😠The Sarcastic “You’re Welcome”😠

Nothing like doing a good deed – say, opening a door or letting someone cut in front of you to keep up with their group – and not receive any acknowledgement.  And that’s exactly when it’s most likely to come out:

The sarcastic “you’re welcome.”

When did ‘you’re welcome” go from being a polite response to a snarky answer when feeling slighted?

Newer expressions of gratitude like “no problem” have opened the door for “you’re welcome” to take on a different sense.

The expression “No problem” is used more frequently today than 50 or 100 years ago. Just enter it into the google Ngram viewer.

This doesn’t separate out the uses that have nothing to do with thanking – for instance when telling one’s boss it will be no problem getting your report in on time – but it does suggest that this is a relatively new and increasingly popular phrase this century in response to things like thanking and requests.

And the same studies that looked at the use of “you’re welcome” also found quite a bit of “no problem” on the contemporary thanking scene.

So, it seems we have a case of both “you’re welcome” and “no problem” co-existing to serve the same purpose – responding to a thank you.