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Overused and empty words


actor61

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Or - the equally offensive “not a problem”. I HATE that reply!

 

On the other hand, the french phrase "Pas de probleme" translates as exactly that, and is considered OK, although "De rien" ("it was nothing"), used to be a little more idiomatic.

 

"No worries" seems a little less hackneyed when Brits or Australians use it, but seems a bit stilted for north american speakers, (although it is getting increasingly common).

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I recommend for you The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. Chicago: 1970. A really, really good read.

 

It seems like I read that. It sounds so familiar. There's an involved discussion in there on paradigm shifts, I think.

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It seems like I read that. It sounds so familiar. There's an involved discussion in there on paradigm shifts, I think.

 

Yeah - I don't recall ever having heard the term "Paradigm Shift" before reading that book. The point of the study was that as scientific endeavors became more skilled, certain collections of assumptions (paradigms), couldn't explain or match experimental results, and when the whole premise was rethought, new questions could be asked, which wouldn't have even made sense to phrase or ask prior to that change. I was reminded of it taking a course called "Introduction to research in Music" when I went back to grad school a couple of years ago - it was actually cited in one of the readings, but the instructor had never pursued t.i I nudged her a couple of times - her husband is a scientist, and she said he hadn't read it either.

 

But why I mentioned it here in the forum was that in that context, at least, the term "Paradigm Shift" was completely meaningful and appropriate. There were later editions that doubled the number of examples and case studies, but I don't think the inclusion of more examples really made the thesis any more compelling to reasonably educated non-specialists.

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Yeah - I don't recall ever having heard the term "Paradigm Shift" before reading that book. The point of the study was that as scientific endeavors became more skilled, certain collections of assumptions (paradigms), couldn't explain or match experimental results, and when the whole premise was rethought, new questions could be asked, which wouldn't have even made sense to phrase or ask prior to that change. I was reminded of it taking a course called "Introduction to research in Music" when I went back to grad school a couple of years ago - it was actually cited in one of the readings, but the instructor had never pursued t.i I nudged her a couple of times - her husband is a scientist, and she said he hadn't read it either.

 

But why I mentioned it here in the forum was that in that context, at least, the term "Paradigm Shift" was completely meaningful and appropriate. There were later editions that doubled the number of examples and case studies, but I don't think the inclusion of more examples really made the thesis any more compelling to reasonably educated non-specialists.

 

 

Since I work daily with innovations and innovation, I read a lot about it. This was a book I encountered three or four years ago.

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"Alpha Male" - compared to what????

"Total Top"

"Straight Acting"

"Porn Star" - just because one did a home made video and put it on xtube doesn't make one a porn star

"boy next door"

"boy" - this one irritates the shit out of me, I like grown men, not men calling themselves boys.

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Or - the equally offensive “not a problem”. I HATE that reply!

i am guilty of "not a problem" but I catch myself a lot now and say "you're welcome".

 

I wonder if I say it because I'm a people pleaser...by saying "no problem" I'm telling them "you can never ask too much of me," or something similar. Or I'm a saint for saying I dont have a problem with whatever task.

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i am guilty of "not a problem" but I catch myself a lot now and say "you're welcome".

 

I wonder if I say it because I'm a people pleaser...by saying "no problem" I'm telling them "you can never ask too much of me," or something similar. Or I'm a saint for saying I dont have a problem with whatever task.

 

 

Or its just an exceedingly common expression, not unlike saying, "it was nothing," or "don't worry about it."

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Since the thread was resurrected and several folks expressed frustration with "no problem" and other variants, I thought it would be fun to share this.

 

A colleague who is of Mexican heritage thanked me by saying "Gracias." I usually respond by saying "Bitte," one of the German replies to "Danke" (thanks) that translates literally to "please." However, I decided to let my other heritage do the talking and Googled the words for "you're welcome" in Polish. One of the search results led to a great article about the different ways of responding to the equivalent of "thank you." The first two are "Nie ma za co," which means something like “nothing to it” or “that’s nothing” and "Proszę bardzo," which is the same as “please.” (Think: "Please, no reason to thank me.") Less commonly used were “nie ma sprawy” (no problem) and “z przyjemnością” (with pleasure).

 

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the Greek response to "thank you." It is "παρακαλώ" and it means "please." A little more research lead me to a page on Quora where someone asked "Greek (language): Why do we say "παρακαλώ" when answering the phone or saying 'you're welcome'?" After several lines of explanation, the article states "When you respond to thanks (‘You’re welcome’), think of it as ‘I ask you not to mention it’. (This deflecting is pretty common cross-linguistically; British has ‘don’t mention it’, French has ‘de rien’ = of nothing, and some Germans say ‘dafür nicht’ or ‘da nich für’ = not for that.)"

 

After doing more research, I came across this article on StackExchange Linguistics which explains in other languages (such as Spanish, French, Swedish, and Japanese) the reply to an expression of thanks is the equivalent of "it's nothing" or "not for that," which to me is similar in meaning to "no worries" or "no problem," i.e., "you don't have to worry about thanking me" or "[the act you are thanking me for] does not require thanks."

 

So the next time you gripe about a reply other than "you're welcome," think about what the reply means. You might find yourself realizing that the "rude" reply is not so rude after all.

Edited by rvwnsd
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