Thank you for what?

When I read the openSUSE forums or ask a question, I see that some “experienced” users always end their posts by writing thank you, like this:
Thank you,

I am not sure, but I guess this is part of their signature.

English is not my native language, but according to ‘Wiktionary’:
Thank you: An expression of gratitude or politeness, in response to something done or given.

If I understand the above definition correct, It is me who is supposed to say thank you because I asked the question and they gave the answer.
So, what is this thank you mania all about?

Thank you. lol!

afshine wrote:

>
> When I read the openSUSE forums or ask a question, I see that some
> “experienced” users always end their posts by writing thank you, like
> this:
> Thank you,
>
> I am not sure, but I guess this is part of their signature.
>
> English is not my native language, but according to ‘‘Wiktionary’
> (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thank_you)’:
> Thank you: An expression of gratitude or politeness, in response to
> something done or given.
>
> If I understand the above definition correct, It is me who is supposed
> to say thank you because I asked the question and they gave the answer.
> So, what is this thank you mania all about?
>
> Thank you. lol!
>
>
> –
> Just “clicking away” security warnings about a change in repo signature?
> Not able to control?
> Then -please vote- for
> https://features.opensuse.org/312047
> openSUSE should have an efficient web of trust.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> afshine’s Profile: http://forums.opensuse.org/member.php?userid=66431
> View this thread: http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php?t=474423

In English it can be used as expression, by someone with a knowledge of a
subject, to signify such but only in the best possible taste. It’s not meant
to be an indication of superiority though either.

I thought the answer by itself showed the quality of the knowledge behind it.
None of my teachers said thank you when I asked them a question. Nor did my parents or friends.
But if anyone answered my question in a manner that I understood, I said: “Thank you” which I
thought was short for: I see your knowledge of the subject and I appreciate that you shared it with me.

Well, it is also a new phenomenon in English speaking countries to avoid the word thank you. Especially AFAIK (as far as I know) in UK where the wording is apparently retained “too personal” so there was a fashion to substitute it with “cheers”. Now whether this is wrong or right as an explanation, IMO (in my opinion) it is neither negative nor bad to say thank you one time too much. When I take the bus I am always astonished about the “loss of the little shell of civilization” that should be present, at least spuriously. People do not say anymore: good morning, have a nice day, thank you and for whatever sake never say “please”!!! Totally “antisocial” of the good urban survival barbarian. You may step silently on toes, sit fast before the elderly person can and try whatever to get a short-sighted personal advantage. The alternative (verrrrry costly) is to behave like a thinking human being with a bit of empathy for the other “cohabitants” of the urban jungle.
So thank you for everybody having the good manner to say thank you, still.
Have a good day, and thank you for asking. :wink:

On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:06:03 +0530, stakanov
<stakanov@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> Well, it is also a new phenomenon in English speaking countries to avoid
> the word thank you. Especially AFAIK (as far as I know) in UK where the
> wording is apparently retained “too personal” so there was a fashion to
> substitute it with “cheers”. Now whether this is wrong or right as an
> explanation, IMO (in my opinion) it is neither negative nor bad to say
> thank you one time too much. When I take the bus I am always astonished
> about the “loss of the little shell of civilization” that should be
> present, at least spuriously. People do not say anymore: good morning,
> have a nice day, thank you and for whatever sake never say “please”!!!
> Totally “antisocial” of the good urban survival barbarian. You may step
> silently on toes, sit fast before the elderly person can and try
> whatever to get a short-sighted personal advantage. The alternative
> (verrrrry costly) is to behave like a thinking human being with a bit of
> empathy for the other “cohabitants” of the urban jungle.
> So thank you for everybody having the good manner to say thank you,
> still.
> Have a good day, and thank you for asking. :wink:
>

thank you – your explanation makes sense, and i agree that a “thank you”
too much is much better than one less than would be required or decent.

still, i also was tempted to write to one senior forum member here
privately, a long time ago, asking about the wisdom of adding “thank you”
to his signature. i thought this would diminish the value of the phrase,
applying it without consideration, in all circumstances.

i don’t have anything in my signature (even though i think i could have
one by now), prefering to add whatever i feel appropriate at the moment.
often it’s “thank you,” more often nothing but my name, like when i’m
answering a question which didn’t bring any new insights for me, but there
are other options, too: “have a nice day” when i’m not particularly happy
with a reply, or “have a nice life” when i decided to plonk someone.

strange thing i noticed though: even if i know that “thank you” has been
added pro-forma, part of someone’s signature, i still feel nice for a
moment reading it! the mind takes whatever comforts it can find,
apparently, and such a pro-forma “thank you” seems to be part of that.

another consideration may be that if you know you’re going to end your
post with “thank you,” you’ll probably take care to remain civil &
friendly throughout, if just in order to not look silly blasting somebody
and adding “thank you” at the end.

so in general, i think it isn’t a bad idea, while personally i prefer to
add whatever i think most appropriate to each post.


phani.

Please note that I am not talking about the use of the phrase ‘Thank you’ in general, but only in the OS forums.

@ phani
Thank you for your reply, but I still don’t quite get it. However, I envy you your feeling nice when reading it.
I feel nice when I read “Thank you peggy1234” or “Thank you tom5678”, but not “Thank you,”.

Up to now, I thought it was the questioner who was supposed to say thank you, and not the answerer.
And the only place I’ve seen this is in the openSUSE forums.

Oh yes, and I also know the senior member is. So, I also the first time I did read the sentence, I had the reflex to consider if this was a kind of patronizing way of doing…and then I reflected. It is not, IMO it has much to do with what is called register (even in the use here in the forum). I try to give you some known examples from English, French and Spanish language.
If you in English say: kind regards, it is a very common and kind way to close a written conversation. What surprise would it then be for you to know the following: “warm regards” at the end of a slightly resolute but irritated letter has the very meaning of “if I could, I would burn your house down”. But saying to somebody in English: “thank you for your warm words” is something absolutely positive and is not gravitated with a second thought.
Take then the French language. If you go to Belgium they often end their written conversation with “bien a vous”. I can assure you that, for a Canadian or a French from France, this ending has the potential of being irritating, meaning the exact contrary to the person as the sender intended to. Often people then “Google” or look up grammars and find out that it the equivalent of “veuillez agréer monsieur, mes sentiment…”
Take then finally an example of Spanish: in Spain it is normal to use the 2nd person singular even when addressing to important persons. In Latin America this is considered arrogant and totally out placed if addressing to a person of respect. A “usted” is always requested. If you use this in Spain you are considered distant, arrogant, hostile or…Latin American (the main part of the population well knows about the hick ups"). Not to mention the fatal accident that you may have if you employ the word* “coger” *(take, receive as payment, take up, pick up sb.) which has a “discovery channel meaning” in Latin America and is absolutely avoided. You may google for this, if you want to have fun. Same is for other expressions of continental Spanish.
So if you consider the even worse differences between UK English and the use of US English, it is straightforward that the use here in the forum is probably related to a register in use in the US, notably Southern States right away.
Oh, befor I forgott, the sentence about “thank you for still saying thank you wasn’t referred to anybody but to the people that I meet (or should I say meat LOL) every day in the autobus and that are very few to use it :wink: Just to avoid wrong impressions.
So I would go for " a question of local register”.

Thank you very much stakanov. Now, finally. Lets see if I’ve got it:
It is common to use the phrase in this manner in Southern States of US.
Strange that I missed that when I saw “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”.
Btw, I find Southern accent quite charming. Time to see the movie again. :slight_smile:

Danke der Nachfrage! :wink:

On 4/15/2012 2:56 AM, afshine wrote:
>
> When I read the openSUSE forums or ask a question, I see that some
> “experienced” users always end their posts by writing thank you, like
> this:
> Thank you,
>
> I am not sure, but I guess this is part of their signature.
>
> English is not my native language, but according to ‘‘Wiktionary’
> (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thank_you)’:
> Thank you: An expression of gratitude or politeness, in response to
> something done or given.
>
> If I understand the above definition correct, It is me who is supposed
> to say thank you because I asked the question and they gave the answer.
> So, what is this thank you mania all about?
>
> Thank you. lol!
>
>

This is a new world and more and more people are connected with their
smartphones and don’t have time to follow social procedures.

I mostly say ‘have a nice day’ or ‘good day’ or ‘thank you’ and its not
only in English. Even in my own native language we used to do that. So
its not just an English thing.
But sadly, more and more people are stressed with no time. Unless they
really really like you, they may say the same.

The same as there is no following on net etiquette there is no following
on social etiquette. As i got raised we got told how to interact with
others. Not sure if thats still the case.

But to thank in advance is a kind way, anything else may be rude.


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I prefer “Thank you” over “duh” and 'huh".

On Mon, 16 Apr 2012 01:26:02 +0530, Knurpht
<Knurpht@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> I prefer “Thank you” over “duh” and 'huh".
>
>

for me, it depends on the intention. can’t remember that this happened
here, but one could conceivably use “thank you” in a sarcastic, unfriendly
way, while “duh” or “huh” might actually make sense in some cases.


phani.

Yeah, thanks mr. Phani :smiley:

If I am not mistaken, the register of the German: “Danke der Nachfrage” is only used in case somebody askes about your health or if somebody had a problem and has been asked whether s(he) did resolve. I would therefor think it would not fit the “thank you for asking” (which was intended as - thank you for having asked instead of staying puzzled). But you will update me on that. Wrong? Right?

I could not tell, as I’m neither a German nor an English native speaker. I use “Thanks for asking” in the same situation where I used “Danke der Nachfrage” to avoid small talk in a previous life. It might not be exactly what people expect to hear, but it seems to work so far, since they usually give up. I won’t post here the answers I would provide in my first language (le grolandais).

As I understand it, to say thank you under such circumstances is intended as an expression of courtesy.

On the forums, on occasion, I like to say thank you after a long post of mine (trying to help) where I figure if the user with the problem has the tenacity and patience to read my lengthy dissertation, they definitely deserve both thanks and congratulations ! :smiley:

In cases where a user after following some speculative advise, manage to get their problem solved, and they then advised on the help thread that their problem was solved by following the advise provided, they are in effect sharing their solution, and I like to say thank you for sharing their solution.

Outside of this openSUSE volunteer effort, I am very fortunate where I work (to earn my salary), that the common expressions of good morning, good night, please, thank you, etc … are used regularly, and it makes the work space environment much more pleasant to be part of.

I frequently hear this after a politician finished his/her speech and in the Miss Universe/world/international pageant after answering the questions.:slight_smile:

Followed by thunderous applauds by the excited spectators.

My point in my earlier post is, it represent a kind of good gesture to the audience even while answering questions.
I like it. Like what I read on oldcpu’s post above, I had experience it also in all the places I worked in the city where I live,
that good morning, good night, have a nice day, thank you, you’re welcome etc. are used also regularly.