"Sorry seems to be the hardest word", sang Elton John in 1976 to great popular acclaim and economic success. He has covered that song many times over since, with Ray Charles wailing in a plaintive voice in a recent oeuvre.
I disagree with Elton. Not because of his outlandish shades and his even more weird dress sense. Nor even for his pitiful choice of vague-looking boyfriends. I used to dislike him in his younger days. His songs were very popular on both sides of the Atlantic then and I could not fathom why. Elton has mellowed and so have I. I am less intolerant of weirdness (including the quantum variety of which I remain clueless). I actually like him these days.
But I digress.Sorry. That wasn't so difficult. Not at all. That brings me to the real reason why I differ with Elton John about sorry being the hardest word: It simply isn't.
Linguists and statisticians claim the article "the" to be the most commonly used English word. I beg to differ with them too. I think the honour goes to "sorry" and my conclusion is based on solid empirical evidence, not on some namby-pamby statistical sampling.
Just look around yourself and listen carefully for a few minutes and you will hear the word sorry spoken a million times. Sorry I'm late; sorry I don't have any change; sorry I have run out of juice in my phone, can I borrow yours?; sorry it is not for sale; sorry it is not available; sorry (and then again, may be not) I stepped on your toe; etc, etc ad infinitum. More plentiful in use or not, "sorry" certainly rolls off people's tongues more easily, with greater regularity and ease than "the".
The word "the" also suffers from being uttered unconsciously, as part of routine English usage, without having to be consciously employed. It is almost a "space filler" in the English language. Its abundance also owes considerably to the usage in most parts of India, where it is considered mandatory to prefix proper nouns with the word "the", as in "have you seen the Joshi?", "have been to the Madras?" etc etc. I look down upon such loose usage. However, I do not hesitate to say "the U.S.A." even as I shrink from a visit to "the England".
Sorry; my intent was not to give a lesson in English grammar although one would not be wasted in the days of text-language devoid of vowels and articles and filled with emoticons. I was merely pointing out that the exalted status of "the" owes more to liberal misapplication of it rather than to proper use. Hence, I humbly submit that the honour of being the most used word in English belongs to the word "sorry".
The word "sorry" is not capable of being grammatically misused, as in "sorry Chennai" or "sorry Manmohan Singh", , for both these usages are quite legitimate and correct.
The ease with which "sorry" rolls off people's tongues also renders it devoid of any emotion attached to it. In that sense it is closer to its rival, "the". When was the last time you attached any emotion to "the"? How many different ways can you say "the" aside from the two different pronunciations while preceding a vowel or a consonant? It sounds and means the same irrespective of your state of mind.
Sorry has become so routine that the speaker is generally acknowledged not to be expressing contrition at all. It is merely a face-saving device, a filler, a time-buyer when you have done something you ought not to have, like stepping on toes, or walking into a room without knocking first. Even as you are formulating something clever to say when faced with the embarrassment of unintentionally catching someone with their pants down (sometimes literally too), "sorry" comes in handy and buys you precious time as you arrange your thoughts and the other party their dress.
When someone digs you in the ribs with their elbow or the tip of their umbrella in a crowded train, and if you happen to take note and shoot a cross look at them, "sorry" rolls of their tongue. No contrition, no apology. It is just something that they say; like when the dulcet voice informs you, "sorry, the number you have dialed is not available" over and over again without in anyway conveying a sense of apology, regret or contrition for the inconvenience the unavailability has caused you.
Sorry, however, is not mandatory under all circumstances. In love, for example, you don't have to say sorry or so the famous tear-jerker "The Love Story" informed us decades ago ("Love Means never having to say sorry").
Rest of the world may over-use the word sorry, howsoever insincerely.
In Chennai we love every one.
I disagree with Elton. Not because of his outlandish shades and his even more weird dress sense. Nor even for his pitiful choice of vague-looking boyfriends. I used to dislike him in his younger days. His songs were very popular on both sides of the Atlantic then and I could not fathom why. Elton has mellowed and so have I. I am less intolerant of weirdness (including the quantum variety of which I remain clueless). I actually like him these days.
But I digress.Sorry. That wasn't so difficult. Not at all. That brings me to the real reason why I differ with Elton John about sorry being the hardest word: It simply isn't.
Linguists and statisticians claim the article "the" to be the most commonly used English word. I beg to differ with them too. I think the honour goes to "sorry" and my conclusion is based on solid empirical evidence, not on some namby-pamby statistical sampling.
Just look around yourself and listen carefully for a few minutes and you will hear the word sorry spoken a million times. Sorry I'm late; sorry I don't have any change; sorry I have run out of juice in my phone, can I borrow yours?; sorry it is not for sale; sorry it is not available; sorry (and then again, may be not) I stepped on your toe; etc, etc ad infinitum. More plentiful in use or not, "sorry" certainly rolls off people's tongues more easily, with greater regularity and ease than "the".
The word "the" also suffers from being uttered unconsciously, as part of routine English usage, without having to be consciously employed. It is almost a "space filler" in the English language. Its abundance also owes considerably to the usage in most parts of India, where it is considered mandatory to prefix proper nouns with the word "the", as in "have you seen the Joshi?", "have been to the Madras?" etc etc. I look down upon such loose usage. However, I do not hesitate to say "the U.S.A." even as I shrink from a visit to "the England".
Sorry; my intent was not to give a lesson in English grammar although one would not be wasted in the days of text-language devoid of vowels and articles and filled with emoticons. I was merely pointing out that the exalted status of "the" owes more to liberal misapplication of it rather than to proper use. Hence, I humbly submit that the honour of being the most used word in English belongs to the word "sorry".
The word "sorry" is not capable of being grammatically misused, as in "sorry Chennai" or "sorry Manmohan Singh", , for both these usages are quite legitimate and correct.
The ease with which "sorry" rolls off people's tongues also renders it devoid of any emotion attached to it. In that sense it is closer to its rival, "the". When was the last time you attached any emotion to "the"? How many different ways can you say "the" aside from the two different pronunciations while preceding a vowel or a consonant? It sounds and means the same irrespective of your state of mind.
Sorry has become so routine that the speaker is generally acknowledged not to be expressing contrition at all. It is merely a face-saving device, a filler, a time-buyer when you have done something you ought not to have, like stepping on toes, or walking into a room without knocking first. Even as you are formulating something clever to say when faced with the embarrassment of unintentionally catching someone with their pants down (sometimes literally too), "sorry" comes in handy and buys you precious time as you arrange your thoughts and the other party their dress.
When someone digs you in the ribs with their elbow or the tip of their umbrella in a crowded train, and if you happen to take note and shoot a cross look at them, "sorry" rolls of their tongue. No contrition, no apology. It is just something that they say; like when the dulcet voice informs you, "sorry, the number you have dialed is not available" over and over again without in anyway conveying a sense of apology, regret or contrition for the inconvenience the unavailability has caused you.
Sorry, however, is not mandatory under all circumstances. In love, for example, you don't have to say sorry or so the famous tear-jerker "The Love Story" informed us decades ago ("Love Means never having to say sorry").
Rest of the world may over-use the word sorry, howsoever insincerely.
In Chennai we love every one.
