I thought you were British!?!
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I was born in Seattle in the US. But my paternal grandparents were immigrants from England, and my mom's grandparents were British as well, w long line of English family going back. So I guess I'm "ethnically" British (?). Plus I'm affiliated w/ Oxford and try to be there often
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I'm not sure why--maybe the Oxford affiliation--but I too had no idea you were American! I definitely thought you were European.
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it's used as a normal word in German and Dutch.
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the REALLY tricky thing is to say it with the correct accent every time when you're in different countries (hard to control because it's so reflexive, as you say!)
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In many countries "sorry" has become internationalese. It is certainly so in Finland and some other small countries that I have visited.
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As a finn, can confirm
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When I am in new place, the first thing that always happens is that a tourist or even a local asks me for directions.
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I lived in Sweden 91/92, and sorry was common. But like in sort of a sarcastic Bob Barker way when you lose the showcase showdown. At least that was my impression. I was just learning Swedish (and the English in it). And I was 9.
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Also boys at recess said "A man's got to do what a man's got to do," which was an American reference I was unfamiliar with. When I heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers lyric, "Little girls in Sweden dream of silver screen quotations" it made total sense to me.
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It is the easiest form of apology of basically all the European languages.
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We do it, with a German accent though.
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this reminds me of the burly Italian customs agent who said “bye-bye” to me
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In many European languages, the word 'sorry', means, well you know, 'sorry'.
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In Sweden we sometimes use sorry
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It is often used in Croatia, but we pronounce it with a hard "r"
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Or is it because English speaking people are more likely to walk with abandon and bump into folks like you?
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When I bump in to people now for some reason I say the word ‘pardon’ with a heavy Turkish accent.
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Internationalised. Just like "computer", for example.
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