More and more, from all age groups, I am hearing "No worries!" when I apologize for something or say I am going to be a little late or something like that. For example, the other day I had to leave dinner with a friend a little early so that I could catch my train and I sent her a text explaining. "No worries!" she wrote back.

Are you hearing this a lot these days too? For some reason, it irritates me. It seems like they are saying, "This could be a big problem, but don't worry about it."

Thoughts?

I use it a lot. The OED says it is chiefly Australian.

I still use, "What, me worry?"

I use it all the time.

As goofy said, it's chiefly Australian, but I use it quite often - probably because of the Oz influence on British English.

Strange. When Ib encounter the situation descibbed, the usual comment to me is "Get ****ed!"

Interesting. So you all must like it then? I don't use it, but I do hear it a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
I still use, "What, me worry?"

.

Kalleh, I hear this regularly from my friends who came here from India. No one else, tho. I interpret it as their version of 'no problem'.

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:
Strange. When Ib encounter the situation descibbed, the usual comment to me is "Get ****ed!"

Get edited?

I just heard an expression that seems more commonStateside: "Not to worry."

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:
I just heard an expression that seems more commonStateside: "Not to worry."

Sounds more British to me, proof. My Mom used to say it.

I've heard "not to worry," too, but it doesn't seem to have the same meaning as "No worries." I just heard another today that I hate as well, "No biggie."

Why do you hate these phrases. With "no biggie" would you also hate "no big deal" or even "it's not a big deal"?

"De nada" or de rein" are similar, so yeah, they're no big deal.

But aren't all of these options more pleasant to the ear than 'Whatever'? I'm glad to see that one fading from use.

Indeed!

quote:

Originally posted by bethree5:
But aren't all of these options more pleasant to the ear than 'Whatever'? I'm glad to see that one fading from use.

But doesn't "whatever" carry an entirely different implication. All of the others are, in one way or another, saying that something doesn't matter but with an implication of understanding while "whatever" is more of a "don't care" response implying a fault on the other person's part.

quote:

Why do you hate these phrases. With "no biggie" would you also hate "no big deal" or even "it's not a big deal"?

Bob, are there no words or phrases that you dislike? These are just two that I don't like ("no biggie" or "no worries"). That's all. No big deal.