Actually, it is more formal.
In my opinion, it is so much formal, that it becomes ironical, and so is more like a demand than a request. Saying
Merci de fermer la porte
is already polite, you don’t have to add «bien vouloir»…
You could also say
Merci de bien vouloir vous donner la peine de…
which is even stronger.
It actually means “it is not very difficult to do, so please do it”.
It’s the idiomatic formal and polite way to express a request, usually in writing. It is nonetheless a request.
You may want to be careful about the word order. The old-fashioned and very formal usage has two formulas :
- “Merci de vouloir bien…” is meant as an order and implies superiority : it is used when you address your report (or your butler or domestic servant)
- Merci de bien vouloir” is meant as a request
It is unlikely that anybody will notice nowadays (except for someone in the military), and the widely accepted usage is “Merci de bien vouloir”.
Are there similar constructs in which the added words kind of have no meaning but will add formality?
as in “serait-ce un effet de votre haute bienveillance que de bien vouloir considérer xxx” ? 🙂
When I was young, we were advised at school (and books) to write any application letter or formal written request that way. But I guess even at that time, this XIXth-century sounding formulation was making human resource people smiling 🙂
Isn’t this similar to “Veuillez de fermer la porte” – it’s a polite way of saying “Please close the door” – however its literal expression is “Please want to close the door” – which is kind of funny for us in English.
“Merci de bien vouloir” has the same sense of “Please kindly want to…”
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