Thumbs up, cheers, nice one! Is ‘thank you’ really in danger of dying out?

Name: “Thank you.”

Age: Dates to the 14th century.

Appearance: Infrequent to the point of being endangered.

Sad but true – people are so ungrateful these days. Or maybe they just have a different way of showing their gratitude.

Like how? Through emojis.

Oh, please. It seems young people today find writing “thank you” awkward and outdated, and would prefer to send a thumbs up emoji or an abbreviation such as TYSM.

What does that stand for? Thank you so much.

You’re welcome. How do we know this? A new survey found that 10% of gen Z – a generation already renowned for their inability to interact normally – do not like being put in a position where they may have to say thanks.

First of all, the peculiar foibles of gen Z do not necessarily reflect a wider cultural shift. Try telling them that – they won’t thank you for it.

And second, 10% isn’t a lot. Perhaps not, but nearly a fifth of those between the ages of 13 and 28 claim to feel uncomfortable saying thanks.

That’s still not that many. In addition, 55% of those surveyed feel they are being thanked less often.

Maybe they’re doing less to deserve it. The survey also found that Bristol, Manchester and Brighton are the most polite cities, where residents say thank you on average 15 times a day.

There you are: thank you is still going strong. But the phrase “thank you” is by no means Britain’s most popular way to express gratitude.

What is? “Cheers”, which migrated from pub use to more generic appreciation in the 1970s, is now the favourite, with 42% of people using it. Other options include “much appreciated” and “ta” or “ta la” (if you’re a scouser).

Where did this strange survey come from? It was commissioned to generate publicity for The Big Nationwide Thank You campaign – where the building society is giving customers £50 each after taking over Virgin Money.

Doesn’t that colour the findings? It’s a survey, not a scientific paper.

It has got me thinking: why do we even say thank you in the first place? In Old English, the noun “thank” meant “thought”. To thank someone eventually came to mean to offer kind thoughts – or goodwill – in return for a favour granted.

Interesting. Unlike the equivalent in some other languages, “thank you” expresses gratitude rather than indebtedness.

So it basically means: praying hands emoji. More or less, yes.

Cheers, mate. No problemo.

Do say: “What do we say?”

Don’t say: “You’re welcome, but to be honest I’d rather have £50.”