Date: Fri, 17 Oct 1997 13:56:30 -0500

From: Larry Rosenwald LROSENWALD[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WELLESLEY.EDU

Subject: thank you . . . thank you



The recent query about "in future" vs. "in the future" prompted

me to ask this. When I listen to the radio, I'm often struck by the

fact that when a host of, say, a talk show, says to his or her guest,

"thank you for being with us," the guest replies "thank you" rather

than "you're welcome." It's my (unsubstantiated) impression that this

replacement is becoming more common, and was considerably less common

when I was growing up (I'm 49). Has anyone else noticed this?

Best, Larry Rosenwald