I don't know of a more annoying expression that has crept into purchasing transactions than the phrase "There you go!"

You know how it works. You are completing a purchase at a supermarket, drugstore or even a nice restaurant. The clerk, cashier or waiter looks at you with a glazed, bored and even resentful expression. Instead of saying, "Thank you," they just hand you the bill or change and say: "There you go!"

And what do you do? You take it from their hand and you politely say, "Thank you."

Not only has this discourse been dismissive and uninterested on the part of the service person, but it has reversed the normal expression of gratitude that has normally been given from seller to buyer. The gratitude is now being expressed by the buyer.

I don't know about you, but I have recently tried replying, "Where am I going?" But that just results in their looking at you like you have three eyes and in total incomprehension on their part.

I desperately want to say "A simple thank you would be more appropriate," but would seem sarcastic and now make me the one who is impolite.

Regrettably, I have resorted to the simple tactic of not saying anything. Interestingly, some clerks look at you like you owe them that "Thank you" you used to give. I just walk away with the satisfaction that we are at least now even.

If there are any store managers, shift supervisors or employee trainers out there reading this opinion, please think about the impression the words "There you go" convey when no expression of gratitude for the purchase has been stated by your employee. Words are powerful and these three seem to say: You are dismissed. Get the heck out of here.

A simple "thank you" is much more appreciated.

-- WILLIAM S. SMITH, Upper St. Clair

When did the "L" leave PennsyLvania? It's bad enough when residents slur over the word, but please tell people that the L still lives.

I first noticed it when Jeff Verszyla of KDKA started saying "Pennsivania." Then came Tom Ridge, the former governor of our state -- and then Ed Rendell, our current governor.

Of course, I guess if our president can say nucular instead of "nuclear," it's OK.

-- BARB BARNES, Hampton

This is in regard to your Word Watch column of May 2 (which I read only recently). It relayed an exchange between a contributor and the Portfolio editor over the way to say kilometer.

"Practically everybody now says 'kil-OM-eter,'" the contributor wrote. "It should be "KILo-METer," which he called the "correct" pronunciation.

The Portfolio editor responded that both pronunciations are in his Webster's dictionaries. He noted that "KILo-METer" was listed as second in both cases.

I inferred from his response that he believes -- as I once did -- that the variant given first is the preferred one.

That assumption might even be correct for some reference publications. However, after I read the following passage in my Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, I (albeit rashly brainwashed, perhaps) have not taken first-listed variants in any dictionary as necessarily "preferred."

I write merely to call attention to what it says under "Explanatory Notes -- Pronunciation" in that Webster's:

"The presence of variant pronunciations indicates that not all educated speakers pronounce words the same way. A second-place variant is not to be regarded as less acceptable than the pronunciation that is given first." (Italics mine.) "The requirements of the printed page are such that one must precede the other."

-- HANK LOTZ, Wilkinsburg