Discounts for polite people

[Queequeg]

For instance, there's no real decent English, Russian or German equivalent that springs to mind of Turkish Eline saghlik, "health to your hand", which is the polite response to afiyet olsun (bon appetit).  These system are different, but I doubt that many languages sported by complex hierarchical civilizations lack vague equivalents to "please".

[Admiral Yi]

I think you're wrong Squeelus.  As you already mentioned East Asian languages express a hierarchy of status and respect, but that's not the same as please. 

I suspect the existence of please has to do with feudal or pre feudal traditions of petitioning one's superiors.  "If it please your lord, I can't pay my taxes this year."  Therefore cultures which didn't recognize rigid hierarchy (Vikings) or those that did but didn't recognize the right to petition, won't have a please equivalent.

[The Brain]

So it's an Indo-european thing?

Except the Norse.

The Swedes might have it, at least I remember them using 'snälla' quite a lot.

Swedish doesn't have a please.

[Queequeg]

Your argument is that Japan, where the Samurai class could behead anyone and say "Forgive me for beheading you" was insufficiently feudal?

[Admiral Yi]

Your argument is that Japan, where the Samurai class could behead anyone and say "Forgive me for beheading you" was insufficiently feudal?

Totally wrong.

[Drakken]

Isn't that what they use as "excuse me"? Or as in "please, sit down".

Excuse me is sumimasen.  I think doozo might be mostly (only?) used in the context of offering food.  Please eat, please come in to my restaurant.

Japanese has, IIRC, three levels of grammar and vocabulary, depending on whether you are speaking to an inferior (or a child/woman), an equal, or a superior.

[Drakken]

Your argument is that Japan, where the Samurai class could behead anyone and say "Forgive me for beheading you" was insufficiently feudal?

By the time samurai could indeed do that, Japan was well on the way out of being a feudal state and well into being a centralized, early modern bureaucratic state with some feudal remnants. Besides, samurai tended not behave like knee-jerk asshole-sama in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, where Japan was at its most feudal, at least until Hideyoshi's sword hunts, partly because the definition of a samurai wasn't totally clear and well-defined, quite a few 'samurai' were still peasants, and a lot of peasants were armed to defend there villages and localities would not have liked this sort of politeness enforcement method.

[Queequeg]

I still don't buy it. People in every country had to petition their superiors. Even subjects of Gustav Vasa had to ask pretty please build a bridge in Uppsala. I think this is likely random linguistic noise where the universality of kissing ass in hierarchical societies and tenancy of upper classes to use prestige languages, leads to borrowing of exact phrases (please) and concepts (pozhailusta and  lütfen).

[Admiral Yi]

I still don't buy it. People in every country had to petition their superiors. Even subjects of Gustav Vasa had to ask pretty please build a bridge in Uppsala. I think this is likely random linguistic noise where the universality of kissing ass in hierarchical societies and tenancy of upper classes to use prestige languages, leads to borrowing of exact phrases (please) and concepts (pozhailusta and  lütfen).

Completely wrong.

In China and Japan rulers were considered divine and secluded from society.  Whereas in Imperial Rome the right of a citizen to petition the emperor for redress of wrong was explicitly guaranteed in law.

[Josquius]

I think its fairly accurate to say there is no absolute translation of please in Japanese. Instead there are different pleases for different situations.
i.e. dozo for 'please, you can have this seat' and the like, 'kudasai' for 'can i have a beer please', etc...
Its hard to have one word for please when your entire language is built around saying please.