“Thanks but no thanks.”

You're having an argument with your girlfriend and she won't talk to you. You tell your friend about this, and he offers to talk to her for you. You think that's a really bad idea because it's none of your friend's business and you think it would make your girlfriend even more angry. You say:

Thanks but no thanks.

Thanks but no thanks

This English expression means "no". You use it when:

1. Someone offers to help you, to give you something, etc.
2. You don't want it.
3. You think it's dumb, annoying, or rude that the person even offered it to you.
4. You want to lightly express that you think it was dumb, annoying, or rude, either to that person or to someone else (but not in a mean or offensive way).

In the example above, the speaker doesn't want his friend to try to talk to his angry girlfriend. In fact, he thinks it's a pretty stupid idea. Because they're close friends, he doesn't mind showing what he thinks.

Here are a few other situations where you can use "Thanks but no thanks":

• A friend offers you some food that looks disgusting.
• A salesman tries to sell you something that you definitely don't want.
• You got laid off last year, and now your old boss calls to try to get you to come back to your old job.