot while travelling in the States is that many times when we would say "thank you", the response was "uh huh". What's with that?

I just got off the telephone with an airline without getting satisfactory help. While I tried to be polite and just say "thank you" so i could get on with my day, what do you think the response was? Yes, it was "not a problem"! I quickly hung up so i could scream:D

lol, mms!!!

mms- hehe, I understand, I work with college students and the whole 'like' thing is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, so you can imagine that I've had to learn to cope ;)

After I got the screaming out of my system, I called the airline back. A very nice gentleman helped me and we got our situation resolved. At the end of the conversation I once again said "thank you" (and meant it this time!), and low and behold I actually got a "you're welcome"! lol!

It's interesting to learn that regional accents are increasing. Sadly, though, the accent from *my* region, the Pennsylvania Dutch country, is fading. You hear far fewer "Dutchies" these days (and the accent is NOTHING like the accent used by the actors playing Amish characters in Witness). When I was a kid, almost everyone I knew either spoke with or had somebody in their family who spoke with a Dutchie accent (or could actually speak Pennsylvania Dutch/aka Pennsylvania German). I recently visited a friend who still lives in the area and she said virtually none of the kids have that accent anymore. When my old friends and I get together, we sometimes speak to each other with the old accents just for the fun of it. The kids think we're nuts, of course.

"No problem" definitely raises my hackles.

Or, from (usually) a yonger waitperson: What will youse have?

As another poster mentioned, I was surprised that some of the areas with the richest "accents" and colloquialisms were given such short shrift, including the upper Midwest, NY, Boston and Louisiana.

I think it's one of most interesting facets of this country - to have such richly varied dialects and accents. I sure hope if never changes.