Anytime?? Ugh, what?

<snork>

I bet I'm a Canadian and my parents never told me, because I do that all the time. It does turn stupid sometimes, but it's always amusing. I did it all the time when I was waitressing, too. It reminds me of that old Warner Brothers cartoon with the two little rodents who were super polite, anyone else remember them? "Oh, no, no, after you," "I couldn't possibly! After you!"

We used to do that at four way stop signs in my old home town near which you now live, Cypher... After you.., no, after you...

That's true, osso, I definitely notice and like that about this area.

I don't think there are a lot of places that could manage all right with so many four-way stops and fairly brisk traffic, but everyone is very nice about it here. It was one of the first things I noticed on our first visit to Arcata and I was surprised to see that it works so well!

Don't know about the Warner Bros. cartoon, but Frederick Opper's "Alphonse and Gaston" was a comic strip that featured two insistently genial gentlemen who would get into all sorts of complications because of their exaggerated politesse:



(To see some of the cartoons, go here). Baseball aficionados know that when two players approach each other to catch a fly ball, but assume that the other will catch it and so let the ball drop between them, that's called an "Alphonse and Gaston play."

I'll remember that now, Joe from Chicago...


The additional problem to the stop sign dance in Eureka was that sometimes it was only a two way stop sign intersection, and a driver who HAD NO STOP SIGN would stop and wait for you... thus flummoxing up the situation by creating potential rear-ending for his or her own car and aggravating real stop sign waiters...

Osso, we were just talking about that yesterday. It would be nice if more of the stops were labelled as two-way or four-way. Especially in Arcata with the streets being so crowded with cars, bikes and pedestrians! It can be hard to tell, and you find yourself either stopping when you don't have to or starting to drive straight thru when someone is coming the other way at a good clip! It can be a little hair-raising...

I can't stand people saying "not problem" when you thank them. I never suggested it WAS a problem!

You just indicated that you were somewhat indebted for the kindness.

Oh! I'm one of those who say "anytime" in response to thanks!

I'm one of those old fashioned guys who says "you're welcome".

My British father raised us to say, My Pleasure... he considered You're Welcome to be common or something.

Took me years to get over it. I now say You're Welcome just as often as My Pleasure.


Do you say, "I beg your pardon?" when you didn't quite hear what someone said?

Simply a smile is great. Or some kind of physical contact.

Sometimes politeness laid on thick can come across phoney or almost like a stab. "You're so welcome, dear. It's no problem at all."
It really depends on how it is said.

Lots of Canadians go overboard. Sometimes it's a real bitch trying to get away from a situation gracefully.

I have certain family who have mastered the use of politeness as a barb to a fine art. Often, the "You're welcome." is followed by a 'compliment' with a self-deprecating add-on.
"You're welcome. There is no way I could wear those pants bc of my large butt, but you being so thin, why, I don't see why you shouldn't have them."

You said:

"You're welcome." is followed by a 'compliment' with a self-deprecating add-on. "You're welcome. There is no way I could wear those pants bc of my large butt, but you being so thin, why, I don't see why you shouldn't have them."


Ha ha - no one in my family says things like that But you're right, it's like Cdns think they have to continually apologize. I never understood that.

So, do you say "I beg your pardon" when you haven't heard someone?

My dad says "I beg your pardon?" when he doesnt hear or catch something.

I say "sorry?"

They got it from the English, I'm afraid.

I apologised to a wall, once.

Cypher, I understand you completely....

ok, ok, relative to the area intersections..

Well, hey, myself and some pals are hard of hearing, as they say. I just say the usual old "what?", or more often, do some sort of signal for them to repeat. Odd for me in that some people talk too loud for me, and others murmurmurmurmurmur as they snuffle sideways.

I don't apologize.

However, I do tend to move ingratiatingly towards the person I can't hear. That drives me crazy about myself. I hope to train myself out of it some time in the future. Everyone knows power comes from he or she who is the rock.

Except, it seems me, who moves to the one I can't hear.

My father considered "What?" to be extremely rude. We were NOT allowed to say that - ever! We had to say, I beg your pardon? or Pardon me? etc

He also said 'How come?" wasn't even English I tend to agree with him on that one but I don't care about it like he did. He was quite vehement about it.


Upon reflection, he had a lot of opinions on the English language. Stuffy old goat.

lol. I say "Pardon?"

I hear a lot of "Wha?"s and "Huuuh?" and "Eh?". All fine, but I do find the "Beg your pardon?" to be a lot easier on my nerves.

Off topic - my husband is off to Wpg around the Thanksgiving weekend to visit family... hope the weather holds... I hear the mosquitoes were non-existant this year - is that true??