5 ms·

"I'm sorry" is an apology. "Please accept our apologies" is a reference to an apology.

• hoorayimhelping 11y ago
  Seriously? The whole post is an apology. A guy named Dave is publicly saying he screwed up. He's saying his name, he's wrapping his identity up in this screw up, he's giving reasoning into their decision and what they're doing to fix it, and he's providing ways to give suggestions to fix this. But this isn't good enough to you because literally the words "I'm" and "sorry" weren't next to each other? If he didn't take the time to respond and explain things, you might have a point. But this seems like a knee-jerk reaction that doesn't fit the response that was given by Dave.
  • davemel37 11y ago
    I think people are angry because they consider the impersonation to be dishonest, whereas Dave and Angel list seem to think the grievance is not about being spammy but rather about not being open about the spammy practice. I think his point was that this is a non-apology in his eyes because it doesn't say "were going to stop this practice, but rather just make it clearer to users what they will do. In other words, the apology is for the grievance of stabbing you in the back, so now were going to stab you to your face. Note, I don't share this concern but I certainly get where he is coming from... The semantic argument he made was just a manifestation of the frustration of what he considers a non-apology.
  • x0x0 11y ago
    No no -- they're going to put gray text in 4 point font at the bottom of the page saying they're gonna email your ceo. Cool? Cool...
• thaumasiotes 11y ago
  I was slightly miffed once when I said "You're right and I will apologize" and the other person insisted on hearing the words "I'm sorry". That person, however, was a Chinese high school student, not a native speaker of English. What's your excuse?
  • scott_s 11y ago
    "I will apologize" and "please accept our apologies" are ways to distance the speaker from the actual act of apologizing, but are not the act itself. They lessen the pain of actually saying "I'm sorry". I think we only started to accept them as such when the phrasings became so pervasive because of business-speak. It's similar to the difference between "mistakes were made" and "I made a mistake".
    • thaumasiotes 11y ago
      > "I will apologize" and "please accept our apologies" are ways to distance the speaker from the actual act of apologizing, but are not the act itself. They lessen the pain of actually saying "I'm sorry". This is not correct. They are the same speech act, at a higher level of formality.
      • cjbprime 11y ago
        I think scott_s is right here. Also: being more interested in being correct than in actually maximally conveying regret and penitance is not a good look. You're hearing -- now from more than one person -- that looking someone in the eye and saying "I'm sorry." has a psychological effect that is stronger than the mere semantic meaning of the phrase.
        • thaumasiotes 11y ago
          scott_s's heavy downvoting strongly implies that a substantial majority find him to be mistaken. That means it doesn't make sense to act on your suggestion ('looking someone in the eye and saying "I'm sorry." has a psychological effect that is stronger than the mere semantic meaning of the phrase [as compared to more formal ways of apologizing]'), because you are more likely to misstep by sticking to the casual form than by using the formal one. You can easily offend people by treating them more casually than they feel is warranted. A nonnative speaker who has been taught that English apologies come in the form "I'm sorry" is perfectly justified (though mistaken) in insisting on that form; scott_s just has a chip on his shoulder.