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"May you please send me the letter."
The intern made me stop for a moment when she said this. She repeated herself, and we began to talk.
It seems that she was taught that it's more polite to ask, "May I stand up?" and more accurate, since you're not asserting your ability, but instead seeking permission. (I think this distinction is misplaced, but that's another story.)
By extension, if she'd like to politely ask someone else, she extrapolated that a polite request is, "May you stand up?" "Can" would again be asking about the ability. Clearly, you make the polite request here with "could" or "would," but she was fairly adamant about this, even after a straw poll in the office.
Have you ever heard of this before? Only connector here is that the two people I've heard use this are middle-class African-Americans under age 30.
I have never heard this usage. But I feel like that's only my loss, because it makes sense, regardless issues of grammar. It sounds kind of "nice" and natural, though definitely nonstandard.
And it's not as if transferring words to the 'wrong' person never happens : one common usage of please has it transferred in the opposite direction, to the first person: Can we please go to the game?
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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