"Sorry" From Both Sides of the Pond

I'm an American who's been living in England for the past 2 years now and the ONLY thing I ever hear Brits say when they can't hear /understand what someone is saying is "Pardon . . . ". It's still strange to hear children saying it because it sounds so FORMAL yet people here say it to even their closest friends.

I will agree that the Brits do tend to say "sorry" when they clearly were not at fault for getting in someone's way or bumping into another person. I will DISAGREE, however, that Americans don't use the word "sorry" for the same sorts of things! I've said both "excuse me" and "I'm sorry" for things like bumping into someone, stepping on someone's toe, etc. but I almost always use "sorry" for when I can't hear / understand what someone is saying. It may very well depend on the American and what part of the country in which they were raised.

We are Americans living in London and I think I may need to purchase your book! I wondered why I didn't get much of a response when I would say "excuse me" trying to get past someone with my stroller. I guess I need to say "sorry". But, I'm not sorry I have to get by. I need to get by, so I am sorry I am inconveniencing someone by asking them to move. There are so many differences here. I thought since we spoke English it would be a no-brainer. Well, I don't speak this English ;-)
The hardest thing here is that people aren't very out-going. They seem very private. We moved form California where people chat each other up and make friends easily. Not the case here. Other mums are very stand-offish. Does your book address that and how a mom can meet other moms with kids? We are not interested in large group music classes. We want to find a playgroup where the same children and mom same present each time. Thanks!

I've noticed since I've begun reading New Zealand newspaper (I'm very interested in NZ) that the NZ/Aussie/Brit word "sorry" is also used for Big Apologies. For example, when the Australian Prime Minister apologized to the Aborigines who had been taken away from their families in, like, the 1940s, he said, "We say sorry." In America (at least the south) that sounds incredibly weak and lame. Like bumping into someone, as you said. Almost more like "Oops, sorry." But over there, it's meant with deep feeling, as if we said, "We apologize deeply." It's hard to read it, though, because it still sounds to me like "oops -- my bad!" lol

Another use of "Sorry", is one with a question mark at the end, as in..."Sorry?" when someone hasn't understood what you have said, requiring that you repeat it.
A perjorative use is the descriptor, "that sorry so and so!"
Sorry is a good multi-purpose word, all in all.
And over here in America, the words "I'm sorry", which once conveyed a heart-felt apology have seemingly been replaced, among youth at least, with the abysmal sing-songy, "MY bad!", which not only denotes NO heart-felt feelings of regret, but in fact, sort of puts it back on the victem, as in, "If you weren't so dam' sensitive, you wouldn't need an apology!"
The pervasive approach among many of the young, (I am a high school teacher, so I have seen this up close), is to avoid responsiblity for all choices, blaming others, blaming the victem,"manning up" being apparently completely off the screen. And of course, among politicians and religious leaders who go astray, "sorry" has been replaced with the dreadful, "Mistakes were made," the English teachers' nightmare.
Sorry for that!

I am american lived in Michigan my whole life. I annoy the heck out of people because I compulsively apologize. People run into me I apologize. If I cry I apologize. If I drop stuff or find my self possibly in your way I say I am sorry. I thought the post about the Mary Tyler Moore show was funny because I have apologized to walls. (sad but true) I have found I sometimes annoy myself. lol I consider it polite or at least thats what I tell myself. So Brit or Canadian or are some of us just overly polite.