Anytime/Any Time

Question

When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?[/nq]
Anyway, you like.

Ross Howard

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Anyway, you like.[/nq]
I read that as, "In any case, you like." Therefore, it makes no sense to me.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Anyway, you like.[/nq]
[nq:1]I read that as, "In any case, you like." Therefore, it makes no sense to me.[/nq]
You're not American, by any chance, are you?

Ross Howard

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I read that as, "In any case, you like." Therefore, it makes no sense to me.[/nq]
[nq:1]You're not American, by any chance, are you?[/nq]
Nope.
So which is most appropriate?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]You're not American, by any chance, are you?[/nq]
[nq:1]Nope. So which is most appropriate?[/nq]
Since "anyway" is a word that means "in any case", as you know, if it means "one of several methods" it should be written "any way".

Ross Howard

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?[/nq]
Any time.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?[/nq]
Depends how you define "appropriate".
"Anytime" is regarded as an incorrect usage by most English users so if you believe lexical correctness to be "appropriate" you should use "any time".
Though I have to say it would be quite a trick to be able to pronounce "anytime" in such a way that a hearer could instantly tell you weren't saying "any time". If you'd like to put a sound file on line with a quasi-random sequence of "any time" and "anytime" I'm sure many here would love to pass judgment or judgement.

John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?[/nq]
[nq:1]Depends how you define "appropriate". "Anytime" is regarded as an incorrect usage by most English users so if you believe lexical correctness to be "appropriate" you should use "any time". [/nq]
I don't regard "anytime" as incorrect in this very informal context. In general, "anytime" is to "any time" what "anywhere" is to "any where".

Matti

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?[/nq]
This is wholly conventional and largely arbitrary. There is no linguistic need to acknowledge "thank you" with any phrase at all. Typically, most Britons do not offer such an acknowlegment and most Americans do, most commonly with "You are welcome."
If it is possible to measure appropriateness, it may be measured (a) in relation with local social conventions and custom, or (b) as valued by either the speaker or the hearer. No rules govern (b) and the rules for (a) can be buried pretty deeply.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]When somebody says to you, 'Thank you', would it be more appropriate to respond with 'Anytime' or 'Any time'?[/nq]
[nq:1]This is wholly conventional and largely arbitrary. There is no linguistic need to acknowledge "thank you" with any phrase at all. Typically, most Britons do not offer such an acknowlegment and most Americans do, most commonly with "You are welcome."[/nq]
Slight correction here. First, the traditional AmE formal response to "Thank you" is "You're welcome" rather than "You are welcome". Second, there are actually many situations in AmE where no acknowledgment is expected to a "Thank you", but clearly there is a difference between AmE and BrE, with, apparently, no polite acknowledgment existing in the latter other than a second "Thank you" (which makes me wonder whether you can get into cascading "Thank you"s in BrE, or maybe "Thank you" fugue if you will, where it's sort of like a staring contest or a game of chicken to see who'll be the first to bring the "Thank you"s to a halt).

Also, I thought at first that the OP was asking about the spelling of the response as "any time" vs. "anytime". Three comments on this: (1) I think the proper spelling should be "any time" because there's some stress on "time", whereas with the word "anytime" we stress the first syllable in AmE
(2) "Any time" is a legitimate response to "Thank you" or "Thanks" in AmE in some circumstances
(3) "Any time" as a response to "Thank you" looks sort of funny in print, to the point that I wouldn't even use it in an informal e-mail. But I'd use it in fictional dialogue, say.

Anytime/Any Time

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