Korean Job Discussion Forums

[EFLtrainer]

C'mon, people! What's wrong with you all? A thread on an ESL/EFL board talking about politeness that only talks about WORDS?? Since when did tone, intonation, and stress not impart meaning? When you say these things with the right tone, stress and intonation, they can all be polite without saying please/thanks. Not to mention body language...

Words are not the only factor.

[pegpig]

[potblackettle]

"gang ah jee wrote:
Adults don't tend use 'please' very much in English - it actually has the effect of strengthening requests, making it less polite. More common and polite in English are biclausal structures - eg. 'Could I get a glass of water?' vs. 'Give me a glass of water please.'


That's definiteely a North American thing.

To me (Brit), "can I get a beer?" is not polite in the least.

My NA friends say that all the time and always I feel like saying (sometimes do say) "maybe it'd be better if you said please".

Then again, my friend in Korea (American) thinks I'm the rudest, most uncivilized person he's ever met (which of course to me is the ultimate compliment). Not because I don't say please and thank you, but rather because I'm loud and swear a lot. You know when it's 3am and you're drunk, rowdy, foul-mouthed and obnoxious? Well that's me at 11am sober apparently."

Where in the U.S. are you people going?

Come to the southeastern United States... we'll be so polite it'll make your teeth hurt.

The only place I've ever experienced the kind of rudeness you guys are talking about is in NYC. And there it's not even rudeness... it's just that people are constantly in a big freaking hurry. That's why the south is polite, we don't hurry, so there's always time for "please", "thank you", "excuse me" and "have a nice day".

I agree though that politeness is lacking in general society and it's a real shame. As George Costanza said, "This is a society." Good manners and basic polite behaviour are the lubricant of any society.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Novernae]