“Please may you…?”

[PopcornPoppingInAPan]

I hear this an increasing amount at work (big professional services co in London) exclusively from younger folk.

eg “Please may you send me the documents you need printing.” or “Please may you check the final point with Dan?” (Might or might not end with a question mark).

This is wrong isn’t it?! I always thought “Please may I…” was a polite way to ask for permission to do something.

But you can’t ask another person for permission that they do something.

It should be “Please can/could/would you….” shouldn’t it? (Better pedants than me will I’m sure be along soon to confirm which of those is correct and when).

I find it really grating!

Almost as annoying as 'can I get' when ordering a coffee in a coffee shop. No you can't but I'm sure the employee will get it for you.......

I'm surprised they didn't write "Can I get". I was driven nuts yesterday at work at the salad bar. The woman in front of me said "Can I get some sweetcorn and can I get some falafel and can I get some jalapenos .. " until her salad box was full.

Pondering on where this might have come from. 'May' is used to start sentences expressing a wish (may the king live forever, may you be happy etc) so perhaps there's some sort of invocation going on here? Or perhaps not!

This morning on Radio 4 I think I heard Emma Barnett say to an MP, "May you answer the question", rather than, "Would/could you answer the question." I suppose I should go to BBC Sounds and listen to it but first, did anyone else hear this?

@Jason118 @HelloDenise
There's nothing wrong with saying 'can I get?' in that example. The meanings of the verb 'to get' include the definition 'to receive'. The person is asking if they can receive a coffee.

There's nothing wrong with saying 'can I get...' if you're asking about availability, but it's not the same as an order. You might ask 'can I get a coffee ' in a bubble tea shop (meaning is it possible to get coffee here as well as tea) or in a coffee shop 5 minutes before closing time. But generally you can expect to be able to get coffee in a coffee shop, so asking whether you can get one is completely redundant.

I first heard "please may you ..." about 10 years ago at work from younger colleagues. It has definitely got worse (in the sense of being more frequent). As a PP said, Stacey Dooley said it a lot on Glow Up. Young people think it is more polite apparently. It irritates me a lot. As far as I am concerned "may" should be used to ask permission (as in "May I have a glass of water please?") or in the subjunctive to express hopes for the future (eg "May you rest in peace).

But language changes all the time and this may seem quite normal in 20 years.

By that logic people shouldn't say 'can I have a coffee please?' in a coffee shop either.

However, in real life they do and I don't think it's a mistake to do so.

The expression 'may I have?' is not widely used in many of the places where English is spoken as a first language. You may use it of course, but that doesn't make it compulsory. Perhaps 'can I have/get?' is slightly less formal, but it's not wrong. (Maybe the coffee shop machine has just broken, or the barista is unwell, or they've run out of cups...who knows anyway?)

It's because so many people insist on telling them that "may" is more polite than "can".

It's ridiculous. Can you blame them for not fully understanding?

It's not a mistake.
People on here just take offence at terminology they don't personally use for some reason. And that somehow morphs into them asserting that those who do use it are wrong.
As a descriptive linguist I find it fascinating and faintly ridiculous at the same time.
(I don't use "can I get". I think I probably use "could I have" more often than other alternatives. But I'm not arrogant enough to think that because I don't personally use it= it's wrong. I had a new teacher join my department last year, and I noticed in the lunch queue he'd always say "can I get the pasta please?" And I thought blimey, good job he's not a Mumsnetter. 😂

Thanks @ASighMadeOfStone.
Yes, I don't like all the judgement.
I'm not from the UK so I suppose I'm used to things being said a little differently than might be commonplace here.

I'm not sure I'd call it a mistake but for me, there's a clear difference in meaning between 'can I get' and 'may I have', and I think that any usage that removes the ability to make that distinction is regrettable. It's not just taking offence at terminology I don't personally use, it's preferring to have a variety of expressions to match a variety of meanings. Losing that makes us all poorer.

I was the manager of a girl that used to write this in her emails; I had to say something …. It makes no sense 🤯

I heard ‘may you’ regularly from a professor in his 50s. Admittedly not a professor of English but still highly literate with English as his first language. I could never work out how to correct him without offending him.

I would say "could you" is more deferential than "would you", although they're both polite (and correct, afaik).

@ Tulipshaped -
“The expression 'may I have?' is not widely used in many of the places where English is spoken as a first language. “

What, you mean like England? I always taught my children (and now grandchildren) to say, “Please may I have”. It seems to me perfectly normal usage.

No, I wasn't talking about England @sesquipedalian.

The majority of people who speak English as a first language are not English though.

My first language is English, for example, but 'may I have?' is not really used at all where I live.

Well, I didn't realise I'd posted this months ago ! This morning the same presenter said to Angela Rayner, "May you answer the question?".