"On site or to take away?"
, asks the person behind the counter.
“On the spot, please”
, we answer instantly.
And the return fuse:
"No worries"
.
We stop.
Another follower of this language tic!
It is common in the streets, in cafes.
"No worries, I'll bring you your coffee right away"
,
"no worries, I'll send it to you right away"
... What a funny idea, luckily there's no
"worry"
to order his coffee!
Since it is the server's job to provide it.
Why not just say
"yes"
?
Worse, when we send a
"thank you"
by email or text message, we sometimes receive a
"no worries"
back with a smiling head.
The expression, denounced in 2009 in the columns of Le
Figaro
and justified as a
"remedy"
for the French in the face of the crisis, remains tough.
It stands against winds and tides.
And yet, it poses a problem.
To discover
Crosswords, arrow words, 7 Letters... Free to play anywhere, anytime with the Le Figaro Games app
Read also“On y go”: why do we like to speak Franglais so much?
Why will you tell me?
Because, in the words of linguist Julie Neveux in her book
Je parle comme je suis
, what our words say about us,
"by saying that there is no problem, you presuppose that there could be have one anyway
.
What poses a problem in this formulation is the very presence of the word
“concern”
.
This word is attested from the 13th century in the form
“soussi”
to define
“anxiety, anguish caused by dangers, difficulties”
.
There you have it, a hell of a problem!
Concern is synonymous with worry, concern, worry or even torment.
What strong words.
It is itself derived from the Latin
"sollicitare"
which means
"to torment, to preoccupy"
.
It sometimes, even often, supplants the wording
“no problem”
, already considered a
“fairly relaxed”
expression , in the words of the academician, Danièle Sallenave.
"A problem gives concern, it's obvious, but it should not be confused with it"
, she wrote in the notepad of the French Academy, in 2018.
And then, the expression
"reveals implicitly an explosive society, worked by inflammable subjects and potential conflicts that most of us try, somehow, to defuse", analyzes
Julie Neveux.
It has become the modern equivalent of the phrase
"everything is fine Madam Marquise"
, popularized in the 1930s by Ray Ventura's orchestra, even when the going is dire.
Admittedly, it often rains bad news but not enough to say
“no worries”
!
Read also“Suddenly”, “in fact”.... Why do language tics irritate us?
What does the French Academy say?
Even the Sages consider that we hear
“too”
often
“no worries”
to
“mark adherence or consent”
.
And suggest answering
"simply"
a yes,
"it's not a problem"
or
"don't worry"
.
Otherwise, we offer you alternatives: nodding your head knowingly with an optional
"of course"
.
