Hello,
First of all I don’t really get the actual meaning of “please”. I understand it as it used to make a polite request. However I have rarely seen any westerner saying “please” on either Lemmy, Mastodon or IRC. where I live using “please” (मेहरबानी) is used often.
I rarely use ‘seldom’
Rusty on my reading of devanagari-- is that pronounced like “meharbaanii”?
Yes, that’s correct.
where I live using “please” (मेहरबानी) is used often.
Bro where tf are you living 😂
I’m Indian too and have never come across anyone unironically using that word in daily conversations
It’s used mostly by strangers TBH, not by someone I already know.
I write and speak the word please quite a lot. In all of my emails when requesting things for work or pleasure I use it. I was raised in the US South and I think it’s very common practice here to teach kids in such a way. My own kids are being taught the same. I can’t obviously speak for the rest of Western society though.
I say it often in my day to day life. I don’t use it much on Lemmy because I rarely ask anyone to do anything on here
Please let me know, how you know, they are westerners?
sudo make me a sandwich…please
Command make not found, but can be installed with apt-get install make.
I use it constantly in the real world. Not on Lemmy. But I consider this to be pretty informal.
I also deliberately say “I beg your pardon,” instead of “Excuse me.” The former is a request. The latter is mostly a demand, at least in the USA the way people behave.
Con su permisso, or Excuse me please, when I need to move past someone. Yeah it’s a demand but a polite one I think.
I just checked, and I used “please” about 30 times in the last year on lemmy.ml. I live in Burgerland.
Did you mean Burgenland? It’s a funny typo.
Burgerland is slang for the USA.
I meant Burgerland, home of the Whopper and the Big Mac.
They do/don’t?
Gonna need a source for this claim.
Gonna need a source for this claim, please.
They were not asking
Indeed. That’s why I didn’t also add a question mark.
Need is directly in opposition to please. This makes your addition an ironic use of please, and not a polite one, which actually fits the ops observation better than the initial comment did.
Maybe in some cases, but in this case the use of “need” is insincere in the first place. A please at the end softens and adds a little bit of humility to what was originally a somewhat hostile response.
Congrats.
We say it out loud a lot. People seem to remember to be polite when not anonymous.
I’m fanatical about saying please and thank you, and it drives me batty that others don’t. Someone offers you a snack, say no thank you, don’t say “no I don’t like those” like a goddamned toddler.
It’s funny, I was ALWAYS taught to say please growing up, but as an adult I only hear it in more formal settings, or from older folks. I think people realized that tone and body language also show that you’re trying to be pleasant and not bossy, and dropped the habit of saying it.
I’m sure it’s regional, though, and I’m only speaking for one small chunk of the US.
And you’re sure your criteria includes Canadians?
Or Britain?
Or anywhere ffs
Honestly. I genuinely have to fight to not say please and thank you.
