[General] I'm at your service

[atabitaraf]

Do you native English speakers use the expression "I'm at your service"?
I mean is it usual or grammatically correct to say to say I'm ready to help?

 

[Tarheel]

I don't, but I do not, of course, speak for everybody.

(I'll say anything if you pay me enough. ;-))

 

[MikeNewYork]

It is grammatical, and it is used. It is pretty formal.

 

[Tarheel]

My butler says that all the time.

;-)

 

[MikeNewYork]

When pigs fly.

 

[atabitaraf]

When pigs fly.

Pardon me? What do you mean by 'When pigs fly?'

 

[MikeNewYork]

It's an expression that means something that is impossible. Pigs can't fly.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think "When pigs fly" was directed at Tarheel's comment about having a butler, rather than being an answer to your original question, abitaraf.

I find "I am at your service" very old-fashioned.

 

[tedmc]

The more modern way of saying it is : how may I help you?

not a teacher

 

[Jill Dorchester]

Other than Tarheel's butler, probably the most common place you'll see the phrase "at your service" in AmE is in print - like, for example, in the list of services placed in your hotel room. It will say something like "If you've forgotten to pack anything - toothbrush, razor, toothpaste - please ask at the front desk. We are at your service."

(Of course, any time I happen to go down to the front desk at 2:00AM and say, "I'm sorry to trouble to you, but can I get some change for the pop machine?" I end up with some cranky clerk who apparently hasn't gotten the memo that he is at my service and vociferously resents me interrupting his game of Candy Crush Saga.)

 

[Tdol]

The coach from the airport to near where I'm living in Tokyo plays a recording saying that they are looking forward to serving me again, which is sweet, but would probably sound a bit excessive in the UK.