Comments on: Sorry

By: Justine

Justine — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:14:28 +0000

Jack: Indeed, there is a certain kind of Aussie boy who also does it. But we girls outnumber you in the sorry-ing.

By: Jack Heath

Jack Heath — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:17:19 +0000

I take a lot of attitude from my girlfriend about how often I say sorry for things that aren’t my fault. I must be an Australian girl too!
-Jack

By: Lizzy-wa

Lizzy-wa — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:22:34 +0000

hehe. i dont say sorry that often. usally i say “well soooorrry!” all sarcastic-like. hehe.

-Lizzy-wa OUT!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:22:10 +0000

I say sorry A Lot. I’ve also been told that it’s very annoying…and then I apologize for being annoying.

I can’t help it!

By: ariel cooke

ariel cooke — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:37:53 +0000

i realized this summer how often i say sorry. i think i over-use it to seem less threatening. i was taking an online class and my little subgroup had one discussion area that we kept using. this meant i kept having to scroll through the old conversations where i was always starting out by saying sorry. i think i was trying to placate them while i pushed my agenda to control our group projects.

By: hillary!

hillary! — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:14:04 +0000

I have two stories of my over-usage of the words sorry and thank you.
Last year I went to get tutoring for Algebra 2, every time I got a problem wrong I’d say ‘Sorry!’and my tutor (who was a really cute Russian guy) all of a sudden got really really really angry! I was so shocked. He told me to stop or he’d stop tutoring me, he said he felt that he wasn’t doing a good job in tutoring me, and I said sorry yet again. Then I told him not to worry because he was doing a better job than my teacher.

And just last month I got my first detention ever! It should have been a Saturday school but because I’ve never had one he was lenient, so when he gave me the little pink slip I took it and said thank you. He was so confused. You could tell that no one had ever said thank you to him before for gettinhg a detention. But I did.
Oh, and I did used to say pardon me alot when I didn’t hear what someone had said to me. But my friends got me to stop, so now I say “Come again?”

By: amy fiske

amy fiske — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:37:08 +0000

i say sorry all the time – and i’m completely unapologetic about it (pun intended). it’s considered good manners in the culture i grew up in.

my pet peeve is when someone snaps at me: “it’s not your fault!” sheesh. adults should be able to read context and tell the difference between accepting blame and the other myriad uses of the word “sorry.”

By: Ammy

Ammy — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:01:07 +0000

So wait… saying sorry to a random person you bump into is considered weird?

dang! hehe
i also use the word ‘sorry’ just like an everyday phrase. i’ve never actually thought about it before, because everyone else i know (here in australia) does the same. in fact, i find it odd when people don’t give even a brief ‘sorry’ when they bump into you.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 04:16:27 +0000

Kevin is always getting mad at me for saying “sorry” too much. Naturally I apologize for doing it.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:38:39 +0000

i always thought this was the domain of Canucks. we are notorious for being polite. now you tell me it isn’t just us? another assumption blown to bits.

By: sylvia_rachel

sylvia_rachel — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 01:10:22 +0000

canadians — of both sexes — do this, too. i consider it quite normal to apologize when someone bumps into me on the bus … which is probably pretty weird, now i think of it …

By: emily

emily — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:04:46 +0000

my friend does that all the time!!!!!!! sometimes i start yelling at her becuase she says it too much. it kind of goes along with her personality though (she is an excedingly nice person who doesn’t even hate horribly annoying people). i live in ny, so its probably not regoinal. just her personality.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:01:09 +0000

i just…naturally say it. it drives people crazy. i say it as in “sorry, that sucks” but people think i’m apoligizing. i am trying to stop though.

By: Kadie-Wa

Kadie-Wa — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:18:22 +0000

TOtally true. I say sorry to everything. even if it’s what somone did to me, like walk into me or something, i’ll apoligize. i don’t know why. i think it’s like a habbit…

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:49:34 +0000

i used to say it way too often. i’ve cut back recently.

By: Kenina-chan

Kenina-chan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:39:25 +0000

Yay! An after photo!! Thank you! (<–I meant that one)

By: Electric Landlady

Electric Landlady — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:17:14 +0000

I thought it was just us Canadians! (As I see Owldaughter and Stacy have already mentioned.)

By: janet

janet — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:46:30 +0000

This is a tangent, but when I was in Italy a few months ago I had an odd exchange with an Italian man who claimed that English-speakers never say “please,” whether they’re speaking in English or Italian. He was quite adamant about it, and he thought it very rude, which was funny coming from a man who eavesdropped on the conversation of some total strangers and then interrupted and harangued us about our manners and those of our compatriots. All of which goes to show that manners are not only cultural, and not only idiosyncratic, but also that it’s much easier to notice other people’s bad manners than your own.

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:43:58 +0000

The kind of sorry I’m talking about usually isn’t an apology nor is it an expression of sympathy. It really is just a verbal tic.

Kenina-Chan: I have taken an after photo just for you. Will post soon.

Ally: ¡Discúlpame!

By: zebediah

zebediah — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:41:26 +0000

not me!

By: janet

janet — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:41:06 +0000

My impression is that Australians and Brits (male as well as female) often say “sorry” where I would say “excuse me.” I don’t think it should be interpreted literally as an apology — I think it’s just an idiom. I mean, if you said “pardon me” all the time, people wouldn’t think you were literally asking to be pardoned, though they would probably think your English was weirdly formal or archaic.

By: Ally

Ally — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:37:53 +0000

OOH! i say it all the time. (from the south) and when i don’t, i can’t stop thinking that they’ll think i’m rude, even when its not my fault. And the same with thank yous. If like someone walks away before I say thank you i feel bad..
lo siento

By: Kenina-chan

Kenina-chan — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:38:55 +0000

I say sorry so often it’s not even funny. Someone could knock me over and I’d say “sorry” out of instinct, but then I’d get pretty mad. My friend on the other hand says “excuse me” so often, she says it when she bumps into walls. i say “thank you” and “please” way too much because of my parents conditioning me too. I also hold open the door for people so often that I end up late. It’s not me being polite (only for a small amount of the time), it’s the conditioning! I’m from upstate NY. Maybe I’m just different.

Justine, you should have taken photos of your desk, before and after.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:36:40 +0000

Owldaughter: yes, it’s a very Canadian thing, even in the biggest urban centers. I’m constantly apologizing to people when they bump into me!

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:44:13 +0000

heheh, I have a friend who does this too!