Life is full of minor irritations. It’s when they won’t go away that they really start to make you sore.
Television has produced one that is both irritating and illogical – the phrase ‘welcome back’. If there’s a commercial break or a regional opt out the main presenters wave us goodbye and then welcome us back afterwards. But I haven’t gone anywhere – they have. I’m still sitting in the same armchair watching the same TV.
Let’s move the scene to a pub or a bar. Someone is holding forth and then say’s ‘I’ve got to pop out to the cash machine – talk to Fred.’ We talk to Fred and then the principal returns, smiles broadly, and says ‘welcome back’.
We would all look at him or her as if some marbles were missing. Well it’s the same on television. Please don’t welcome me back. You can thank me for hanging around for you, You can say you are glad to be back with me. But please, please drop the welcome back.