sábado, 18 de abril de 2015

Why Do British People Say 'Sorry'?


During my group investigation about the United Kingdom, something that caught my attention was the different use of the same language (English) that British and American people have. Into this subject, I decided to focus on a single expression:

“Sorry”

Terms such as “Sorry” and “Excuse Me” have an apologetic meaning in the use of modern English, but it has come into my attention that in the last years, the list of situations where using ‘Sorry’ is appropriate  has started to grow wider.



But, why do British people say sorry? Nowadays, it could mean anything. In Britain, it’s very common to say ‘Sorry’ or ‘Excuse Me’ to begin any petition, to ask for something, to call someone’s attention, to even to excuse oneself for an action that will happen in the near future! 



It occurs to me that the original, apologetical use of the word ‘Sorry’ is starting to get lost between the labyrinth of slangs we create through time, not only in Britain, but in every single nation with a language in common.

But what’s wrong with that? You may ask. Well, have you ever heard of the insensitivity of the modern age? Just imagine what would happen if everyone begin to not care about anything. If words such as ‘Sorry’ start to mean nothing, then we might become being with no emotion, with no regrets.

Think about that, and think it twice the next time you feel like saying ‘Sorry’ to someone just to ask for a seat on the bus.

5 comentarios:

  1. The words "sorry" or "excuse me" are so important when we want other people to do something for us, this shows respect and courtesy, it's like to say "please" and "thank you". It help us to think about be polite all the time with all people, regardless of social class or age. Thank you for giving us this information!!

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  2. Is not most strange the amazement that "Sorry" makes us? is possible, like you said, for insensitivity, but i think is more than that, our idiosyncrasy goes along with our history and our continent is marked by slavery and slaughter of native, not like UK marked by queens and tea parties (stereotyped reflection)

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  3. I think that this is a little complicated, maybe we should create a new word, which means what we really want to say, or start thinking a little bit more when we talk. Now we do everything so quickly that we dont even have time to think what we are saying! Is a pity what happened to that girl, is time to start worrying about the others, no just about us!

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  4. I think that it doesn't matters the words we use if we don't express what we want to say with the proper attitude. Sadly lying have become a "normal" way to interrelate.

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  5. Wow, I just thought that the use (and abuse) of the word "sorry" was a good thing, indeed it indicates that they prefer being polite when talking to a person, but the fact that the word is losing its meaning never crossed my mind. Maybe in a couple of years there will be another word to express the feeling of regret, languages constantly change, specially english.

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