The least I can do

I don't know why we have to stoop to false modesty in such situations, but something along the lines of, "I didn't really do much," or, "It was nothing" to deny the value of one's action seems to be expected. It sounds to me like a ploy to elicit higher praise: "How can you say that? I can never thank you enough! You're my hero!" A simple "You're welcome" should suffice, or "Glad to do it." I think the demurral cheapens the gratitude, and it rarely sounds genuine.

Peter

My observation is that a garden variety "thank you" usually gets a cliche for a response. Even "thank you", which is totally appropriate can be meaningless. It is all just common courteous interaction between people. I don't speak Spanish but I understand that the common response to "gracias" (thank you) is "da nada" (it's nothing).   I fall into the pattern of cliches myself but I do try to vary my response and put a little thought into it. I might say "any time", or "you are very welcome", or if I'm really on top of it I might say something like, "I am pleased to be able to help".

I can easily accept most cliches as being simple courtesy but I do have one pet peeve. I don't like it when someone responds to a "thank you" with "no problem."

I'm really bad in the whole deal of social patter. These kinds of exchange all seem more like kabuki to me than conversation -- a sort of formal dance-drama of words filled with arcane expectations. A kind of societal knock-knock joke with expected call and response. I often get it wrong.

-- You're too kind.
No, I'm not.

[sneeze].
-- God bless you.
How nice.

As a result, I'm with tromboniator. "You're welcome" is usually all I can muster to a "thank you." For words of praise, a simple "thank you" seems to do the trick.

As a student of languages, my difficulty with formal conversational elements poses more than a few problems. In Chinese, for example, there are very different forms of "thank you" for different situations. One common pitfall for Americans speaking Chinese is to use the wrong "thank you." The most commonly known "thank you," Pinyin xièxie (traditional 謝謝, simplified 谢谢), is used when you have been given something. Often, when an American has been complimented or praised, he will respond with xièxie. Big mistake. It comes off as being very proud since, by accepting the praise with gratitude, you feel you deserve the praise. The correct way to respond is essentially to deny the compliment. The most common is Pinyin nǎlǐ (traditional 哪裡, simplified 哪里), which means "where?" or "nowhere." Think "No way!" in English (You look mahvelous! -- No way!). When I have been in conversations in Chinese and they compliment my Chinese (I hope you now realize not to take that as too strong an indication of the quality of my Chinese, but rather more like they are saying "Oh, you speak Chinese!"), if I remember to respond with nǎlǐ, only then can I see their facial expression change to show some (genuine?) respect of my command of the language.

In English, we have it EASY!

[sneeze].
-- God bless you.
How nice.

It baffles me why a sneeze merits a response at all, where a cough, burp, or fart can be politely ignored. Humans are weird.