Timeline for What does "I'm grievously sorry" mean?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 8, 2023 at 14:47 | comment | added | James K | I'd say it is still hyperbole. But there is nothing wrong with that. Hyberbole is a useful figure of speech to express more intense emotional states. | |
| Jan 8, 2023 at 14:35 | comment | added | Static Bounce | @James K : Does it really have to be hyperbole? If someone lost their son for example, and I'm very close with that person, I could see their suffering and feel sorry for them to the point of feeling anguish, which is a form of mental pain. | |
| Jan 8, 2023 at 13:41 | comment | added | DoneWithThis. | ah, indeed, though my Japanese isn't good enough to know the literal translations for those. I only speak a little & that is purely parrot-fashion. I've heard sumimasen shortened still further, though, to something like seemasen [sp?] when all you need is the waitress to bring more biru, 'moipai, onegai shimasu' ;)) | |
| Jan 8, 2023 at 13:26 | comment | added | James K | There tends to be a cycle of "There is a word we use for apologies. But the word we use for 'sorry' is not enough for serious apologies, so we invent a new word, but then if you use the original word it suggests your apology isn't serious, so the old word is replaced and now there is a word we use for apologies. But...." Compare "sumimasen" and "gomen nasai" in Japanese. | |
| Jan 8, 2023 at 13:06 | comment | added | DoneWithThis. | I always wondered about a comparable phrase in French "Je suis desolé", which rarely truly means 'desolated', just 'sorry'. Even 'sorry' doesn't really mean 'sorrowful'. It seems over time we've taken serious phrases & softened their perceived meanings. | |
| Jan 7, 2023 at 18:42 | history | answered | James K | CC BY-SA 4.0 |