Please kindly ...

[Tan Elaine]

Please kindly help me do this sum.

I have seen 'please' and 'kindly' used together. I think it is not correct. Am I right?

Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please kindly help me do this sum.

I have seen 'please' and 'kindly' used together. I think it is not correct. Am I right?

Thanks.

It's not natural. One would be enough.

Please help me do this sum.
Kindly help me do this sum.

The two together sounds tautologous.

 

[5jj]

It's not natural. One would be enough.

Please help me do this sum.
Kindly help me do this sum.

The two together sounds tautologous.

I agree.

There is also the fact that, to some of us speakers of BrE, 'kindly' has a rather officious feel about it. I believe that it is virtually synonymous with 'please' in Indian English, but it is not in BrE. If my boss were feeling like asserting his authority, s/he might use 'kindly' to me. I would never (unless I were about to resign or risk being sacked) use 'kindly' to my boss.

 

[Rover_KE]

Each time this topic comes up, I have to disagree with 5jj.

I think it's just fine to use kindly instead of please and don't hesitate to use it myself.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
kindly
▶adverb

• 1 in a kind manner.

• 2 please (used in a polite request): Will you kindly sign this letter.

Rover

 

[5jj]

I go with;

the OALD: 2. (old-fashioned, formal) used to ask or tell sb to do sth, especially when you are annoyed: Kindly leave me alone. Visitors are kindly requested to sign the book.

Collins: 8. please (often used to express impatience or formality) ⇒ will you kindly behave yourself!"

Macmillan: 2. FORMAL used for asking someone to do something, especially when you are trying to hide the fact that you are annoyed. Would you kindly stop making that noise.

 

[Tan Elaine]

If I visit a friend, and she tells me "Kindly remove your shoes" before I enter his house, I will feel offended. In this context, I think using "kindly" makes me feel that she is ordering me to take off my shoes.

 

[emsr2d2]

If I visit a friend, and she tells me "Kindly remove your shoes" before I enter his house, I will feel offended. In this context, I think using "kindly" makes me feel that she is ordering me to take off my shoes.

If I had a friend who insisted I take off my shoes when entering her house, I simply wouldn't visit her any more. ;-)
To be honest, whether your friend says "Kindly remove your shoes" or "Please remove your shoes" or "Remove your shoes", your instinct is correct - she is ordering you to take off your shoes.

 

[david11]

If I had a friend who insisted I take off my shoes when entering her house, I simply wouldn't visit her any more. ;-)
To be honest, whether your friend says "Kindly remove your shoes" or "Please remove your shoes" or "Remove your shoes", your instinct is correct - she is ordering you to take off your shoes.

How else can one politely ask the other to remove the shoes before entering his/her house?

(In India, people usually remove their shoes before entering anyone's house. Since Britain is a cold country, can I assume people wear shoes even inside the house?)

 

[emsr2d2]

Being dreadfully polite people as we are, Brits say things like "I'm terribly sorry but would you mind taking off your shoes?" We're not actually giving them a choice but we like to make them think it's a choice.

It's nothing to do with the climate. Some people don't like the idea of people tramping around on their nice clean carpets and floors while wearing the shoes they've been wearing in the streets (which definitely aren't clean). Some of us don't care.

 

[david11]

Being dreadfully polite people as we are, Brits say things like "I'm terribly sorry but would you mind taking off your shoes?" We're not actually giving them a choice but we like to make them think it's a choice.

Oh! I understand! I think it also depends on the way they say it. As 5JJ pointed out, kindly is a polite word in India. Most of the request letters addressed to a boss by a employee would consist the word "Kindly" like "kindly grant me leave for two days...etc".

. Some people don't like the idea of people tramping around on their nice clean carpets and floors while wearing the shoes

When I was young, after playing cricket, I walked around the house with my dirty shoes! My mom threatened to cut off my pocket money if I do not clean it! :-|

 

[5jj]

If I had a friend who insisted I take off my shoes when entering her house, I simply wouldn't visit her any more.

You wouldn't be visiting anybody here in the Czech Republic then. People here would be mortified if anybody entered their homes with the dirt of the streets on their footwear.