alt Hacker NewsI’m a Brit. It was only after living overseas that I realised just how mad our use of “sorry” can be.
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…
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Separately, I love the word “bloke”. I wish it would take off here in the US.
I grew up in the states with a close friend whose parents are both from the UK and she's the only person I've known to say "I beg your pardon" with regularity. Is that a British/UK English thing too? I never hear/read it used otherwise but it seems more succinct and "proper" to me.
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
Reminds me of that Hale and Pace skit on the street.
Was on a London bus early one morning, not many people on the bus. One bloke got up from his seat to get off, he had a big bag and knocked it against one of the poles on his way out. He said sorry to the pole, there was no one else around. One of the most British things I’ve seen.
Eh its sorry for "sorry would you mind terribly moving your bag" nothing so direct as move your bag alone.
> One day I was on the tube. My bag was on the seat next to me
Presumably you also said sorry in return?
What’s mad about that? The sorry was for interrupting and engaging you and having a favour to ask. The sorry itself wasn’t a command, it was an apology for the implied command.