| “…blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord…” |
| —Jeremiah 17:7a |
A recent article posted on January 4, 2022, as part of the on-line version of the UK newspaper, The Daily Mail, caught my attention:
American academics want ubiquitous Australian phrase no worries banned because they don’t understand how to use it properly. Lake Superior State University in Michigan revealed its annual list of “banished words” in 2022, with no worries making the list at number two—leaving Aussies outraged.
Wait, what? ranked in at number one while asking for a friend and circle back also made the list for being either overused, nonsensical, or just plain annoying. The top 10 were chosen from more than 1,250 submissions across the globe and has been an annual exercise for LSSU since 1976.
“Most people speak through informal discourse. Most people shouldn’t misspeak through informal discourse,” Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Peter Szatmary, said. “That’s the distinction nominators far and wide made, and our judges agreed with them.”
While Covid-related phrases like new normal, you’re on mute, and supply chain made the list, no worries ranked at number two. A phrase made popular by Australian icons Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin was targeted for its ”misuse and overuse,” according to the LSSU.
Judges claimed the phrase was an incorrect substitute for you’re welcome when someone said thank you, deeming the phrase as “meaningless.”
“If I’m not worried, I don’t want anyone telling me not to worry,“ a nominator said. “If I am upset, I want to discuss being upset.“
But language researcher Tim Webb and chair of the ABC’s English Usage Committee argues the phrase no worries is misunderstood due to its increase in popularity. “No worries is a victim of its own success, and has since become naturalised in America, that is, stripped of specific Australian connotations,” Mr Webb told The Guardian. “In my view the compilers of the Banished Words list at LSSU are idiotically mistaken to view no worries as misused, overused, or incorrect.”
Postdoctoral fellow at Macquarie University, Lauren Sadow, who has a background in linguistics, suggests the list misunderstands the phrase’s usage in Australian English. “Although it is used in the same place as you’re welcome, the meaning is quite different,” she said. Ms Sadow pointed out the term is actually very similar, in fact essentially identical, to American’s use of the phrase no problem. “I would say that its usage has been misunderstood by people who do not have it in their own idiolect,” she said.
The university releases its list of banned words and phrases every year since 1976, each year on New Years Eve to “start the New Year on the right foot, er, tongue.“ Over the past year, people submitted more than 1,250 suggestions for consideration, with nominations coming in from the US, Norway, Belgium, England, Scotland, Australia, and Canada.
Two foreign phrases have become a part of the vernacular of the Millennial generation in America. From these younger people, the phrases have spread to the older generations.
The first phrase, taken from Hispanic culture, includes the words: “no problem.” This phrase has replaced the more polite and infinitely more preferred—in my opinion—“you’re welcome.”
The phrase “no problem” is the Anglicized translation of the common Hispanic response to “gracias” (thank you), which is “de nada.” “De nada” literally translates “of nothing.” So, “no problem” actually has a different bite to it than the nuance of the South American Spanish phrase. Whereas, “de nada” is typically spoken with a bowed head of self-deprecation, “no problem”—as spoken by Americans—has a more dismissive tone that smacks, at least a little, of arrogance.
As mentioned above, in response to someone saying “thank you,” I much prefer the infinitely more polite “you’re welcome.”
The second phrase comes from Australia. It also is used in response to “thank you.” It’s the phrase “no worries.” When spoken outside the very specific context of the rich and vibrant Australian culture, such as when the phrase is spoken here in North America, the flippancy of its tone has a similar negative arrogance as the phrase “no problem.” Yet somehow, the jocularity of “no worries” does not seem quite as pompous nor dismissive to me as “no problem.”
Cultural context and the attitude of the speaker can paint any phrase with a dismissive meaning that the use of that same phrase in its normal culture simply does not possess. For we North Americans, I still much prefer the phrase “you’re welcome” as a more polite response to the phrase “thank you.”
But, have the Australians inadvertently stumbled on a spiritual truth? Even though their culture—based heavily on the laid back “tomorrow’s another day” attitude of the south Pacific mixed in with the banished prisoner “I don’t care” attitude of many of their forebears—has spawned the relaxed attitude behind the phrase “no worries,” is this, in fact, an attitude that followers of Jesus should cultivate?
The Prophet Jeremiah certainly recorded such words directly from God in Jeremiah 17:7-8:
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Let us begin this day by leaving our worries at the feet of Jesus. If He will care for us in the midst of a spiritual drought, He will care for us at all times. As “Christ’s-ones,” we can surely face whatever this day brings and quite properly respond: “no worries.”
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, March 7, 2016
