Have you noticed people often use words in entirely the wrong context without realising it?

No? Then maybe you’re one of them!

A quick diversion before I continue this theme.  Kate Bush’s recent return to the pop charts surprised me as I didn’t realise the charts still existed in this era of downloads and (what’s it called?) Spotty Guy?

I assumed the “Top 20” was consigned to history along with the Sinclair C5 and family mealtimes during which everyone joined in a lively conversation without glancing at their phones every three minutes.

Kate reached the No1 Spot in June with “Running Up That Hill” thanks to it being used on the soundtrack of the Netflix series “Stranger Things”.

At the end of the line “I’m running up that hill”, the young Kate who wrote and recorded the song more than 30 years ago, remarks that she’s hurriedly making her way to the top of the incline “With no problem!”

I hope Kate’s still fit enough to do so without needing to take a breather mid-run.

All this leads me to one of the “Stranger Things” I’ve noticed recently – the needless use of the expression “No problem!”

At a supermarket checkout recently, before I paid for my goods, the check-out assistant asked if I needed a carrier bag.

When I said “No thanks”, her response was… “No problem!”

Had I wanted a bag and she’d run out of them, that would have been a problem. That it was ‘No problem’ for her I didn’twant a bag made no sense to me.

In a café the other day, when the waiter brough my lunch, he asked if I wanted any sauces. When I replied “No thanks!” guess what he said? “No problem!”

In what world was it ‘No problem’ for him that I didn’t want any sauces?
People say it automatically, like repeating a mantra.

And don’t get me started on waiting staff who bring the food to your table and say “Enjoy!” with a flourish! Because I could cheerfully scream “Whether I enjoy it or not isn’t up to you. It’s up to the chef who cooked it!” with absolutely no problem.