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.