I’m Sorry, Excuse Me…

Translated…

When we get out of the elevators, we’d stated, “I’m sorry, excuse me”, out of habit.

As we got on and off the public transportations, we’d bumped into others, we’d also say, “I’m sorry, excuse me”.

The delivery persons who are making the deliveries in a crowded place would remind people that they’re passing, calling out loud, “I’m sorry, excuse me!”

And, when you wanted to ask for directions, you’d say, “I’m sorry, excuse me”.

As the waiters brought the foods, they’d also state, “I’m sorry, excuse me”.

Even, when we open our mouths to speak, to give our findings, we must add on an “I’m sorry, excuse me”.

When we’d made a mistake, and were caught, we’d said an unwilling, “I’m sorry, excuse me”.

When we’d broken a law, in front of the media, in order to get a lighter sentence, we’d also state, “I’m sorry”.

So amazing, isn’t it.  A simple “I’m sorry” can do the trick?

And still, when I was growing up, there’s NOT a phrase as “I’m sorry, excuse me”.  It wasn’t that the people were less courteous, it’s just, that we’d had a rich language basis, and we’d cared very much about communications.  In the various circumstance, there are assortments of opening lines, “may I ask a question”, “May I be of bother to you for a bit”, “please”, “let me pass”, “can I borrow some light”, “May we have a word”, “Watch your steps”, etc., etc., etc., interchanging to a more personable Taiwanese dialect, there are, JUST as many expressions, in the various situations, there are, different uses in language, with the different levels.

I was born in the late baby boomer age, at least when I set up my “Verbal Exchange Club”, “excuse me” still didn’t quite take over yet.  Or, maybe, after the reliefs from the politics, the impacts from the Chinese speaking world is the reason for it.

And, this, just shows, how modern day people are used to using expressions that aren’t widely used when this writer was growing up, and this also shows, that a language is evolving, how, with the various generations that come, there would be different ways of expression, and, we must adapt ourselves to this ever-changing mannerisms of communications.