Putting the word kindly before whatever you are saying, isnt being kind

You don't need to use anything.
it's like starting with 'I ain't gonna lie' or TBH - it detracts from what you are saying.

It’s not about an alternative. If you just phrase the answer kindly you won’t have to signal that you’re intending to be kind

What would you use instead? Open to an alternative! I don’t use it often, but when I do it is meant.

Same., It's a tough one to judge overall, I'm sure some people do it in an unkind passive aggressive way, but then there's the odd post on here from time to time that is clearly ridiculous but the OP can't see it due to no fault of their own.

"Thanks", usually.

"Kind regards" is nearly as awful as "kindly", although in a more bland and meaningless rather than patronising and passive aggressive way

Ah, but as we know, 'funny' can mean 'odd, strange' as well as amusing.

As in 'funny ha ha' as opposed to 'funny peculiar'.

That’s the only context I ever saw it in before - on a sign outside a school discouraging speeding and in police colours

in that case polite was clearly not what they were aiming at!!

Signs saying 'Polite Notice ...' were around when I was a child in the 60s. They were a trick to make people think it said 'Police Notice '. I saw a horserider's tabard with a similar message recently. Something like 'Polite Notice. Give horses a wide birth' on Hi Viz. Not an unreasonable request but it didn't need the Polite Notice bit.

Funny as in 'funny peculiar ' not 'funny ha ha'.

Same here.

Gently, @elephantjuiceq , get a feckin' life.

I had a "Kindly, you sound like a terrible parent" once. Thank goodness they were being kind and didn't say what they really thought.

I hate it. I don't like gently either but I have seen that used better, I think people who use it are trying to soften what they say.

And if you had started your post ‘kindly’ I would still have taken from your tone that you weren’t meaning to be kind at all. So it’s a redundant notion imo

Maybe I have lived with a German too long but a lot of these social niceties are unnecessary

and a lot of them are new - I don’t remember singing polite reminder a few years back

and ‘polite notice’ is odd because the time of the notice should be polite so you shouldn’t have to be told. Same with kindly, what’s the point of putting it there if what you are going on to say is not kind?

this is bonkers. Do you honestly not understand that this is a convention to get a message across without sounding confrontational. . It’s a social nicety. Conventions like this are important to everyone getting along.

It depends on the context.

Kindly, followed by a insult, isn't helpful.
Kindly, you are a nutjob.

Kindly, followed by well meaning advice.
Kindly, you need to leave for the sake of your kids.

It's an effort to convey understanding of the situation and trying not to kick someone when they are down or vulnerable. It's need advice but the user doesn't want it to seem like a pile on.

No but now I want to start writing “Really Rude Notice” on all of mine.

Kindly fuck off...

I think it's a bit like when people say you label the behaviour not the child.

It feels nicer to the person giving it, but the person receiving it doesn't really notice.

I think you're expecting me to get upset but no..not hitting quite how you'd like. Soz.

I think it's fine. It indicates the tone that the writer wants to convey.

Ah ok. Yeah I see what you mean. I've had it where people think they're being amusing as well as offensive. So I guess it could be both. It's never good though is it, the words that follow!

You could just leave it blank, or sign off with your name - but then judging by this thread someone might accuse you of being rude.

You seem to be reading a lot into what are simply social niceties, which in real life we say all the time probably without thinking.

It’s like small talk, it’s just there to smooth things over, doesn’t actually mean a lot.

This. Kindly, stop being so sensitive OP.

I don't think it is different. It's not being funny in the sense of making a joke. It's being funny with someone in the sense of being offhand or slightly rude or tetchy.