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I find myself these days saying 'cheers' all the time as a kind of mild form of 'thanks', and I heard it said a lot round here (Northamptonshire, England). It's not even a commoner thing, I'd say the middle class are likely to use it a lot. Is it used this way in the US, or would you always consider 'cheers' as something to say when toasting?

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Here are two questions that seem to be asking something slightly different, but the answers to them actually answer your question as well: “Cheers” vs. “Thanks” in England and Using 'cheers' to sign off an email?. – RegDwighт♦ Feb 10 '11 at 9:37
and you might need to translate 'commoner' for the non-Brit readers :) (though I may be wrong...) – Benjol Feb 10 '11 at 9:38
@Benjol: dictionary.reference.com/browse/commoner - doesn't say anything about definition 1 being British. :-) – Jez Feb 10 '11 at 9:41
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@Benjol: We Americans know what commoner means; it means "more common", of course! :) – Kosmonaut Feb 10 '11 at 14:14
I only picked it up because of Brits and Ozzie (and Kiwi) friends using it! Otherwise, had never heard of it before. – user14263 Oct 28 '11 at 0:32
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2 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

No, Americans only use it as a toast, although we're aware that people from the UK and Australia use it as thanks or goodbye.

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Some people use "Cheers" as thanks or goodbye but it is very rare. – WalterJ89 Feb 10 '11 at 13:14
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@WalterJ89: and at least in some cases, it is a deliberately affected Britishism. – PLL Feb 10 '11 at 17:01
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I've heard it used as a parting word here in the states. Dunno if it was just from transplanted Brits though (I know a few). Never noticed. – T.E.D. Jul 19 '11 at 12:23
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I've heard it used as "goodbye", but not "thanks" (until I started watching Misfits). Recently, my husband asked me about an email from a colleague that ended in "cheers". He was actually offended by it for some reason. I asked if the sender was from the UK, he said yes, and I explained it was "normal". So many may not be aware, as your answer states. (We are in NYC, by the way — not some backwater.) – user24205 Jul 29 '12 at 4:18
up vote 1 down vote

Sometimes it is used now to mean "thanks" or "you're welcome" in addition to the toasting context. I live in America and it is catching on, most likely because of the Internet and how interconnected the world has become these days with travel and mobile phones, etc. For better or worse, sayings and distinctions that used to be regional or worldly locators for where a person was from or grew up is not necessarily the case anymore. YouTube, TV shows, movies, friends, travel, and the Internet, etc., can teach anyone anything these days.

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protected by Jasper Loy Jul 29 '12 at 15:49

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