Then I had a long relationship with an ethnically Dutch person but culturally a Londoner (she grew up there) and also learned there is “I am sorry for your pain and wish I could take it away” (this implies though they probably would do it again because they are not sorry for their actions).
It was maddening at first but now I am used to it. I only do this in English though. In Dutch it’s almost like I physically can’t. It feels wrong to use it that way, almost unethical even.
But maybe that’s a me thing.
But for a more distant example of the "I'm about to inconvenience you" usage being normal - isn't the Japanese "sumimasen" used almost exactly the same as these?
There's also ごめん下さい "gomen kudasai" (literally "please forgive me") which is used as a greeting when visiting someone's house unexpectedly. And どうもすみません "domo sumimasen" (literally "thanks excuse me/I'm sorry") when accepting someone's offer to help with something.
None of these necessarily imply the speaker has actually done something wrong or wouldn't do the same again.
You’d be surprised. The culture of kidzukai has two core tenets: (1) You must anticipate and cater to the other person’s every need and whim. If you fail you must apologize. (2) You must not allow the other person to do (1) for you instead of you doing it for them. If you fail you must apologize.
This means that every interaction between people who are even slightly close to each other in the social hierarchy is 3D chess which always ends in one or both of you apologizing to the other.
p.s. Gomen kudasai is “please permit me” to enter your house, not really an apology like gomen nasai.
In the anglosphere maybe, but outside of that it seems to not be. My girlfriend is from SE Asia and her language's equivalent is evidently used exclusively to apologize for having wronged someone. I've had to explain my usage of "I'm sorry that [bad thing happened]" or "Sorry, but can I just [very minorly inconvenience you]" because she didn't understand what I was admitting fault for.
In her language I believe they use different politeness markers for these situations (they have an "excuse me" equivalent), but I'm not proficient enough to know them well.
"Sorry" is most commonly translated as "xin lỗi" which literally means something like "request forgiveness". It's connected exclusively to the notion of fault, not sadness. The real issue is that sorry <-> xin lỗi is a ubiquitous but poor translation, because the meaning of xin lỗi is much more specific than sorry.
An example. One day I was on the tube. My bag was on the seat next to me. A bloke gets on, points at my bag and says “sorry”.
What he actually meant, was “move your bag”.
The thing is, if he had said something so direct, I would have said “sorry, what did you say to me?”
And on and on…
Highly abbreviated exchange combined with a gesture.
Sorry (heh), but it could easily be a sarcastic use (#4), not apologetic (#3) and not softening (#5). Not even tone can always differentiate between the apologetic "I'm sorry to bother you" and the non-apologetic "I'm sorry that your parents failed in raising you". They could be asking you for a favour, but they could just as easily be calling you inconsiderate of others because seats are for people not bags.
Mentioning it because I'm actually slightly surprised to see the "sorry, what did you say" usage here and in the article because it seems so pedestrian
It can be used to excuse not hearing something, to get someone to repeat something preposterous or to generally reply to something shocking without actually expecting the other person to reiterate.
I hear it most days in corporate tech.....
It’s getting quite serious if you have to whip that one out
E.g. when someone calls in on behalf of her spouse saying he's gone digging potatoes.
Presumably you also said sorry in return?
Just like togs, which I've never heard anybody say here though I've read that parts of Ireland still use it.
Same goes for "gutties" - rubber-soled shoes to wear in the gym (presumably from gutta-percha).
I think "bloke" was more common in the 90s over here. It picked up an association with boorishness, especially when used as an adjective - "blokey" was almost the middle-aged equivalent of "laddish".
Can The Family Have a Good Time Playing Sorry? | The Carol Burnett Show Clip
Tracy Ullman doing Nicola Sturgeon and Mhari Black .... pure dead brilliant!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eV5TbEydy0
Glasgow! Pure Dead Brilliant!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwomQzigGuc
PdB C to PostScript compiler:
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/ha0rz/britis...
e.g. "very interesting" -> "clearly nonsense"
Not similar to Amazon reviews Brits default to 1. So when it's a 5 it's particularly meaningful.
"absolutely fantastic" also works
sorry that you're a cunt, now
1) get out of my way
2) speak up
3) get out of my fucking way
4) stop being a cunt for a bit (and get out of my way)
5) shut up
6) fuck offAnother I don’t think was listed is a way to blunt an aggressive statement just in case there may be a misunderstanding.
“WTF did you just say to me?”
Might be “Sorry, but WTF did you just say to me?” would imply some anger that could lead to a fight but hey, sorry maybe I misheard you?
Which could funny enough lead to more sorries “oh, sorry I thought you said something else”.
I used to always put my bag next to me cause I don't want to sit next to someone (when I was a kid, it'd hurt me when I was solo sitting alone in whole bus, but I learned to embrace that instead). Nowadays, people just point at the bag, and during primetime it is just annoying having to ask (esp someone pretending to sleep, on phone, or lookibg outside) because yes we all don't like the bus is full, we all wanna get to work/home. So I learned to just start with my bag between my legs or on my lap instead. And, since the bag doesn't pay for a ticket, it has no right to a seat.
So in Borderlands 4, one of the voice lines by the Siren called Vex after a kill is 'sorry not sorry'. But given the CEO of that company is Texan, I couldn't pinpoint how rude (if any) that was. Not like they can hear you after a frag anyway.
Some British slang is just lovely. Such as smoking a fag. In that regard, too bad I don't smoke anymore.
But in the instance of sorry, I assumed it was American, since Brits would say 'excuse me'. Brits are, after all, very polite (I'm Dutch...)
Of course this being Britain, the tone used could make this mean the opposite.
It is really rude to step underneath other people. Or to lay underneath other people. No wonder they appologized.
I had always considered myself considerate and not blocking people and following posted etiquette rules and staying out of the way and being courteous in traffic but it seems the way now is to just follow commands by strangers and accept their abuse because I’m racist/sexist/privileged/trash
For instance 'yeah' can mean 'yes, continue', agreement, skepticism, (sarcastic) disagreement, enthusiasm, etc.
The cultural difference is what word is most commonly used.