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what does the word "sorry" mean?

  • 09-10-2010 11:15pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,005 ✭✭✭


    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.

    I don't know why people say sorry if for example, a person dropped their mobile phone, or they dropped a fiver and say sorry, then tell them where their phone/money is.

    A simple "Hey" or "Hey You" should suffice, not sorry.


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,919 ✭✭✭Schism


    Saying sorry to get someones attention is more polite than 'Hey' or 'Hey You'.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    CorkMan wrote: »
    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.
    people really do this ? :eek:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,294 ✭✭✭thee glitz


    It's a uniquely Irish thing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,463 ✭✭✭Kiwi_knock


    Sorry is probably over used, has no real meaning any more as you can use it in so many different ways.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 86,729 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    CorkMan wrote: »
    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.

    I don't know why people say sorry if for example, a person dropped their mobile phone, or they dropped a fiver and say sorry, then tell them where their phone/money is.

    A simple "Hey" or "Hey You" should suffice, not sorry.
    http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=sorry&searchmode=none


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  • Moderators, Education Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 7,396 Mod ✭✭✭✭**Timbuk2**


    It's not used enough, tbh.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,330 ✭✭✭Gran Hermano


    It is a characteristic of Hiberno-English that 'sorry' is used in Ireland where 'excuse me' would be used in England. I've often heard an English person ask an Irish person what they were apologising for in such cases.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,918 ✭✭✭✭orourkeda


    CorkMan wrote: »
    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.

    I don't know why people say sorry if for example, a person dropped their mobile phone, or they dropped a fiver and say sorry, then tell them where their phone/money is.

    A simple "Hey" or "Hey You" should suffice, not sorry.

    Or YOY BOY in "the real capital"


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,323 ✭✭✭✭MrStuffins


    I prefer "Here, f*ck-face!"


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,636 ✭✭✭dotsman


    When people say "sorry" in this circumstance, it is just short for "sorry for bothering you". It's just another way of saying "excuse me".


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    Yeah I overuse it, use it for most everything. Exact same as "Excuse me"

    I don't even smoke but people ask me for cigarettes and I say sorry to them.
    I'm not sure what I'm apologizing for


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Sorry means never doing it again.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,239 ✭✭✭✭WindSock


    Sorry in that context means sorry for disturbing you. Much the same as what excuse me means.

    The only time it's used and it pisses me off is when it is followed by an insult.

    'Sorry buh yer a minger'

    Sorry for what, exactly? Being a cnt for no reason. Oh I suppose you are just 'telling it like it is' are you. Well, sorry, no one fking asked you, you thundering cockspurt.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    Yeah I overuse it, use it for most everything. Exact same as "Excuse me"

    I don't even smoke but people ask me for cigarettes and I say sorry to them.
    I'm not sure what I'm apologizing for
    You're being polite ,your saying sorry for their assumption ( common among smokers ) that you smoke .


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 850 ✭✭✭ordinary_girl


    I said "sorry" to someone yesterday after they stepped on my foot on the bus, I'm just so used to using that word.

    Sorry's just a word you find so easy to say, so you say it anyway.. Ahem.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,659 ✭✭✭CrazyRabbit


    Sorry = I'll make sure not to get caught the next time.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,706 ✭✭✭fonecrusher1


    This post is conveying a pun linking the word sorry in the original post with the song sorry seems to be the hardest word, written by Elton Glasses the famous musician.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭sunshineoh9


    sorry does get overused a lot but in more than just the "excuse me" kind of way... its also super overused when people make relationship mistakes...

    eg: kid forgets to call their parents a million and one times and sorry is used everytime but they keep forgetting
    or
    husband cheats, says sorry and continues to cheat

    if you don't mean it, don't say it!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,706 ✭✭✭fonecrusher1


    sorry does get overused a lot but in more than just the "excuse me" kind of way... its also super overused when people make relationship mistakes...

    eg: kid forgets to call their parents a million and one times and sorry is used everytime but they keep forgetting
    or
    husband cheats, says sorry and continues to cheat

    if you don't mean it, don't say it!

    Did you just use the word super as an alternative to completely, very much or totally?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭sunshineoh9


    Did you just use the word super as an alternative to completely, very much or totally?
    i was not aware this was in fact a crime....


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,706 ✭✭✭fonecrusher1


    i was not aware this was in fact a crime....

    Talking like Barney is a bookable offence. Your nicked sunshine.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭sunshineoh9


    Talking like Barney is a bookable offence. Your nicked sunshine.
    the word super doen't mean i'm speaking like barney, in fact i try to limit my vocabulary on forums because some people would get annoyed if i spoke unabridged. i pride myself on not acting like a self-aggrandizing smart a$$... as i prefer to be spoken to based on what i've said and not the vocabulary that i use.

    however, i am "sorry" if my eloquence is not to your liking... next time please just refrain from making a retort if my wording offends you. it will be "super" appreciated :)


    SUPER :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,706 ✭✭✭fonecrusher1


    Location: currently Florida, soon to be Limerick

    You must be insane.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,939 ✭✭✭ballsymchugh


    it's not barney, it's big gay al.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,115 ✭✭✭Pdfile


    CorkMan wrote: »
    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.

    I don't know why people say sorry if for example, a person dropped their mobile phone, or they dropped a fiver and say sorry, then tell them where their phone/money is.

    A simple "Hey" or "Hey You" should suffice, not sorry.


    ill do it again.

    if you love someone you dont have to say sorry.

    :cool:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭sunshineoh9


    Location: currently Florida, soon to be Limerick

    You must be insane.
    perhaps, have you ever been to florida? i assure you its nothing like they portray in movies... i have been to ireland and think its one of the greatest places on earth.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,854 ✭✭✭Sinfonia


    perhaps, have you ever been to florida? i assure you its nothing like they portray in movies... i have been to ireland and think its one of the greatest places on earth.

    Have you been to Limerick? It's nothing like the movies, no wind shaking the barley at all


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,750 ✭✭✭liah


    Sorry is closer to "excuse me" than anything else.

    It's also one of the most overused words in Canada.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    This post is conveying a pun linking the word sorry in the original post with the song sorry seems to be the hardest word, written by Elton Glasses the famous musician.

    A good Elton song and bet he was sorry when it never became a hit.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    Shorry
    Is all that you can't shay
    Yhears gone by and sthill
    Words don't come eashily
    Like Shorry
    Like Shorry.....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,785 ✭✭✭KungPao


    Sorry....sorry....sorry.... It's all you hear when out and about in Ireland.

    And if you dare to say Excuse Me, to get attention in a shop for example, you get looked at like you have more than one head.

    I know it's a shortening of 'sorry to bother you' or whatever but it sounds ridiculous.

    Sorry.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,386 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    I don't even smoke but people ask me for cigarettes and I say sorry to them.
    I'm not sure what I'm apologizing for
    I do this, it is more a "sorry that I cannot be of help you", like if I was asked the time and had no watch I would say it too.

    I also say it so it appears less confrontational, on a few occassions I had scumbags try and start something when I said I have no smokes, I remember scumbags used to actually even say "fair search", if you said you had no cigarettes -meaning they actually expected you to let them frisk you to check you really had none. To try and stop this I would say "no, I don't smoke", but then this causes them to start on you too "eeewwwh you don't smoke, think you're better than me you kunt?!"


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 234 ✭✭cgordonfreeman


    Sorry, this thread is crap.

    Or

    Excuse me, this thread is crap.

    See?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    CorkMan wrote: »
    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.

    I don't know why people say sorry if for example, a person dropped their mobile phone, or they dropped a fiver and say sorry, then tell them where their phone/money is.

    A simple "Hey" or "Hey You" should suffice, not sorry.
    What the hell ever happened to "Hello" or "Excuse/Pardon me!"
    There's more important things to stress about anyway!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21,191 ✭✭✭✭Latchy


    rubadub wrote: »
    I do this, it is more a "sorry that I cannot be of help you", like if I was asked the time and had no watch I would say it too.

    I also say it so it appears less confrontational, on a few occassions I had scumbags try and start something when I said I have no smokes, I remember scumbags used to actually even say "fair search", if you said you had no cigarettes -meaning they actually expected you to let them frisk you to check you really had none.
    Which would not only be humiliating for the person concerned but also an invasion of ones own body / personell space

    To try and stop this I would say "no, I don't smoke", but then this causes them to start on you too "eeewwwh you don't smoke, think you're better than me you kunt?!"
    Seems to be as much about intimidation than actually getting a cigarette from you


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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    It's short for either

    "sorry for *insert fault action*"

    "sorry to bother you, but....*insert something you want to point out*"


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 289 ✭✭sunshineoh9


    Sinfonia wrote: »
    Have you been to Limerick? It's nothing like the movies, no wind shaking the barley at all
    as a matter of fact i have


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,081 ✭✭✭sheesh


    CorkMan wrote: »
    You should say "sorry" when you bump into a person on the street, spit on them by accident or knock a person over in a car.

    I don't know why people say sorry if for example, a person dropped their mobile phone, or they dropped a fiver and say sorry, then tell them where their phone/money is.

    A simple "Hey" or "Hey You" should suffice, not sorry.

    Sorry?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,810 ✭✭✭take everything


    Sorry means never doing it again.

    So, literally, when you say sorry (as in "sorry for bothering you") you're basically saying: i'll never bother you again after this particular query. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,810 ✭✭✭take everything


    KungPao wrote: »
    Sorry....sorry....sorry.... It's all you hear when out and about in Ireland.

    And if you dare to say Excuse Me, to get attention in a shop for example, you get looked at like you have more than one head.

    :D
    Kinda true.
    Essentially innocuous and perfectly acceptable but as you say potentially misinterpreted.
    I'm forever conscious of editing potentially emotive stuff like that out of my phrasing to avoid it being taken up wrongly.
    Don't need the hassle.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    Sorry means never having to say you're love.

    Oh no... wait.
    This post is conveying a pun linking the word sorry in the original post with the song sorry seems to be the hardest word, written by Elton Glasses the famous musician.
    Damn you - I had it ready, it would have been delicious! :mad:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,645 ✭✭✭Daemos




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