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British people pride themselves on their polite manners towards one another in public. They often use the word ‘sorry’—even when they don’t really mean it! Usually, if they want to ask a stranger for the time, they would start by saying ‘Sorry to bother you. Do you know what time it is?’ If they’re five minutes late for an appointment (約會), they would generally greet the person by saying ‘Sorry I’m late!’

They use the word ‘sorry’ in so many different situations that the meaning of the word has changed a little over time. The two main dictionary definitions (釋義) of ‘sorry’ are: 1) feeling sad for someone else because of their problems or bad luck; 2) feeling regret because you’ve done something wrong. Now, think about this. Normally, when they want to ask a stranger a question, they start with ‘Sorry to bother you’. In this situation, they aren’t saying sorry because they feel sad for that person or because they feel regret.

So what does ‘sorry’ really mean? And why do British people use it so much? Well, in the British culture, saying ‘sorry’ is a way to be polite, especially to people who they don’t know very well. It’s also a very clever way to get what they want. In a recent experiment, an actor went up to a different strangers on a rainy day to ask if he could use their mobile phones in order to make a call. When he went up to one group of strangers and asked them without saying ‘sorry’ first, he was only 9 per cent successful in borrowing their phones. However, when he said ‘sorry’ to another group of strangers about the bad weather before asking if he could use their mobile phones, he was 47 per cent successful. So maybe saying ‘sorry’ is not just being polite, but it is also a good method to get what they want too!

Title: Why do 1. people say sorry?

Main points

Detailed information

The situations in which they say ‘2.’

Asking for the time

Being 3. for an appointment

The change of the meaning of ‘sorry’

The two main 4. definitions of ‘sorry’;

Feeling sad for 5. problems or bad luck

Feeling regret 6. of one’s own mistakes

When British people ask a stranger a question by 7.

with ‘sorry’, they are saying sorry neither because they feel sad for that person nor because they feel regret.

The 8. meaning of ‘sorry’

A way to be polite

A good way to get 9. they want

The result of an experiment shows it’s 10. for one to succeed in borrowing a mobile phone by saying ‘sorry’.

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