Have a Nice Day!
I've haven't had time to blog this week as I'm the host at Jungle Red Writers, (www.jungleredwriters.com) where we have been having a travel week with our most memorable experiences, worst experiences etc. Tomorrow it's memorable travel meals so do come on over and add yours."
But I do have time today for a short gripe. It's about current slang/phrases/topical parlance that annoys me. I've had a couple of restaurant experiences recently where the wait person has really bugged me. At one place the server was trying so hard to seem willing that she said "Absolutely" to everything we said.
"Could we have some more bread?"
"Absolutely!"
And I'd like the crawfish please."
"Absolutely!"
This was cute to begin with but seven hundred absolutelys lately we were ready to hit her.
And the other waitperson experience was the opposite. Everything we asked for was "No problem."
I felt like saying, "It should be no problem for you because HEY IT'S YOUR JOB! "
I felt much the same when "have a nice day" first appeared. Nobody really wanted me to have a nice day. Nobody cared if I was about to have a tooth pulled or a mammogram. It was just the current expression.
So which expressions bug you?
But I do have time today for a short gripe. It's about current slang/phrases/topical parlance that annoys me. I've had a couple of restaurant experiences recently where the wait person has really bugged me. At one place the server was trying so hard to seem willing that she said "Absolutely" to everything we said.
"Could we have some more bread?"
"Absolutely!"
And I'd like the crawfish please."
"Absolutely!"
This was cute to begin with but seven hundred absolutelys lately we were ready to hit her.
And the other waitperson experience was the opposite. Everything we asked for was "No problem."
I felt like saying, "It should be no problem for you because HEY IT'S YOUR JOB! "
I felt much the same when "have a nice day" first appeared. Nobody really wanted me to have a nice day. Nobody cared if I was about to have a tooth pulled or a mammogram. It was just the current expression.
So which expressions bug you?
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message 1:
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Jan
(new)
Feb 24, 2012 02:09PM
I dislike "here ya go." When I am a customer and the server hands me my food through the window and says, "here ya go," it sends me into orbit. I want to explain to them that saying "thank you" is the more appropriate phrase. They get my money, I get their food. They say "thank you" and I say "you're welcome." I feel very old-fashioned at times. I still say "please" when I ask for something.
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I do too, Jan. And I raised my kids to say please and thankyou to everyone. Alas no more--along with holding open a door for the person behind you.
I know what you mean. I'm from Germany and didn't grow up with this slang in my English vocabulary, so at times I almost feel people are joking! I know it's meant well, but I really don't like this overdone friendliness that just feels fake, which one especially encounters in the shopping mall or retail areas. Or when basic strangers ask, 'How are you', but they don't care, they don't even look at you while they ask it. It's just become something to say, without any meaning behind it, which is quite sad.
