What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Please vs Really - What's the difference?

please | really |

As adverbs the difference between please and really

is that please is or please can be [http://wwwdaredictionarycom/view/dare/id_00044218] while really is (lb) actually; in fact; in reality.

As a verb please

is (label) to make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.

As an interjection really is

indicating surprise at, or requesting confirmation of, some new information; to express skepticism.

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
    Related terms
    * pleasant * pleasurable * pleasure

    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

    *

    Anagrams

    * asleep, elapse English terms with multiple etymologies 1000 English basic words

    really

    English

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (lb) Actually; in fact; in reality.
  • :
  • Very (modifying an adjective); very much (modifying a verb).
  • :
  • *, chapter=10
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • *
  • *:There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;.

    • Usage notes

    * Like its synonyms, really is, in practice, often used to preface an opinion, rather than a fact. (See also usage notes for .) : Increasingly people are recognising what's really important is having children. '>citation

    Synonyms

    * (actually) actually, in fact, indeed, truly * (sense) so

    Statistics

    *

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • Indicating surprise at, or requesting confirmation of, some new information; to express skepticism.
    • A: He won the Nobel Prize yesterday.
    B: Really?
  • Indicating that what was just said was obvious and unnecessary; contrived incredulity
    • A: I've just been reading Shakespeare - he's one of the best authors like, ever!
    B: Really .
  • (colloquial, chiefly, US) Indicating affirmation, agreement.
    • A: That girl talks about herself way too much.
    B: Really . She's a nightmare.
  • Indicating displeasure at another person's behaviour or statement.
    • Well, really ! How rude.

    Synonyms

    * you don't say, no kidding, oh really, no really

    References

    Anagrams

    * English degree adverbs English intensifiers English modal adverbs English speech-act adverbs 1000 English basic words