• tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    Since English doesn’t have codified politeness levels in grammatical structures (like Japanese does with eg verb endings, where tabe-ru is less polite than tabe-masu for the same verb meaning “eat”), we tend to make requests longer the more polite we’re being.

    For example:

    1. Bring me that.
    2. Hey/Yo, bring me that.
    3. Can you bring me that?
    4. Could you bring me that?
    5. Would you mind bringing me that?
    6. When you get a chance could you bring me that?
    7. If if fits into your schedule I’d appreciate it if you could bring me that.
    8. I know you’re really busy but it would really help me out a lot if you could bring me that.

    With close friends the first one is ok(ish) if your tone isn’t too commanding, but I’d normally stick to 2 through 4 (or 5). For some reason a “please” sounds overly polite whereas a “thanks” upon receiving the request doesn’t. I imagine this is different for other regions. I’m from the US northeast, but people from the south probably feel differently.

    • musubibreakfast@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago
      1. ケチャップをよこせ!
      2. ケチャップをくれよ!
      3. ケチャップを、今すぐ!
      4. ケチャップがどうしても必要だ!
      5. ケチャップをくれ、さもないと殺すぞ!
      6. ケチャップ野郎は誰だ?ケチャップを持ってこい!
      7. ケチャップが出るまであと3秒。その後、クソ野郎どもを殺し始めるぞ!
      8. お前は私のケチャップ奴隷だ。今すぐケチャップをくれ、さもないとお前の家族を殺すぞ。お願いします。
      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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        7 days ago

        One of my favorite random Japanese language coincidences is that one meaning of “yo” is the same in English and Japanese.

        Let’s go, yo!
        Ikou, yo!

    • BehindTheBarrier@programming.dev
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      7 days ago

      Can’t forget the simplest form, at least in my language but pretty sure it works in English.

      And that is just loudly declare the item you want:

      SALT!