The Beauty of "Never Mind" and Other Phrases

Anna is a fairly prompt homework doer.  She usually brings home 1 or 2 books to read for the next day.  However, today, her book wasn't in her bag.  She felt disappointed, and my immediate response was to say "Never mind."  To which she said, "Never mind".  And that was that.  We moved onto something else.

I love that phrase--"Never mind."  I hear it said all the time here but not very commonly in the US.  "Never mind" seems distinctively British.  The idea of one keeping calm and carrying on in light of a setback can grant quite a feeling of security.  It's an unfortunate glitch, don't dwell on it, and let's move on.

Another phrase I recall from living in Harrogate was "Oh dear" (pronounced "Oh deeyah").  It had a similar effect and was often used when small children dropped their ice cream or scraped their knee.  I recall 1 year old Michael would reflexively say "Oh deeyah" when he dropped his binky, and would just hand it over to me for wiping.  Knowing that phrase seemed to reduce the gravity of the situation.

Example of an "Oh deeyah. Never mind." opportunity