July 23—H. Gaylord Willshire said "pretty please" to the council for ten-foot billboards Instead of a stingy six. And from " The Latest Parisian Gowns in San Francisco ," by Medge Moore, in the San Francisco [California] Call (August 23, 1903), an example that takes "pretty, please" in an odd direction, as if it referred to a recognizable ... Regarding the phrase "pretty please", I believe that the origin comes from a variation of the request : "I pray thee, please." "I pray thee "morphed into the single word: "prithee". Prithee is a very old contraction that was used in Shakespeare. Thus "prithee please" then became "pretty please". This is a personal conjecture, but one that rings ... There is some ambiguity about the officer's powers. For example, the officer may say "License and registration please" when in fact the officer is empowered to demand them. The officer may also say "May I search your car please" when in fact absent the subject's consent, the officer would have needed a warrant. This is to the officer's advantage.
There is some ambiguity about the officer's powers. For example, the officer may say "License and registration please" when in fact the officer is empowered to demand them. The officer may also say "May I search your car please" when in fact absent the subject's consent, the officer would have needed a warrant. This is to the officer's advantage. Adding please would always make the request more polite. To make the urgency of the request clear it would be best at the end along with an exclamation point [!]. The emphasis being on the please would both strengthen the effort to be polite and the grave nature of the request. It would almost serve as a second sentence reiterating the first. Except in those few cases where a flat adverb is the only alternative. You can usually be safe by using the -ly, or equivalent, form, except in those few cases where such a word does not exist, or where there is a specific idiom. "Please sit tightly", "take it easily" or "drive straightly down the street" all sound pretty odd, for example. The “say please” correction is itself insulting or, at least, demeaning. Its a way of correcting a child, not an adult, particularly not an adult with English as a second language. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve said “Say please”, “Please?”, or “What’s the magic word?” to my children as they were growing up. As examples, it gives Will the audience please rise. and Would you kindly respond by March 1. This would indicate that while using a question mark is not wrong, it may not be required. In the first example (Will the audience please rise), I would prefer to use a period instead of a question mark. –
Except in those few cases where a flat adverb is the only alternative. You can usually be safe by using the -ly, or equivalent, form, except in those few cases where such a word does not exist, or where there is a specific idiom. "Please sit tightly", "take it easily" or "drive straightly down the street" all sound pretty odd, for example. The “say please” correction is itself insulting or, at least, demeaning. Its a way of correcting a child, not an adult, particularly not an adult with English as a second language. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve said “Say please”, “Please?”, or “What’s the magic word?” to my children as they were growing up. As examples, it gives Will the audience please rise. and Would you kindly respond by March 1. This would indicate that while using a question mark is not wrong, it may not be required. In the first example (Will the audience please rise), I would prefer to use a period instead of a question mark. – Only a deliberate joke, a combination like pretty ugly makes one aware of how incongruous such word groups are. Oxford University Press Blog. Etymonline has an entry for pretty-boy, emphasis in bold mine. pretty-boy 1885 as an adjective, 1888 as a noun, from pretty (adj.) + boy (n.). In Middle English a pretty man was "a worthy or clever fellow."