''No problem'' is an English expression, used as a response to ''
thanks'' (among other functions). It is regarded by some as a less formal alternative to ''
you're welcome'', which shares the same function.
Informality
Some people find the expression, particularly when employed in the service industry, to be rude, implying that a reasonable request could have been received as problematic or unwelcome. However, in the culture of younger Americans, ''no problem'' is often used as a more conversational alternative to ''you're welcome''.
It is widely believed that younger speakers especially favor ''no problem'' over ''you're welcome'', and empirical research has corroborated this belief.
No problemo
"No problemo" is "a popular elaboration" of "no problem" also used and popularized in
North American English.
The expression is sometimes used as an instance of "pseudo-
Spanish" or
Mock Spanish. An early example appears in a 1959 edition of the ''American Import and Export Bulletin'', with an advertisement stating: "Foreign shipping is No Problemo".
[''American Import and Export Bulletin - Volumes 50-51'' (1959), p. 278.] Its usage as a Spanish expression is incorrect; a correct translation would be , or . Many Spanish words from Latin roots that have English
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s have an ''-o'' in Spanish from the masculine Latin suffix ''-us'', such as "insect" (), "pilot" (), and "leopard" (); however, "problem" belongs to the group of words ending with an ''a'' in Spanish that have a similar English counterpart, such as "poet" (), "ceramic" () and "rat" (). In the case of , this is because it has a Greek 'ma' ending, and as such is among the Iberian words ending in 'ma', such as ''tema'', which is in fact
masculine
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
.
In the
constructed languages of
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
and
Ido, the word "problem" translates as "problemo". However, the etymology of the expression's use in the English language cannot be traced to either of these languages.
See also
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No worries
*
Hakuna matata
Footnotes
References
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External links
{{Wiktionary, no problem, no problemo
IMDb quotes
English phrases
American slang