I have an interesting question. What does the word "sorry" mean to you? I notice that people use it a lot to mean all sorts of things.
"I'm sorry your mother died."
"I'm sorry I hurt you."
"I'm sorry I have to squeeze past you."
"I'm sorry that the train was late."
"I'm sorry you don't like what I'm doing."
In my mind, the only statement that makes sense is the second one. The rest seem like excuses. At work, when I'm working in a norrow corridor, I get frustrated by the third case. If you were really sorry, you'd go the other way instead of squeezing through again on your way back. I know they mean well and what they really mean is "excuse me."
While I've always believed that "sorry I hurt you" is the only correct usage, I think a lot of my recent conditioning came from my ex-. She frequently said sorry for things she did. It eventually became evident that she wasn't saying "sorry I hurt you", but rather "sorry the things I do hurt you." She had no intention of being more considerate, she just wanted an excuse to get out of it, give the illusion of consideration.
I've always been careful how I use the word "sorry". I don't see the need of living in regret. I learn from my mistakes (eventually, in some cases) and move on. That really pissed off one ex-girlfrind I cheated on (not intentionally.) I learned more about myself, and for that I wasn't sorry. I didn't like what I did to her and I know not to do it again, but I won't regret it. In hindsight, that probably was the right situation to say sorry.
In all, I guess this word is one of my pet peeves. I'm curious what other people think of it. Is it overused? Is it simple politeness?
Enjoy!
