Example 1. I am at the Pharmacy and at the end of our transaction I say "Thank you. Have a good day." The tech's response is "You welcome." I pause for a second and look back at her but she is just grinning away. Example 2. I call my credit card company to check on something and at the end the call I say "Thank you for your assistance. I really appreciate it." Her response: "You welcome." YOU'RE WELCOME. I'm not sure how this trend started but I am starting to get pretty irritated by this use of slang, especially on business transactions.
I hate slang as well. I need to know: Is it only Mexicans? Is it only Blacks? Is it only Asians? Maybe someone's trying to compete with EBONICS and starting an EFF'd up language of their own.
Just like other words that turn into slang im sure that people just start leaving it off and saying it faster and faster and it has become a common thing....crazy..but that's how language keeps evolving.
This reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode ("Wordplay") where the people around the main character slowly start to speak gibberish ("Sunflower" means "Sunday", "encyclopedia" means "dog", etc.). Why worry about slang? We'll all be speaking in teh 1337 sp34k in a f3w y34rz, 4nyw4y, n00bz0r.
I'll tell you where they over-use slang: New Mexico. I did the spring semester there. It's like being on MTV. Kids will tell you to "shut up" because they are from "the ABQ" (Albuquerque). I've never once gone to Midland and tried to tell people that I'm afforded some sort of undue respect because I have a Houston zip code. I think that people exaggerate accents and slang. When I lived in New York I had a roommate from Kentucky. I swear his accent got thicker every day to the point that people would openly comment on it. It's all for attention. In Hawaii, I noticed the locals tune the pidgeon up a bit when haoles are around. Saying you welcome rather than you're welcome is a conscious decision. I agree with the original poster that it is unacceptable.
