LL-L "Idiomatica" 2013.07.18 (01) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 18 July 2013 - Volume 01
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From: Tom Mc Rae <thomas.mcrae at bigpond.com>
Subject: LL-L Languge Convention

Delancey Place quoted the following from a book..

-- saying "please" and "thank you" is not a universal
custom -- there are societies such as the Inuit, where it is not the case.
In fact
it first took hold in Western society during the commercial revolution of
the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries as evidence of the democratization of society --
our desire
to view everyone as equals. Before that, saying please and thank you was a
way to
show deference to a lord or master. "Thank you" derives from "think," and
it originally
meant, "I will remember what you did for me"-- and "please" is short for
"if you
please," "if it pleases you to do this":

Having lived in West Africa for 11 years I would question this statement.
The old Asante Twi language has "thank you" as 'Medassi" and "Thank you
very much" as Medassi Pi."
Further north in Ghana the early iron age Mossi Dagbaani tribes have
"M'pooseeya" or "Ta Puhyia".
English speaking Ghanaians ranging from pidgin to excellent will use
"Please" or "Pleesuh". I concede that some learned this at school
but it is also used by illiterates and appears to have evolved from their
local word for please.
 Best Regards

Tom Mc Rae
Brisbane Australia
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolised.
–Albert Einstein

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