Pretty please with a cherry on top meaning

A delicious red cherry is often placed on top of a cake or an ice cream dessert in order to make it even more appealing to the eye and the sense of taste. So the "cherry on top" is the final touch that makes something as attractive as possible. If you say "Pretty please with a cherry on top", it means you are trying to make your offer as attractive as possible. Children and desperate adults use this expression when every other attempt to persuade another person has failed. A similar phrase is "Pretty please "with sugar on top". The idea is that putting sugar on top of something makes it more attractive. Often the expressions "with sugar on top" and "with a cherry on top" are used sarcastically. example: Pretty please with a cherry on top, would you move your stupid car, it's blocking my driveway!

M

Marionetta

Member

Español (España)

  • Jan 8, 2011
  • #1

Hello, I'm a little intrigued with the expression Pretty please with a cherry on top...
I can guess it is just an effusive way to ask something please, but I would like to know when is it used. Is it said by kids only? does it sound ridiculous when used by adults?

Pretty please with a cherry on top meaning

borgonyon

Senior Member

Thousand Oaks, California

Mexican Spanish

  • Sep 9, 2015
  • #6

¿Porfa, porfa, porfa es lo único que sea similar?
¿Habrá alguna otra expresión?

 

An emphatic or exaggerated way of asking "please." Sometimes used sarcastically or ironically. Please can I have some ice cream, Mommy? Pretty please with a cherry on top? Timmy, I've asked you a dozen times to clean that room. So for the last time, pretty please with a cherry on top—clean your room! What a moronic piece of legislation! The governor seems to think that people won't commit crimes if the government just says pretty please with a cherry on top.

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

What does cherry on top mean slang?

idiom (also the cherry on (top of) the sundae, the cherry on top) something that makes something that is already good even better, or perfect: For his career, the Olympic Games would be the cherry on the cake.

What does pretty please with sugar on top mean?

An emphatic or exaggerated way of asking "please." Sometimes used sarcastically or ironically. Please can I have some ice cream, Mommy? Pretty please with sugar on top? Timmy, I've asked you a dozen times to clean that room.

Where does the phrase cherry on top come from?

Etymology. An allusion to cakes, which are sometimes topped with cherries.

How do you use the cherry on top idiom?

something that makes something that is already good even better, or perfect:.
For his career, the Olympic Games would be the cherry on the cake..
He put the cherry on top of the cake by scoring for the third time..
Finding this piece of evidence really was the cherry on the sundae for the prosecution's case..