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Granted, "Thanks a mint" is an old timey phrase from when people said quaint things like 23 skidoo. But search engines do return instances of people still using the phrase, and the Google question completion offers it as an option as I start to write the phrase. In other words, it's not my imagination that it is a phrase known by others, yet I cannot find its definition in any online dictionary despite my best efforts via Google, Bing, and Dogpile searches.

From the comments I've seen thus far, the apparent explanation is that its usage is too infrequent to merit inclusion in even a crowd-sourced slang dictionary like urbandictionary.com. Is this correct? If yes, are there many phrases that fall into this category? Is Google ngrams the ultimate authority for determining whether a word or phrase merits a dictionary entry in the eyes of this audience? If "Thanks a mint" had returned the same Google ngrams result as "Thanks a bunch," then would my bewilderment suddenly become valid in the eyes of this audience?

jmtt77
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  • Never heard that one myself, but the obvious guess would be that it’s quite straightforwardly a mint, meaning ‘a large sum of money’ (as in “Cost me a mint, that did!”, similar to a pretty penny), being used to mean ‘a lot’ as a general concept. The fact that it’s so similar to a mil (which was also initially mostly applied to money, but is commonly used in “Thanks a mil” with a similar broadening) is just extra icing on the cake. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Aug 30 '17 at 07:28
  • WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc. has << mint ... a large number or amount or extent >> and AHD has << An abundant amount, especially of money. >> A mint (source of 'unlimited money' obviously informs the more general 'large amount/s' sense. Other dictionaries (eg Collins) will not list this usage because their corpus studies do not find it to be sufficiently common. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 30 '17 at 07:40
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    Please include the research you’ve done. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 30 '17 at 07:44
  • Re: Please include the research you’ve done. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic. – Edwin Ashworth... I tried Google, Bing, and Dogpile, and looked through all pages of returned results. None of those search engines points to any dictionary-like or etymology-site that discusses this phrase. – jmtt77 Aug 30 '17 at 08:02
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    But look at the references in my comment, and Janus's comment: looking up 'mint' itself seems an obvious step to take, Wiktionary has: << (informal) A large amount of money. A vast sum or amount, etc. ... quotations ▲Shakespeare A mint of phrases in his brain. >> – Edwin Ashworth Aug 30 '17 at 08:13
  • OK, perhaps the answer to this question is Edwin's comment: Other dictionaries (eg Collins) will not list this usage because their corpus studies do not find it to be sufficiently common. I certainly agree that I haven't heard anyone use the phrase in ages, and that it's probable that most people are unaware of it even though my search engine research shows that some people continue to use the phrase even today. That said, "sufficiently common" is completely subjective, and maybe no one in the world cares a hoot about what "Thanks a mint" means. – jmtt77 Aug 30 '17 at 08:31
  • It's not on google ngrams at all. I think you just made it up, and it is your imagination that it's a phrase known by others. – Max Williams Aug 30 '17 at 08:44
  • Regarding the accusation that I made up the phrase, there is a candy mint that uses the phrase as its name. In addition, I'm including some other links where you can see people using the phrase similarly to "thanks a million": http://blogs.volunteermatch.org/engagingvolunteers/2012/03/16/%E2%80%9Cthanks-a-mint%E2%80%9D-no-thanks-evolving-recognition-past-pins-and-plaques/ – jmtt77 Aug 30 '17 at 08:56
  • Another link showing the phrase being used: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_web/how-do-i-stop-all-these-damned-tabs-that-keep/75f8687c-ca58-4236-9919-bba58efc8249 – jmtt77 Aug 30 '17 at 09:00
  • And another: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3649755/jewish/What-Are-the-Signs-of-a-Kosher-Bird.htm It's pretty easy to find people using the phrase. And I'm intentionally omitting anyone who is discussing the Linux distribution named "Mint." It's not the most common phrase in the world, but it's not extinct. – jmtt77 Aug 30 '17 at 09:02
  • I do not understand the question. Like, even if search engines did not return a definition, which they do, then how are we supposed to know why? What kind of answer do you expect? "Because it's a bug"? "Because their programmers are all French"? "Because it's a conspiracy"? "Because they have been hacked by Putin"? Like seriously, what is the point of your question? And why are you asking us? Go ask the search engine operators. – RegDwigнt Aug 30 '17 at 10:36
  • Re: RegDwight's query about "Why are you asking us?"... I assume that the search engines are giving me access to the content of pretty much all online dictionaries, and that they are relatively bug-free in their search algorithms. And no, I don't there is a conspiracy blocking me from finding the definition for "Thanks a mint." To me, this is ultimately a question about what is and is not included in dictionaries, and I thought that this was a reasonable forum for asking that question. – jmtt77 Aug 31 '17 at 06:42
  • On the duplicity of “peruse” I suggest that you read the subheading How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary? and the following Q might be of some interest what does the phrase “a real word” mean? – Mari-Lou A Aug 31 '17 at 06:46

1 Answers1

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If you know that mint is slang for a “large sum of money”, the meaning of the phrase thanks a mint is easy enough to understand.

Why isn't the expression listed in dictionaries is probably due to the fact that there isn't enough room to list all the possible variants of this phrase, in fact, the most common versions are mentioned in Merriam-Webster

thanks a bunch/lot/million

informal

  • thank you very much Wow, this is great! Thanks a million!
    often used in an ironic way to say that one is not pleased that someone has done or said something
  • “I'm boring? Thanks a lot!”
  • Thanks a million for leaving the door open. There are flies everywhere now.

thanks a bunch is listed in the following dictionaries

Interestingly, Cambridge Dictionaries lists the phrase under

thanks for nothing (also thanks a bunch), (also thanks a lot)

  • used to show you are annoyed when someone has done something you are unhappy about or has failed to help you in some way.

Google Ngrams confirm that the phrase is either very rare or never used in publications.

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Mari-Lou A
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    +1 Nice answer. I think the question is interesting...but as usual...6 donwvotes..wow...what about suspending OP for one month? –  Aug 30 '17 at 12:57
  • Thank you, Mari-Lou for a great (and patient) reply.

    Ironically, your reference to Cambridge suggests that "Thanks a mint" is actually an antonym for "Thanks a bunch" and "Thanks a lot" since Cambridge views those phrases to be sarcastic, whereas the usages of "Thanks a mint" that I've seen are sincere.

     – jmtt77 Aug 31 '17 at 06:36
  • @user7314320 "Thanks a million " is possibly closer to being sincere than "Thanks a lot", "Thanks for nothing" etc. Why don't you cite the actual instances of thanks a mint instead of asking if Ngram determines popularity? Besides, it's the other way round. Ngram records instances of usage in books and in limited magazine publications. They have no "authority" over dictionary editors as far as I am aware. – Mari-Lou A Aug 31 '17 at 06:59