How “no worries” infected American English
qz.com
qz.com
It sort of didn't really fit my plans for that particular evening, so I turned it down. What I did instead, I don' remember.
A report did reach me later. It had been a great event. The star of the movie didn't care that much for red carpet, and had been hanging out in the bar, downing a few beers, and having a chat with the guys behind the counter.
Superb move. I had turned down the world premiere of Crocodile Dundee, Sydney 1986.
Unless you were calling him 'Johnnie' to make him sound small. Which would be a breathtakingly childish and hollow rhetorical device. Stick to the meaningful policy debate.
The actor John Howard doesn't (publicly) get called Johnnie, sure. The politician John Howard was frequently called 'Little Johnnie [Howard]' by detractors, and occasionally this was shortened to just 'Johnnie'; "Did you see what Johnnie did today?"-type stuff. Never used in a respectful context, though.
If it bleeds, it leads. Anything that sounds negative gets more clicks, views, shares than its identical, neutral-sounding counterpart.
Would have never guessed it was a relatively new addition to North American English.
"yeah, no worries bro", or simply in texts as "nw".
I don't find small talk super easy - I'm usually deep in thought and so jarred by what's said that I miss the opportunity. Some phrases that have been super useful for me, even though I can remember times I didn't even like hearing them:
- "How's it going?" easiest hello
- "No Worries" easiest thank you
- "Have a good one" easiest goodbye
And armed with these phrases I can tackle almost any wild small talk that pops up in my day :)
(don't post spoilers, Australians!)
"in the UK many people take it as a given that the speech pattern arrived from Australia, going so far as to dub it the Australian Question Intonation. Some laymen go even further and trace the shift in British speech patterns to the arrival of soap opera Neighbours on British television in 1986."[0]
My favorite phrase I picked up was "bouncing around like a blue assed fly"...
I don't recall hearing it much in Singapore when I lived there, despite that it's at the top of the list.
No worries, mate
from now on.
Negations aren't rare in Aussie speech (see "litotes": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English#Vocabulary).
If you're not too fussed about the less than positive implications, you can even use it for emphasis.
No reason not to embrace it.
Cut forward a few years and everyone seems to be saying it.
It was definitely a sharp incline of usage
I'm not worried, so you shouldn't be either. It's a great expression.
Another one is "you're alright" to also means "you're welcome" (at least where I was in Queensland). Yeah, I am alright, and I'm also thanking you! Takes some getting used to.