What does please with sugar and knobs on mean in the following sentence?
Please, pretty please, pretty please with sugar and knobs on, do not
ever look at your monthly/quarterly/annual statements; they only serve
to confuse you.
Specifically, what do sugar and knob refer to?
This comes from a comment on Money SE.
Best Answer
It's three different "intensifiers" used together, effectively "Please please please please!"
Pretty as in that was pretty stupid is quite common in the slightly childish/winsome/wheedling entreaty Pretty please?.
With [brass] knobs on is a well-established intensifier (cf with bells on). I've not come across with sugar used in this way, and certainly the conjunction of all three isn't what I'd call a standard idiom, but in context the meaning is obvious.
EDIT: Note that "The same to you with [brass] knobs on!" is (rather dated) British slang, which explains why many people aren't familiar with it. Outside of that specific retort, with knobs on was never particularly common, so for any one under 50 (or not British) I've obviously overstated the case by saying it's a "well-established intensifier". Nevertheless, it is just an intensifier, with no other connection to "pretty" and "with sugar on".