The number of times Brits say sorry per day revealed - so, are you guilty of over-apologising?

Daily Mail​

07-05-2025

Brits are known for being endlessly polite.
Whether it's our love of a good queue, our over-use of 'please' and 'thank you' or holding the door open for someone, we constantly strive to have good manners.
Now, experts have revealed that we're also excessively apologetic.
Researchers recruited 2,000 people for their study about saying 'sorry'.
They discovered that 90 per cent of us routinely apologise for things which weren't our fault.
This includes things like someone else bumping into us or having a bad phone signal.
Experts have warned that while we often say sorry without thinking, we can struggle to apologise for things that really matter.
They revealed how often people say sorry per day – so, how do you compare?
Analysis showed that Brits utter the word 'sorry' as many as nine times a day – the equivalent of 3,285 times a year.
Nearly a third said they recognise the need to apologise for the smallest things as a uniquely British trait.
Asking someone to repeat what they said, answering the phone when someone is with you, sneezing and even coughing can produce an apology.
The findings also revealed we regularly apologise when a staff member comes to help at the self-checkout, or when someone holds the door open so you have to run.
One in five admit they say sorry when asking a colleague to do something at work, while 19 percent apologise when someone accidentally treads on their foot.
Meanwhile, two thirds said it is easier to say sorry for something small than for something bigger such as hurting the feelings of a good friend.
More than half who have fallen out with a loved one said they still haven't plucked up the courage to make amends a year later.
Bethany Day, Brand Manager at Interflora, who commissioned the survey, said: 'We're a nation that says sorry without thinking - for sneezing, for asking too many questions, even when someone else bumps into us.
'But our research shows when it comes to the apologies that really matter, like mending a broken friendship or owning up to hurting someone we care about, we seriously struggle.'
Analysis also showed that over two thirds would like to reach out to a friend they've fallen out with.
And many also believed that making amends can help strengthen friendships and make them more resilient than they were before.
Meanwhile a quarter said a broken friendship is more painful than a romantic breakup.
You may think of emoji as silly additions to text messages, but a new study has revealed that the characters can help convey meaning.
The study found that far from being annoying, smiley faces, as well as abbreviations and acronyms, are valuable additions to text messages.
But ending messages with a full stop people was found to be a heartless move that changed the meaning of texts.
Researchers from Binghampton University in New York suggest that new additions to written communication called 'textisms' like LOL and CUL8 are not sloppy nor a sign that written language is dying a death, but provide vital clues only usually found in face-to-face meetings.
Even the use of slang such as 'yeah', 'yup' and 'nope' in text messages provides telltale signs of someone's real emotions and feelings.
Professor Celia Klin, lead author of the study, said: 'In contrast with face-to-face conversation, texters can't rely on extra-linguistic cues such as tone of voice and pauses, or non-linguistic cues such as facial expressions and hand gestures.'
In a spoken conversation, the cues aren't simply add-ons to our words; they convey critical information.
'A facial expression or a rise in the pitch of our voices can entirely change the meaning of our words.
'One way that texters add meaning to their words is by using textisms - things like emoticons, irregular spellings (sooooo) and irregular use of punctuation (!!!)', she said.
An earlier study by Dr Klin found that text messages ending with a full stop are seen as less sincere than text messages that do not end with a period.
These results suggest that punctuation can misconstrue or influence the meaning of text messages.
Skipping punctuation indicates you are answering more spontaneously and heartfelt.
The new study found that full stops are increasingly being replaced with abbreviations, emoticons and the even more recent trend of emoji which include pictures of a cake for someone's birthday or a pint of beer for a night out.