#so functionally theyre interchangeable expressions of gratitude most of the time

[orchidbreezefc]

this also reflects a difference in values! the boomers acknowledge the inconvenience of the action they're being thanked for and say the other is welcome to this inconvenience. meanwhile the millennial finds it more polite to assert that there was no inconvenience at all.

this is a lot of why younger folks are averse to phone calls, besides them being really scary. a phone call demands the other person put everything else down at a specific time and devote time to you. texts and emails can be responded to at one's leisure.

younger folks are more conscious of causing inconvenience to others and striving to respect their time. "no problem" sounds dismissive to a boomer's ears, disregarding the interaction as not a big deal rather than just accepting the dang gratitude. but it's actually intended as a reassurance: it wasn't a big deal to me, i didn't mind doing it for you. it's no bother, don't even worry about it.

Speaking of linguistics, there’s one particular linguistic tick that I think clearly separates Baby Boomers from Millennials: how we reply when someone says “thank you.”

You almost never hear a Millennial say “you’re welcome.” At least not when someone thanks them. It just isn’t done. Not because Millenials are ingrates lacking all manners, but because the polite response is “No problem.” Millennials only use “you’re welcome” sarcastically when they haven’t been thanked or when something has been taken from/done to them without their consent. It’s a phrase that’s used to point out someone else’s rudeness. A Millenial would typically be fairly uncomfortable saying “you’re welcome” as an acknowledgement of genuine thanks because the phrase is only ever used disengenuously.

Baby Boomers, however, get really miffed if someone says “no problem” in response to being thanked. From their perspective, saying “no problem” means that whatever they’re thanking someone for was in fact a problem, but the other person did it anyway as a personal favor. To them “You’re welcome” is the standard polite response.

“You’re welcome” means to Millennials what “no problem” means to Baby Boomers, and vice versa.The two phrases have converse meanings to the different age sets. I’m not sure exactly where this line gets drawn, but it’s somewhere in the middle of Gen X. This is a real pain in the ass if you work in customer service because everyone thinks that everyone else is being rude when they’re really being polite in their own language.