By John Kelly
Thursday, December 21, 2006; B03

So, here's my idea: I apply for a research grant to study whether the "thank you/thank you" I wrote about not long ago is a new phenomenon or something that's been with us since the days of crystal radio sets.

To recap: The "thank you/thank you" -- or TU/TU -- is when a radio personality ends an interview with a "thank you," only to have the interviewee parrot back "thank you." My research project would consist of sitting down with recordings of radio shows from the 1920s and '30s to see whether they did the same thing back then.

A narrow interest, you say? Not necessarily. A Fairfax reader named Ann detests the TU/TU, too.

"Last year I kept yelling 'you're welcome' each time I had to hear the dreaded responses 'no problem,' 'thank you for having me,' 'much obliged,' 'oh, and thank you' ad nauseum," she wrote. "This fall I have begun my only recourse: I hit the mute button as soon as the interviewer says 'thank you' to his/her guest . . . Maybe someone will start a campaign to bring back 'you're welcome.' "

John Giovanelli of Kensington finds the TU/TU exchange "really weird. I always imagined that the interviewer had trained or coerced the interviewee to respond in such an irrational manner . . . but to what end?"

Potomac's D. Feinman blames it on the "current generation of lip-lazy Americans. This plus, I think, the urgency of radio -- and TV -- producers to crush more commercial and public service announcements into the limited broadcast time."

Fred Wenner of Frederick says his pet peeve is when the interviewee is thanked and then replies: "Thank you for having me."

Wrote Fred: "I usually say to myself, 'Yep, you've been had,' or, on reflection, I think we've all been had."

But Kate Genser of the District thinks we all doth protest too much. "If someone gives you a gift, you say, 'Thank you,' and they say, 'You're welcome,' " she wrote. "But if someone has a party and they say, 'Thanks for coming,' you say, 'Thanks for inviting me.' If you say, 'You're welcome,' that's like you're gracing them with your presence. I don't like it."

I would argue that the situation is more like the gift example than the party. When someone is interviewed on the radio, he's giving the gift of his expertise, his time and his presence.

I have an ally in Charlene Dorrian of Silver Spring. "I'm thinking of sending fan letters to anyone who says 'You're welcome' after he or she has been interviewed," she wrote.

Then there's the confusion over "thank you" in the retail world: "We thank the clerk for handing us our change," Charlene wrote. "[The clerk] thanks us for our business. Who's right? Who goes first?"

Charlene said she solved the problem by loudly saying, "You're welcome" -- "and I don't bother to give thanks for the change. Belongs to me anyway, right?"

As for the radio TU/TU, Charlene said that surely Bob Edwards feels the way we do.

I called Bob, now on XM Radio, to find out. He agreed that "thank you/thank you" sounds "awkward." He doesn't even think it's necessary for interviews to end with the little exchange.

"My producers have another idea," he said. "They're the ones who edit my interviews and package my interviews and put them on the air."

Bob said they insist the segments end with him thanking his guest. "They'll sit and wait for it," he said.

We've become so Pavlovian that we are strangely compelled to thank our thankers.

Well, thank you, Bob.

"No, thank you."

Argh!

I'll tell you what I am thankful for, and that's gifts to Children's Hospital. To donate, make a check or money order payable to "Children's Hospital" and mail it to Washington Post Campaign, P.O. Box 17390, Baltimore, MD 21297-1390.

To donate online using a credit card, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/childrenshospital.

To contribute by phone using Visa or MasterCard, call 202-334-5100 and follow the instructions on the recording.

I'll thank you to join me for my online chat, at 1 p.m. tomorrow athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.