Welcome Into What?

         I’ll admit it—I love shopping the after-Christmas sales. St. Bob, not so much. Recently he asked me what I was looking for.

          “Impulse items,” I said.

          “You mean repulse items,” he said. Ha ha ha. Little does he know how much it saves us for me to buy wrapping paper and Christmas napkins when they’re on sale. I have no problem waiting about a year to use them.

          But what does bug me is the latest trend I’ve noticed: Clerks saying “Welcome In.”  This never used to happen. They would simply say, “Welcome,” or maybe “Good afternoon.”  Why the sudden addition of “in”?

          I know, someone will write and say I should be grateful I’m even being welcomed, but that’s just it—I’m not being welcomed; I’m being welcomed IN.  The “in” is already implied. It doesn’t need to be stated, and thus redundant.

          Think about it. When was the last time someone came to your home and you said, “Welcome in,” instead of just “Welcome!” 

Imagine visiting a king at his castle. He’s standing there in his royal robes, arms flung wide and he says, “Welcome!”  He would never say, “Welcome in!” 

          So now I have to add another thing to my pet peeve list. I’ll put it right under “Let me see where it’s at.” (sigh)

          You will never find epressions like this in my books—order them here and see. Oh—and if you do find one, Oops.