xjwsforChrist

I'm in the USA. I've always heard things like "I'd like a cup of coffee, please" or "May I please have change for a ten (dollar bill)?"

On the other hand, when I hear English (not GB or UK, just Englanders) say "I'll have a cup of coffee, thank you" or "I'll have change for a ten, thank you".

It's odd! The USA'ers are saying "please", which is for asking, and the Englanders are saying "thank you" as though the service is a foregone conclusion.

Can anybody enlighten me on this difference?

AB

It's just colloquialism, Anne. Americans say many things that seem very weird to us. Actually, we are just as likely to say "a cup of coffee please" and then maybe "thanks" afterwards.
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"Englander" is not a word we recognise. I've heard it only in terms of the Second World War where it was not a term of affection. We are English. Someone from England is an Englishman or English woman. American English usage is very different, because it evolved in a different country.

Hey Anne B, I'm in England. I recognise what you're saying....it's a trend that's occurring over here for sure. Same thing...leaving out please and following the request with 'thanks', as if its presumed/expected. I think it's a generational difference actually. Us older ones still ask the other/polite way around. I've heard it on tv shows quite often too. It's almost an abbreviation or a lazy way to ask? And it's becoming a real trend with the English...bit like text speak. I had thought it may have come from America but now it seems not?

Loz x

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"This is my son. LISTEN to Him!"

Thats not English Peoples only Crime..

They put Chips/Fries in Sandwich`s!..
(The Horror!..What normal person would do that?!)
Then call them Butty`s!!..
In Canada a Butt means Bum!..

This is an English "Bum" Sandwich..
.....

............................................OUTLAW

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Lol Outlaw, but they're not real chips (fries)!

Loz x

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"This is my son. LISTEN to Him!"

Just try them before you condemn them, Outlaw! Don't forget the brown sauce! I'm glad you called them chips though! They're only fries if served in a top notch restaurant and called French! Loz, how far would you get round your way if you walked into a fish and chip shop and asked for cod and fries?! In our chippy they'd fall about laughing!

Language evolves over time. Even the renowned Oxford English Dictionary recognises this, and includes today words and idioms that were considered "laziness" years ago. I don't think it's lazy speech at all, Loz. Merely part of the rich evolutionary diversity of the English language.

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You've got it there, Outlaw!

The proper way to eat fish and chips is with lots of salt and vinegar, and in the old days they always tasted best out of a newspaper. Now the EU doesn't allow that, or maybe the ubiquitous Health and Safety issued a decree for the banning of chips in newspaper, but anyway, bread and butter, plenty of brown sauce, preferably HP, tomato ketchup if you can't get hold of good old British Brown Sauce, and you're good to go!

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Yes, you did it the proper way. Just as it should be!
To be totally in sync with our chippies, you have to have two large jars on the counter, one full of pickled hard-boiled eggs, and the other full of pickled gherkins. As well as that, they'll do you mushy peas.

Now you have a feast!

PS: You don't have all those extras at once!

I think I do this also. Say the thanks, more than the please. I think I do both, but the thanks thing far more often. I'm going to keep track and see if I really do... but that will probably wreck my experiment.


Peace,
tammy

I think I see one as a request and the other as a demand.

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To fear me is to love me....

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I hate "bad" manners, personally (peace to you, all!). Here, though, they seem the same to me. Yes, one seems to be a request more than an anticipation, but why not anticipate that you WILL get what you ask for... and so say thanks "in advance"? Language evolves... as do what's considered "good" manners... because customs evolve. So, I try to keep that in mind.

What I hate more than bad manners, however, is a bad intention. And there are some snarky, bad intentioned folks out there. I'll take "bad" manners but good intentions... over "impeccable" manners but truly bad intentions... any day.

Just my $0.02.

Peace!

A slave of Christ,

SA, the mother of people from a different "generation" who, although quite mannerful, have friends of differing cultures whose "manners" aren't quite the same... but intentions are above reproach...