Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!dsinc!cpp!aawest
From: aawest@CritPath.Org (Anthony West)
Subject: Re: romance parallels
Message-ID: <Dv67A8.9r1@CritPath.Org>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:49:20 GMT
References: <mankin-2407961454280001@mankin.usc.edu>
Organization: Critical Path Project
Lines: 20

In article <mankin-2407961454280001@mankin.usc.edu> mankin@bcf.usc.edu (Eric Mankin) writes:
>French and Spanish both use the same idiom
>for 'you're welcome' -- 
>
> il n'y a pas de quoi
> no hay de que
>
>Does anyone know the origin of the expression (originally
>French? originally Spanish?) and if any other Romance
>language uses the equivalent phrase in parallel fashion.
>(Portuguese also says 'de nada,' I know.)
> 
> Eric Mankin
>
The Canadian French would be unlikely to say "il n'y a pas
de quoi." The standard phrase is "de rien" (parallel to
"de nada."

Tony West

