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Please vs Kindly - What's the difference?

please | kindly | Synonyms |

Kindly is a synonym of please.



As adverbs the difference between please and kindly

is that please is lang=en|Used to make a polite request.kindly is in a kind manner, out of kindness.

As a verb please

is to make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.

As an adjective kindly is

having a kind personality.

please

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) ).

Alternative forms

* (l)

Verb

(pleas)
  • (label) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1
  • , passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay, […].}}
  • To desire; to will; to be pleased by.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) cxxxv. 6
  • Whatsoever the Lord pleased , that did he.
    Synonyms
    * (to make happy) satisfy * (to desire) desire, will
    Antonyms
    * (to make happy) annoy, irritate, disgust, displease

    Etymology 2

    Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from which replaced pray .

    Alternative forms

    * (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Please , pass the bread.
    Would you please sign this form?
    Could you tell me the time, please ?
  • May I help you? —Please .
  • Oh, please , do we have to hear that again?
    Derived terms
    * pretty please

    Etymology 3

    Calque of (etyl) [//books.google.com/books?id=4e7XLGfekD8C&pg=PA16][http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/how-to-speak-cincinnatiese/]

    Adverb

    (-)
  • [http://www.daredictionary.com/view/dare/ID_00044218]
  • * 1973: "Bitte or Bitter?", , August 1973, p. 109 [//books.google.com/books?id=CesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA109]
  • Fellow: May I have a few days off to get married?
    Reply, in the Cincinnati idiom by a boss who had heard the sound but not the sense:
    Boss: Please ?
  • * 1978: Virginia Watson-Rouslin, "A Foreign View", Cincinnati , September 1978, p. 110 [//books.google.com/books?id=cesCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA110]
  • Even though I heard it was supposed to be German-Catholic background, there’s only one thing German — they say ‘please ’ [for the more common ‘pardon me’], which comes from bitte .
  • * 1979: "Winners: Contest No. 13—The Laugh’s On Us", Cincinnati , September 1979, volume 12, issue 12, p. 15 [//books.google.com/books?id=dusCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15]
  • “…He explained in broken English that one of his daughters was ill and he probably could not be there. I did not understand all that he said, so asked, ‘Please ?’ per Cincinnati custom. ‘There is no need to plead. I will be there if she is feeling better,’ he replied.”
  • * 1998: Jose I. Sarasua, "Come to Cincinnati... Please?", Cost Engineering , volume 40, issue 5, 5 May 1998, p. 9 [http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/editorials/664754/come-cincinnati-please]
  • Cincinnati are some of the most polite persons I have ever met in the US. When asking someone a question, instead of saying “Excuse me,” or “Pardon,” they say “Please ?”
  • * 2001: Jeff Robinson, "Say what?", Ohio Magazine , April 2001, p. 77 [http://lrc.ohio.edu/lrcmedia/Streaming/lingCALL/ling270/saywhat.pdf?page=2]
  • By the same token, one contestant who doesn’t hear a particular question could say “Pardon me?” while another could say “Please ?” Again, neither would be lying if he said he was from Ohio.
  • * 2008: , The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English , ISBN 0374254109, p. 255 [//books.google.com/books?id=3eerb4RTYF8C&pg=PA255]
  • In Maine, where as much as a quarter of the population has French ancestry, you may hear a stray hair called a couette'', and in parts of Ohio ''please'' is used in the same way as the German ''bitte , to invite a person to repeat something just said – apparently a remnant of the bilingual schooling once available in Cincinnati.
  • * 2011: Ellen McIntyre, Nancy Hulan, Vicky Layne, Reading Instruction for Diverse Classrooms: Research-Based, Culturally Responsive Practice , Guilford Press, ISBN 1609180569, p. 72 [//books.google.com/books?id=m7BAOCj8mHQC&pg=PA72]
  • Ellen grew up outside of Cincinnati and believed her own talk was the “norm,” while others were speakers of dialects. She was in graduate school before she learned that not all people say, Please ?'' to mean ''Can you repeat that?
    Synonyms
    * (request to repeat) what, excuse me, pardon me, come again

    References

    Statistics

    *

    kindly

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having a kind personality.
  • A kindly old man sits on the park bench every afternoon feeding pigeons.
  • * Tennyson
  • The shade by which my life was crossed has made me kindly with my kind.
  • (obsolete) Favourable; gentle; auspicious; beneficent.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • In soft silence shed the kindly shower.
  • * Wordsworth
  • should e'er a kindlier time ensue
  • (obsolete) natural
  • * Book of Common Prayer
  • the kindly fruits of the earth
  • * Spenser
  • an herd of bulls whom kindly rage doth sting
  • * L. Andrews
  • Whatsoever as the Son of God he may do, it is kindly for Him as the Son of Man to save the sons of men.

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In a kind manner, out of kindness.
  • He kindly offered to take us to the station in his car.
  • * 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
  • She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl.
  • in a favourable way.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 29 , author=Neil Johnston , title=Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Aguero was quick to block Hennessey's attempted clearance and the ball bounced kindly to Dzeko, who had the simplest of tasks to put City ahead.}}
  • Please; (used to make a polite request).
  • Kindly refrain from walking on the grass.
    Kindly move your car out of the front yard.
  • (US) With kind acceptance; .
  • I don't take kindly to threats.
    Aunt Daisy didn't take it kindly when we forgot her anniversary.

    Usage notes

    * (please) Kindly is used in a slightly more peremptory way than please. It is generally used to introduce a request with which the person addressed is expected to comply, and takes the edge off what would otherwise be a command. * (with kind acceptance) This sense is a ; it is usually found in questions and negative statements, as in the above example sentences.

    Synonyms

    * (in a kind manner) thoughtfully * (used to make polite requests) be so kind as to, please