dear british people: what is the proper response to "cheers" or "ta"?

i'm an american living in america but a lot of the customers at my workplace seem to hail from british english-speaking parts of the world and will say "cheers" or "ta" instead of "thanks." "you're welcome" seems like a strange response to either of those acknowledgments. what do you say/do?

Well, if you are anything like the old scouser taxi driver I had once, the reply to "Cheers" is "Cheers? Do I look like a fucking barman?"

I don't think there is a response. I guess part of the point of talking like that is to strip away any pomp. "You're welcome" would sound weirdly old-fashioned and formal (it already sounds a bit strange to me anyway, even responding to a proper "Thank you"). But they're the ones talking foreign, so you should really respond however you like

"no danger"

I thought the response to "cheers" was "cheers". Which as an American I'd feel sorta uncomfortable saying, so I dunno. I think in this situation I've just like, mumbled something and waved politely.

No response required.

oi!

I say it as I start to walk off, don't expect a response. If someone says it to me, I might say no worries

Cheers: range of acceptable responses, from 'no problem' to 'my pleasure'.

Ta: is a form of thanks I've always found condescending, as if the thanker can't be bothered to waste a longer word on the person doing them a courtesy, or the thanker is showing they can communicate with the lower orders.

Sorted

Haha, I always use ta, mostly with a 'for that' cobbled on the end. Dunno about this communicating with the lower orders bit though, normally I'd get the butler to do that.

The correct response to "cheers" is "pleasure".

This is a contracted form of the old Devonian exchange:

"Cheers m'dear"/"Pleasure treasure".

Suzy unusually off the money with regard to "ta": where I come from it takes at least as long to say "ta" as it does to say "thanks". "Ta" much friendlier and less formal.

Whoa, West Country reprazent!^

Perhaps it is the faux-matey context in which I've always heard it used in London that affects my opinion, but whenever I've worked in shops etc, the 'ta' users are either managers putting on airs (effusive thanks for their bosses but not so much for the shop assistant that's done all the teas) or a certain type of snotty customer. At the farmer's market where I sometimes work, where you might expect there to be a sort of ooooo-aaaarrr factor, 'ta' is pretty well nonexistent with traders and shoppers alike, whilst 'cheers' is rife.

'Pleasure' is the best if you want to say something but we don't really do anything in the 'your welcome' position.

Where I come from real actual working class people say "ta" all the time. But anyway, there isn't really a response.

When I was small, I was taught that "ta" = a childish form of "thanks". Where I come from, it's usually heard in the form "Ta mate".

Taaa Laaa

"Nae bother"

FP might have hit it: a lot of 'ta' users are using it in an inappropriate adult/child way.

response to cheers is cheers

i thought scottish people say 'ta'

and the response is "uh-huh"

The correct response is "Lang may yer lum reek"

and yer da luvs it

Yeah there is no real response to either of these, as they are conversation closers anyway aren't they

response to cheers is cheers
and infinity later...

Toy Dolls indicate how you use 'ta' quite well in the intro to this clip for Nellie The Elephant:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg

As marianna says, no response is required - it implies closure.

Ha, I was going to say "no bother", but Tom's beaten me to it. Authentic voices of Scotland, us. (trying it in my head, because it's one of those things I say on autopilot without actually giving it any thought, "no bother" or "aye, you're all right" seem to come to mind with equal frequency)

"live long and prosper"

... provided you do the Vulcan sign as well

or the nerve grip

The mind meld is only for close friends

or if you're prince charles or gary lineker

xposts

Just say whatever you want, I think it will be OK

"FUCK YOU, CLOWN!"

grand so

"Jog on" in a really passive-aggressive, questioning tone usually suffices.

Or "wagwan, bra".

Or "blood" or something.

These are things Emma's brothers say to me.

fwiw I try to condense "yeah, sound mate" into one syllable

I've always loved "ta". I hear it way more in Glasgow than London though. I don't think I've ever used it myself, but man.. I would love to! I don't know if I ever could, though. It's like seeing a vest you think is way cool but knowing you could never pull off the look yourself.

Do you say "quid"? I have never known an American who felt comfortable saying that.

I don't feel comfortable saying a lot of Britishy things either. quid, trousers, ace, cheers, "fucking hell", Streatham -- they all sound really weird in non-Isles accents

The correct response is "be lucky, squire"

saying local slangs in a non-local accent is weird

"streatham" isn't a slang though

just a dump

i stopped feeling weird about describing things as "awesome" in an non-american accent a while ago though.

Oi! We have officially cleaned up our act since winning the "worst high street in Britain" award. Not a dump.

I just wish I could get my mum to stop pronouncing the H. But it doesn't sound right without a glottal stop in place of the T, too.

It is perfectly appropriate to use Ta between friends.

In a shop or at work I would normally say Thanks or Thank You. I don't think it hurts to be formal when talking to a stranger you will perhaps never meet again.

btw some Americans think that 'Ta' means 'Goodbye'. This is incorrect.

"ta ta for now" does mean 'bye' is the confusing thing.

I'm a fan of the "right, ta".

i prefer to just use limmy's xylophone to do the talking

No probs.

or, if you're being a bit more formal, "None of the probs".

lol?

lol of the probs

Today someone said to me, as a goodbye, "Mind how you go". !!

well? did you?

No, I didn't mind.

"s'alright, mate."

"don't do anything I wouldn't do"

There's a certain sub-group of Americans that use the phrase "cheers" a lot in what I assume is a manner similar to British usage. For example, I hear this from some folks here in Austin, TX from time to time. Is it wrong for me to find these people highly obnoxious?

"okey dokey!"

still lol at "cheers ears"

I would say, "You bet!" bcz I am cornball.

In Queens, the Irish boys don't seem to realize that when a green light is lit on the back door of a bus means is means it is time to push the door open. When I push it for them, they say "cheers" with their back toward me as they exit. I never thought it required a response. If someone said it to me while looking at me, I might do an instinctive Japanese head bow--would that be reasonable or no?

From you, Virginia, all things are reasonable.

But ... IRISH boys? uh?

I'm sorry, did she just say...

Today someone said to me, as a goodbye, "Mind how you go". !!

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 20 October 2008 17:41

haha i was about to suggest exactly this as a reasonable response!

ta means thanks. ta-ta means goodbye, as does ta-da, depending on the intonation.

"mind how you go" is used in the same way as "mach's gut" or "pass' auf" in German, i.e. "look after yourself, have a safe journey home" etc.

english is ACE.

although i do find myself adopting the australian "no worries" in response to both "cheers" and "ta" on occasion.

No worries = Nae bother

No Worries, Be Happies.

'Ta-Da' means 'I am now taking a sheet off this cage and the dove inside has vanished'

^ cage/dove interchangeable with hat/rabbit. We're not *that* precise :)

yeah ta-da is like flowers out of sleeves

you mean "ta-ra" charlie?

"ta-ra" charlie

It's usually "ta-ra chuck", in Weatherfield.

"Ta-da", as distinct from "Ta-dah!" (what PF and Onimo are referring to above, and pronounced with completely different intonation), is a variant of "Ta-ra" and indeed "Ta-ta".

Arguably, the d in "Ta-da" is merely a softened t or just a bastardised r - but it exists, definitely, all over the UK.

(insert relevant Scissor Sisters album sleeve here, obv)

I've never heard of ta-da as goodbye. Scissor Sister's ta-da is Ta-Dah! of course.

My dad says "ta-da" sometimes. Actually he says "ta-da then", it doesn't quite work the same without the "then" appended.

"ttfn" probably needs its own thread!

Sarah Cracknell signed (oh yes) the letter she sent me in 1992 "Tinkerty-tonk, Sarah" which I've always found adorable (and of course took to mean "I love you, please can I bear your children once you're a grown-up, like").

maria had a question:

"Any UK English speakers out there who can tell me if "pro-rate" as a verb is used across the pond? Dictionaries say it is Northern American. Is there a handy verb in UK English that means the same thing (e.g. Employees will be pro-rated for unused benefits if they quit before their employment contract has expired.)"

there is probably a better thread to ask on....but this popped up on da google...

We use pro-rata

it's prorate, but you do hear 'pro-rata' being used as a verb in itself e.g. 'your pay has been "pro-rata'd"'

we just use pro rata as an adjective, no verb.

cheers!

oh yeah you will encounter pro-rata'd at times

Sorted out

tidy

but the verb would be applied to the benefits themselves, not to the employees, i.e. "employees will have their unused benefits pro-rated"

I have heard pro-rate / pro-rated as a verb, though not often.

Maybe by Americans though? I can't remember. I'm thinking UK people would understand it, but not necessarily say it.

never heard it, would take me a minute

i think jim in vancouver is correct, there isn't a widely used verb for this in the uk. the sentence would need to be something like

"Benefits will be calculated pro-rata if employees quit before their employment contract has expired." or just

"If employees quit before their employment contract has expired, benefits are pro-rata."

counterpoint: it is core to the shape and energy of the english language that ALL nouns can be verbed and ALL verbs can noun

(personal theory: it's bcz we don't make a big deal of "endings" either for noun declensions or verb conjugations so it's an easy natural act of poetry to effect the switch)

consequence: if pro-rated doesn't already exist as a verb, it is its linguistic destiny to become one shortly -- why not get ahead of the crowd (and baffle thousands)

(lol can you tell i am reworking my writers' workshop AS WE SPEAK?) (or "do speeching" as i prefer)

The most common form I've heard in the UK is "pro-rata'd", just a lazy 'i need to use this phrase at this point in the sentence' usage, and it's obv not at all definitive, but it seems to work.

But pro-rata isn't a noun, Tracer just used it as an adverb and an adjective, respectively

Where do I sign up for sinkah's writers workshop though

tumblr iirc

Just to add to the confusion, we Brits would say "resign" not "quit".

fire all the piece work people, keep the pro ratas

Haaaa no, 'sack' not 'fire'.