Language is the generation gap

This September 22 ZITS comic strip shows why Jeremy’s parents cannot communicate with him when they still say “it sucksth”.

Pray was commonly used as ‘please’ (in more earnest plea), less commonly used nowadays, though.  When “Churchill was back” as the First Lord of Admiralty at the outbreak of WWII; he sent out a series of memoranda that became known as the First Lord’s Prayers as they frequent opened with “Pray inform me . . .” or “Pray why has . . . not been done?”.

In a letter to her brother, Austin, Emily Dickinson wrote,

Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden, come!

Prithee is “pray thee” = I ask you, please

This link is to a related topic in my blog,

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2012/03/americans-like-to-say-lick.html