Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 18:51:43 -0400

From: Beverly Flanigan FLANIGAN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAXA.CATS.OHIOU.EDU

Subject: Re: thank you . . . thank you



Melissa, do you have any evidence that people used to be more polite

and/or formal than they are today? And what's your time frame for

"used to"--50 years ago? 500 years ago? 10 years ago? How do you

measure politeness: use of title + last name vs. first name? use of

pleases and thankyous vs. Hey you and OK? Like some others, I

absolutely hate "(God) bless you"; it's not really polite and personal

so much as formulaic and empty, IMHO, and I (subtly?) signal my

rejection of it by never saying "Thank you" afterwards.