By taking the model of ‘ritual frame indicating expressions’ (RFIEs), this study aims to reexamine the concept of ‘politeness marker’ and argue that the relationship between politeness itself and ‘politeness markers’ significantly varies across linguacultures, therefore, there’s no strict relationship between linguistic forms and politeness. This study suggests that contrastive pragmatic approach to politeness markers be needed in order to see the relationship between linguistic forms and politeness. As a case study, therefore, this study examines one-word expression commonly associated with speech act of request, ‘jom’ in Korean and ‘please’ in English and argues that RFIEs are deployed in situations where it is important to show awareness of the rights and obligations. The analysis of data reveals some differences between English and Korean RFIEs, as well as relevant linguacultural reasons behind such differences (Kongju National University).