I found the phrase “Thank you for your trouble and we look forward to hearing from you soon” as the closing line of a business letter in an ESL book. Sounds a bit like as somebody is making trouble. I mean if you say ‘thank you for your help/support/response/etc.’, the phrase sounds clear and positive. But why use the negative word ‘trouble’?
How commonly used is that phrase?
Thank you for your the trouble.
It’s pretty common Torsten, I use it myself quite often.
As Barb mentioned, ‘trouble’ can mean ‘effort’ or ‘difficulty’, ‘extra effort’ in this sense.
You say it sounds like somebody is making trouble, and that’s exactly the sentiment. I, the speaker, may have caused some trouble on your behalf with my request.
Many thanks for your explanations. I guess my confusion stems from the fact that ‘thanks for your trouble’ seems to have the same structure as ‘thanks for your help/support’. In one case you thank a person for something positive they have done to you and in the second case you thank them for something they might be doing for you.
Well, to help clarify, I wouldn’t use the phrase ‘thanks for your trouble’ unless I knew that my request was particularly burdensome, Also, I’m more inclined to use it as an advance thank you for what I know will be an extra fuss for them. It’s like an apologetic thank you, if that makes any sense.
If I’m thanking them after the fact, and they really went out of their way to help me, I’m more likely to use ‘Thanks for all your help’ or some other form expressing gratitude.
Also, if I know that the person is going to have to really go out of their way to accommodate me, then I’m likely to use it. If it’s a simple request that’s well within their normal means of doing, or a more routine favor, I probably wouldn’t use it.
Finally, I might use it to appear particularly humble, or to sort of stroke the person’s ego.
None of those are ironclad rules of course, and I’m sure I’ve used them contrary to what I just posted as ‘usually’.
P.S. As a further note, a common colloquial response to 'Thanks for all your troubles", is “It’s no problem at all.”
Or, as the oldtimers around here say, " Ah hell, twernt no trouble tall."
Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. Yesterday I purchased a new book called ‘Intermediate Commercial Correspondence’ and on its first page there is the following ‘model business letter’:
'Dear Sir or Madam
As you will see from the enclosed image brochure, we are a leading German distributor of outdoor clothing and footwear.
Further to your advertisement in the winter edition of Leisure World, we would be grateful if you could send us three copies each of your current catagolue and price-lists. We are particularly interested in your Carlton range of waxed coats and jackets.
Thank you for your trouble and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully
Ahrens & Kessler GmbH
Karin Feldmann
Purchasing’
Now, I wouldn’t say that sending out a product catalog along with a price-list is a difficult endeavor unless of course you haven’t created those documents yet. So I don’t understand why in the ‘model letter’ above the author uses the phrase ‘thank you for your trouble’. What exactly is the trouble in this case?[YSaerTTEW443543]
Well, they are asking for 3 copies each of the catalog and price list, but again here it’s just being used as a polite form of address.
While it would seem to be in the normal range of business operations to send a catalog and price list, I think it ties into the idea of being polite and/or humble. They’re recognizing the fact that this company is busy, and Karin Feldman is asking them to take a little extra time to arrange for the delivery of 3 different copies of their catalog and price list.
Probably the person who sends those is going to have to take some extra time to bundle them up and send them as a single presented package, versus just dropping a single catalog in the mail for a normal consumer catalog request. Those 3 price sheets probably aren’t just going to be jammed in the catalogs, they’re going to be neatly organized in a separate folder or envelope, etc. etc. The sender is likely going to have to spend a bit more time dealing with this as a special request.
It doesn’t have to be a significant ‘move the world’ kind of effort, it’s just a polite way of acknowledging somebody is going to have to make a little extra effort.