First, a bit of background:
We generally take it for granted that commodes in the US can handle flushing just about anything. In addition to toilet paper, many a goldfish, car key, and Lego block can go down the pipes without any consequences. However, the plumbing infrastructure isn't quite as robust in most parts of Central America, so instead of flushing paper down, it all goes into a bathroom wastebasket instead. Hence, signs like this one in a bathroom in Mexico:
The where-should-paper-go aspect of this isn't what made me want to take a picture. Instead, what struck me about this sign was "Thank."
One single Thank.
How come people always say "Thanks" or "Many thanks"? It's always a vague plural.
Shouldn't the quantity of thanks be proportional to the size of the favor?
If something was appreciated but really wasn't a big deal, why don't we just give it one Thank?
If something deserves gratitude, why don't we quantify how many Thanks it gets?
For example:
- You gave me a piece of gum after lunch. One Thank!
- You watered my plants while I was away on vacation. Fourteen Thanks!
- You saved my entire family from a burning building. Nine hundred fifty-three Thanks!
(And just for the record, I do think that avoiding overflowing someone's toilet warrants more than one Thank.)
We generally take it for granted that commodes in the US can handle flushing just about anything. In addition to toilet paper, many a goldfish, car key, and Lego block can go down the pipes without any consequences. However, the plumbing infrastructure isn't quite as robust in most parts of Central America, so instead of flushing paper down, it all goes into a bathroom wastebasket instead. Hence, signs like this one in a bathroom in Mexico:
The where-should-paper-go aspect of this isn't what made me want to take a picture. Instead, what struck me about this sign was "Thank."
One single Thank.
How come people always say "Thanks" or "Many thanks"? It's always a vague plural.
Shouldn't the quantity of thanks be proportional to the size of the favor?
If something was appreciated but really wasn't a big deal, why don't we just give it one Thank?
If something deserves gratitude, why don't we quantify how many Thanks it gets?
For example:
- You gave me a piece of gum after lunch. One Thank!
- You watered my plants while I was away on vacation. Fourteen Thanks!
- You saved my entire family from a burning building. Nine hundred fifty-three Thanks!
(And just for the record, I do think that avoiding overflowing someone's toilet warrants more than one Thank.)
Huh. I'd never thought about this before! Now that I have, I've decided to always specify the number of thank(s)... if only for the purpose of getting weird looks from people.
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