Pretty please (with sugar on top)

April 11th, 2008 by admin

Page 2 of 2 | Previous page

Posted in April 2008, columns | 10 comments

Previous post:
Next post:

10 comments on this post.

  1. Jacki:

    April 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am

    It must have been earlier than the 1950s. It was popular in our household in the late 1940s. In fact I remember building entire sundaes and banana splits while pleading for a pony. At the age of 4, 5, and 6, I had a great deal of difficulty comprehending the word “no”.

  2. Kathy:

    August 7th, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    I was trying to figure this out myself. I think its an english phrase with german roots.

    “bitte schoen” means “beautiful (pretty) please”

  3. Roberta:

    December 26th, 2009 at 4:57 am

    Kathy, “bitte schoen” in German means “You’re welcome” or “There you go” (as “Voila” in French),
    and isn’t used to ask for something.

    Good try, though.

  4. Ruth:

    April 30th, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    “Bitte” can be used for “please” as well as for “thank you.”

    If a German speaker were conversing in English and did not understand, he might request “Bitte, auf Deutsch.” which would mean “Please, (say it) in German.”

  5. Draxonfly:

    December 5th, 2010 at 9:27 pm

    Don’t forget the cherry.. when I was young it was “pretty please with sugar on top and a cherry” ..

  6. Robyn:

    January 7th, 2011 at 7:43 am

    FYI- Once I saw this, and saw how rude Roberta was I decided to contact a friend of mine that came to Canada where I live as an exchange student from Germany and has spoke the language, and lived(s) there is whole life.

    Here is his response quoted. Bear in mind his English isn’t the best.

    “hey… “bitte schoen” means “you are welcome” and “pretty please” is actually almost the same, if u translate it word by word… what for do u use it??? to strengthen a request??? i’m not sure if there is a way to translate it for this way… since we only say “bitte” (please) or double it “bitte, bitte”…”

  7. steve:

    March 31st, 2011 at 8:30 am

    The phrase dates back to at least 1948 as it appears on P.55 of the play by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, “Life With Mother”, which opened on Broadway on October 20, 1948.

  8. Yvonne:

    July 14th, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Thanks all. We remembered something about sugar and a cherry but couldn’t remember exactly.

  9. v.k. venkov:

    January 17th, 2012 at 6:03 am

    Close, but no cigar.

    Pretty please comes from Middle English “prithee”, itself a contraction from “I pray thee”.

  10. Russ Fulton:

    February 21st, 2012 at 7:07 am

    Dear v.k.,

    That’s what I thought. How did you confirm it? –rf

Leave a comment