Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Is いらっしゃいませ only used by staff, or is it used in other circumstances?
When I was at a dinner at a restaurant being held after a programmers' meetup, I thought that I heard it being used by one of the people eating (it could have been the organizer of the dinner for all I know) to welcome a late-comer. Or is it more likely I mis-heard them merely saying いらっしゃい or some other form of the verb?
A hearty いらっしゃいませ! from the staff or owner brings back happy memories of Japanese restaurant/bar life. いらっしゃい is a perfectly ordinary word of greeting. A person who feels like the 'owner' of the get-together might well shout a いらっしゃいませ especially if alcohol is involved. There is also the possibility of using it ironically or with hostility on a late-comer - again the alcohol issue. In Japan, if you act drunk, you can be safely forthright. Watch a lot of daytime drama to get a handle on the many uses of keigo.
