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I was recently commenting some answers in Stack Overflow when one person said something to which I replied:

No hurries. No worries.

I have seen both "no hurries" and "no worries" many times, but I doubted on what was the best way to use them together: would it be correct to say as follows?

No hurries nor worries

I would say this as a way to contract the "neither you have to hurry neither to worry".

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    It's grammatically correct as far as it goes, but it's so un-idiomatic that it looks very strange. The phrase is usually "no hurry", singular, because it's short for "there is no hurry", singular, because you are only in one hurry at a time. But you could have more than one worry at a time! In any case, it sounds non-fluent and non-idiomatic to use them together with "nor".
    – stangdon
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 17:25
  • @stangdon oh, thanks! First of all, I thought it was no hurries, so thanks for that. Secondly, is there any way to "merge" both no hurry and no worries in a single sentence into something idiomatic?
    – fedorqui
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 17:30
  • In the context of just four words, the notion of "a single sentence" is pretty meaningless: whether you point with a period or a comma is more about indicating rhythm and prosody than about syntax. Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 18:32

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Neither hurries nor worries doesn't to my ear have the sort of rhythm you want in a catchphrase. And although worry is commonly used as a count noun—you may have many worries weighing on your mind—this is very rare with hurry: it's almost always a quality ascribed to persons or activities rather than an instance of hurrying.

No hurry, no worry sounds better to me. It might have two meanings, depending on the context:

  • There is no need for your hearer either to hurry or to worry—you don't need immediate response or action. In other words, "Don't hurry, and don't worry".

  • Your hearer should avoid hurrying, because that will avoid future problems. In other words, "If you don't hurry, you won't worry".


Except in US football jargon, where a hurry is an instance of transitive hurrying: rushing the quarterback so aggressively you compel him to pass the ball before his receivers are in good position to catch it.

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    +1 I would add that the second interpretation of No hurry, no worry follows some other similar idiomatic phrases, like No woman, no cry (you'll be happier if you don't have romantic entanglements); No harm, no foul (if no actual damage is done, then no punishment is needed); No shirt, no shoes, no service (If you aren't wearing a shirt and shoes then you will not be served); etc.
    – 1006a
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 19:40
  • @1006a What I was thinking of was another one: no pain, no gain. Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 20:30
  • Yes, that too! It even rhymes, like the OP's sentence.
    – 1006a
    Commented Dec 4, 2016 at 20:36

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