Why do people say "sorry, ..." for things they have nothing to do with?

[CreekDog]

Like, "Sorry, Toyota has gone downhill".

Where did this lingua fracas come from?

[Heidi]

1. Sorry, I have no idea. (nt)

[CreekDog]

2. Just get back to your hot dog vending machine n/t

[Heidi]

3. Sorry, it's not mine.

I believe it's actually part of the Swiss cultural infrastructure, though. :P

[CreekDog]

7. clever n/t

[Heidi]

8. "Clever" is my middle name.

Wait. No, it's not.

[CreekDog]

10. I thought it was Deutschlander XXL

which strangely enough sounds like a German condom.

[Heidi]

12. Actually, I'm an American, so more accurately,

I am Auslander, Größe Mittel. :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. Veiled sarcasm

Quite similar to "ExCUSE me, but..." and the one I really love, "I hate to tell you this..."

[CreekDog]

5. The rule is when you say "but" ignore what's before

because they only mean what comes after.

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. I see what you mean, but

:D

[Heidi]

6. Bless your hoart;

at least you tried. :rofl: :spray:

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. I missed it, huh?

I've been wrestling for the past 20 minutes with the mental process that leads to stuff like "Please don't let your cat's outdoors."

:crazy:

[MnFats]

13. in my family this is used a lot...it actually means:

"I am sorry to hear that."

"My kids have the flu."
"I'm sorry to hear that."


I once had a girlfriend who was driven crazy by it.

[CreekDog]

14. It's like a positive feedback loop

your gf: "all this saying 'i'm sorry' is driving me crazy"
misc person: "i'm sorry to hear that"
your gf: "stop it"
misc person: "sorry"
other person: "i'm sorry he's a little slow"

[Orsino]

15. Translates as "Sucks to be you..."

..."and you can't stop me from expressing this unpopular opinion. Eat it."