What British people really mean when they say ‘sorry’

This may sound like a sincere apology, but it usually isn’t. In the UK, where directness can feel horribly awkward, a clipped “Oh, sorry…” is what you might hear when someone needs to reclaim their place without sounding openly confrontational. “Oh, sorry, I think I was next”; “Oh, sorry, that’s my seat”; “Oh sorry, I was using that.”