{"id":69337,"date":"2025-05-31T15:52:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T20:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=69337"},"modified":"2025-05-31T15:52:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T20:52:37","slug":"welcome-in-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=69337","title":{"rendered":"\"Welcome in!\", part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entertaining article in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) by Joe Pinsker (5\/30\/25):<\/p>\r\n

\u2018Welcome In.\u2019 The Two-Word Greeting That\u2019s Taking Over and Driving Shoppers Nuts.<\/a>
The phrase has spread to coffee shops and credit unions, and customers are wondering why; \u2018like a slap to the ear\u2019<\/p>\r\n

The first thing I have to say is that I'm amazed this article doesn't mention the Japanese greeting \"<\/span>Irasshaimase<\/span> \u3044\u3089\u3063\u3057\u3083\u3044\u307e\u305b\", a phrase meaning \"welcome\" or \"please come in\". It's a polite greeting used to welcome customers when they enter a shop or restaurant in Japan.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Last September, we had a lengthy, vigorous discussion about the \"welcome in\" greeting sweeping southwest United States, including a deep look at its Japanese <\/span>\"Irasshaimase\" heritage which we examined in 2021 (see \"Selected readings\" below).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pinsker didn't do his homework.\u00a0 If he had, he certainly would have come across the Language Log post on <\/span>\"'Welcome in!'<\/a>\" (9\/9\/24) and its introduction to the Japanese phrase \"Irasshaimase\".\u00a0 A letter to the editor is in order.
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pinsker emphasizes that the phrase seems to have come out of nowhere.\u00a0 Never mind that there was an\u00a0<\/span>American television sitcom<\/a> Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/a><\/i> that ran through 120 episodes in 12 seasons<\/a> from October 15, 2000 to April 7, 2024.\u00a0 The 105th episode of the series (the 5th episode of the 11th season) was titled \"IRRASHAIMASE\" and features the leading actor's misuse of the Japanese expression.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pinsker begins:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Welcome in, reader.<\/p>\r\n

Not \u201cwelcome,\u201d but \u201cwelcome in.\u201d We\u2019re delighted you stopped by. But are you? Or is that phrase highly annoying to you, like it is to Natasha Chernis of Los Angeles?<\/p>\r\n

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The 32-year-old software developer was perplexed when a retail worker first greeted her with \u201cwelcome in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI just kind of stared at them because I thought they were going to finish the sentence with something else,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Then comes the confusion and perplexity:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Across the country, people are hearing \u201cwelcome in\u201d at coffee shops, credit unions, yoga studios, dermatology clinics and convenience stores. The phrase has taken off in the 2020s, and customers say they are baffled by its sudden popularity. One reader wrote about their befuddlement in a letter last year to Miss Manners, who surmised the person who used it was probably confused.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnything new in language that people begin to notice is likely to attract the haters,\u201d said Lars Hinrichs, a linguist in the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s English department.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Speculation abounds on the origin of the phrase.<\/p>\r\n

Here are some guesses:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is it a homey Southern greeting that went national? A line from one corporate chain\u2019s training manual that other businesses adopted? An awkward adaptation of \u201cwillkommen,\u201d the German word for welcome?<\/p>\r\n

None of those theories are backed by strong evidence, and tracing the roots of \u201cwelcome in\u201d has proved to be elusive. Some wonder if it got a boost after Covid-19 closures, when businesses were welcoming customers back into physical spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

In general, American reactions to \"welcome in\" appear to be negative:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

People started noticing, and complaining about, \u201cwelcome in\u201d in the 2010s, particularly in stores, according to Grant Barrett, a lexicographer and co-host of the public-radio show \u201cA Way with Words.\u201d Barrett tracks mentions of certain phrases over time.<\/p>\r\n

Barrett said \u201cwelcome in\u201d evokes strong feelings because it draws attention to how interactions between businesses and customers differ from casual conversation.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe get this weird, stilted language in a commercial exchange, like a waiter says to you, \u2018What will we be having today?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n

Tyler Jenich, a 42-year-old sommelier, has disliked \u201cwelcome in\u201d since he first heard it a few years ago at the restaurant he works at in Venice, Calif. To him, it carried an off-putting faux warmth.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Myriad are the ways \"welcome in\" spread so rapidly:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Michaela Behymer started saying \u201cwelcome in\u201d (at a normal volume) in the late 2010s after hearing her co-workers at a pizza chain use it.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou could just say \u2018welcome,\u2019 but \u2018welcome in\u2019 is more like, \u2018Please come in. We\u2019re happy to see you\u2014you are invited to this place,\u2019\u201d said Behymer, now 26 and a grant writer in Kansas City, Mo.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Paul E. Reed, a linguist at the University of Alabama, said the additional \u201cin\u201d deepens the sentiment, like the difference between \u201ceating\u201d something and \u201ceating it up.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Even though there were taverns and hotels with the punning name \"Welcome Inn\" in America during the 1800s, it never caught on as a ubiquitous phrase\u00a0 of greeting.
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pinsker cites many more reasons than those listed above why Americans tend to be turned off by \"welcome in\", whereas Japanese think that, if you don't <\/b>say <\/span>\"irasshaimase<\/span> \u3044\u3089\u3063\u3057\u3083\u3044\u307e\u305b\", you're being cold and impolite.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In my opinion, what we're seeing right now with \"welcome in\" is a clash of cultures.\u00a0 The better one will win, and that is as it's been throughout human history.
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Welcome to the world, people.
<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n