What is the meaning of "don't mention it" (in response to "thank ...

When you are telling someone "don't mention it", what you are telling them not to mention is the 'thank you' itself -- you are saying "Your thanks isn't ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Whatisthemeaningof"don'tmentionit"(inresponseto"thankyou")? AskQuestion Asked 10years,5monthsago Active 9years,10monthsago Viewed 286ktimes 34 7 Ireadatseveralplacesthat"don'tmentionit"isequalto"you'rewelcome".Butforme,thewordmeanssomethinglike"don'tgoaroundtalkingaboutthistoanyone".Sowhatistherealmeaningofthephraseandhowdoesitfitinasaresponseto"thankyou"? phrasesmeaning-in-contextpoliteness Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJul28'11at21:10 Lauren 27511goldbadge66silverbadges1111bronzebadges askedJul20'11at4:20 Can'tTellCan'tTell 34311goldbadge33silverbadges44bronzebadges Addacomment  |  7Answers 7 Active Oldest Votes 61 Itdoesn'tatallmean"don'tgoaroundtalkingaboutthistoanyone."Itisinfactmuchcloserto"you'rewelcome." Whenyouaretellingsomeone"don'tmentionit",whatyouaretellingthemnottomentionisthe'thankyou'itself--youaresaying"Yourthanksisn'tnecessary.Iwasgladtodoit,soyoudidn'tneedtomentionyourthanks." (Note:Thisisjustanexpression.It'sdefinitelyagoodideatoexpressthankswhensomeonedoessomethingforyou;"don'tmentionit"reallyjustmeans"you'rewelcome;gladtodoit.") Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul20'11at4:25 AlanAlan 1,6871313silverbadges77bronzebadges 4 Indeed,evenifsomeonesays"don'tmentionit",ifyouchosenottomentionit,theywouldmostlikelybequiteoffended. – PaulWagland Feb1'12at18:19 It'scommontoacknowledgethanksbydenigratingthesignificanceoftheoriginalfavor(incomparison,Isuppose,totherecipient'sdeserts,notonanyabsolutescale)."Don'tmentionit","Noproblem","Mypleasure","Itwasnothing."InSpanish,yousay,"Denada"("fornothing");inItalian,"niente"("Nothing"). – MichaelLorton May30'12at0:51 Personalopinion:Ineverliked"Don'tmentionit."or"Itwasnothing.",unlessthefavorwasgenuinelyeffortless.Ipreferthingslike"You'rewelcome"or(IfIreallywasglad)"Iwasgladtohelp."or"Mypleasure."Inmoreformalsettingslikecustomerservice,Imightgosofaras"You'rewelcome.Thankyoufortheopportunitytoserveyou." – TecBrat Jul10'12at16:48 @PaulWagland:Thatmaydependuponwhatthepersonisdoing.IfBobvisitssomeone'sshopandseesthatJoehasproducedsomethingBobrequestedandbuta"Bob"labelonit,andifJoehappenstobebusyatthetime,JoemightinfactpreferthatBobnotdisturbhimpurelyforthepurposeofofferingthanks.Thatdoesn'tmeanhewouldn'twantJoetoshowsomeappreciationinotherwaysatothertimes,buthemayprefertominimizesocialnicetieswhenhe'stryingtofocusonwork. – supercat Jan17'14at22:50 Addacomment  |  12 "Don'tmentionit",alongwith"please","thankyou","you'rewelcome","goodmorning","howdoyoudo","lovelyweatherwe'rehaving","wemusthavelunchsometime"andmanymanymorearephaticexpressions.Theydon'tmeananything,andarenotmeanttomeananything.Theyexistsolelytooilthesocialwheels. Thefacttheydon'tmeananythingdoesn'tmeanitisallrighttoomitthem,however. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul20'11at6:06 BrianHooperBrianHooper 36.1k5353goldbadges143143silverbadges248248bronzebadges 3 Whatifyoureallydowanttohavelunchwiththeperson?Doesitstillcountasaphaticexpression? – JAB Jul20'11at14:33 IfIreallydowanttohavelunchwithsomeone,Iwouldn'tuse"wemusthavelunchsometime."Theimplicationissomeindefinitefuture.Itimpliesthatyouwanttokeepaconnectionwiththeperson,butnotacloseone.InsteadImightsay,"Let'shavelunch[nextweek]"or"Wanttohavelunchsometime?" – mkennedy Jul20'11at16:15 Thenshehandedmetwenty-dollarsforatwo-fiftyfare... – BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft Jul20'11at22:00 Addacomment  |  10 Inthiscontext,thephraseDon'tmentionitmeans"noneedtosaythankyou." Inotherwords,"youdon'tneedtomention'thankyou',Ididn'tdoitsoyouwouldsay'thankyou'." Thisismeantinthenicestpossibleway. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJul20'11at13:37 Marthaª 31.8k1212goldbadges9898silverbadges154154bronzebadges answeredJul20'11at4:24 paviumpavium 3,29433goldbadges1818silverbadges2323bronzebadges Addacomment  |  5 Otherphrasesthatcarrysimilarmeaningare"thinknothingofit,""it'snothing,""notatall,"and"noproblem."Likewise,acommonreplacementfortheFrench"mercibien"(thankyouverymuch)is"derien"(it'snothing). Themeaningbehindallthesephrasesisthatthethingdonewassosmallorsolittletroublethatnogratitudeisrequired. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul20'11at14:11 CalebCaleb 3,24622goldbadges2020silverbadges2929bronzebadges 1 Abetterdirecttranslationofderienwouldfornothing,asin"Thanks.""...fornothing!"Somewhatstrangely"Thanksfornothing"meansprettymuchtheexactoppositeinEnglish,i.e.thatwhatyoudiddeservestheoppositeofthanks.(Whateverthatit.) – ThePopMachine Feb7'12at4:20 Addacomment  |  2 Theexpressiondon'tmentionitisinthemeaningasthat'stoolittletomention. Therearesimilarthankyouresponsesinotherlanguages,liketheGermannightszudanken(toolittletothankfor)orSwedishdetvarsåliteså(thatwassolittle). Commonintheseexpressionsistobelittleonesowndeed,whichshouldnotreallybetakenliterallyasthatwouldalsobelittlethegratitude,butratherinthesenseofI'mgladthatsuchlittleeffortonmypartcouldhelpyousomuch. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul21'11at21:47 GuffaGuffa 9,24311goldbadge2121silverbadges3131bronzebadges Addacomment  |  1 "Don'tmentionit"hastheconnotationsof"notabigdeal."ItperhapscorrespondstotheGerman"Esmachtnichts,"anditsfigurativemeaningis"you'rewelcome." Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul20'11at12:59 TomAuTomAu 10.9k44goldbadges2929silverbadges5959bronzebadges Addacomment  |  0 ThisiswhatSheldonCooperwouldhavesaid-it'sanonoptionalsocialconvention. http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0064640/quotes Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJul22'11at5:03 manojldsmanojlds 16133bronzebadges Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedphrasesmeaning-in-contextpolitenessoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta Congratulationstothe59sitesthatjustleftBeta ProvidingaJavaScriptAPIforuserscripts NewresponsiveActivitypage Linked 4 Isitrighttosay"Thankyou"intheresponseof"Thankyou"? 2 Is"aha"anappropriateanswerto"thankyou"? 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