Timeline for Why is there no comma after "no" in "thanks, but no thanks"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 3, 2022 at 14:42 | comment | added | Laurel♦ | Related: Should there be a comma after "no" in "no thank you"? and Is a comma required in 'No thanks' when it means 'No, but thanks anyway'? | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 16:38 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Not only would it be less felicitous in representing speech with two commas, it would look untidy, even ugly. Punctuation rules are relatively fluid until clarity becomes compromised, and the trend is / trends are towards more minimal punctuation and/or more faithful representation of prosody where clarity demands allow. | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 16:26 | answer | added | jsw29 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 14:17 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 1, 2020 at 3:03 | |||||
| Jun 14, 2020 at 14:08 | history | edited | Neinstein | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jun 14, 2020 at 10:45 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | Neinstein your Q title asks why there is no comma, but there is a comma. Maybe change the title to "What aren't there two commas in "No, but no thanks."? | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 10:19 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | @Greybeard English is not a tonal language, it is stressed time. Tonal languages, as Wikipedia tells me are usually of Asian origin, e.g. Chinese, Thai etc. According to FIS “English is a stress-timed language.† Its intonation patterns, therefore, are different from those of syllable-timed languages like French, Spanish or Hindi.” | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 9:52 | answer | added | Prime Mover | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 9:41 | comment | added | Greybeard | English is a tonal language and punctuation is an aid to the tonality. In Thanks, but no thanks, "but" has the meaning of "however", the comma is required to distinguish between the intended meaning Thank you for making your offer, but I am declining your offer and the meaning without the comma of "Thank you for making your offer, by which I mean that I do not thank you for your offer, which is rude. | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 9:20 | comment | added | A. Kvåle | I think it's simply an exception to the rule. I think it might have something to do with the flow and rhythm of the language. There is no pause between "no" and "thanks" in speech, because it would probably be quite jabby, so therefore there is no comma in writing, to signify this lack of pause. | |
| Jun 14, 2020 at 9:16 | history | asked | Neinstein | CC BY-SA 4.0 |