<story><title>The Difference Between Saying &apos;Thank You&apos; in Chinese and English</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/thank-you-chinese/395660/?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>natch</author><text>The one glaring surprise in this article is that the author thinks &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; in US English is used as an expression of politeness. Usually it is used in the opposite way, as an innuendo which pretends to be polite on the surface but really means &amp;quot;hey, you are being rude by blocking the path &amp;#x2F; taking up too much space.&amp;quot; If you don&amp;#x27;t believe me, pay attention to how it is used when walking or standing in a crowded shop, subway platform, or sidewalk in any crowded area of a US city. Especially listen to the tone of the words. When these words are used, it usually is not with anything near a polite tone.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Pardon me&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;sorry&amp;quot; on the other hand are, in my experience, used politely.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>asQuirreL</author><text>Personally, when I say &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; on the pavement, I&amp;#x27;m being sincere :) the space is no more mine than it is their&amp;#x27;s. But, I think all of this varies based on the culture of your immediate surroundings (for context, I live in London, UK). After all, &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; could only be used ironically, if its genuine tone was apologetic (at least &lt;i&gt;somewhere&lt;/i&gt;). I also have heard &amp;quot;pardon me&amp;quot; used interchangeably with &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; in the ironic sense (usually to feign not having heard an offensive remark).</text></comment>
<story><title>The Difference Between Saying &apos;Thank You&apos; in Chinese and English</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/thank-you-chinese/395660/?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>natch</author><text>The one glaring surprise in this article is that the author thinks &amp;quot;excuse me&amp;quot; in US English is used as an expression of politeness. Usually it is used in the opposite way, as an innuendo which pretends to be polite on the surface but really means &amp;quot;hey, you are being rude by blocking the path &amp;#x2F; taking up too much space.&amp;quot; If you don&amp;#x27;t believe me, pay attention to how it is used when walking or standing in a crowded shop, subway platform, or sidewalk in any crowded area of a US city. Especially listen to the tone of the words. When these words are used, it usually is not with anything near a polite tone.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Pardon me&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;sorry&amp;quot; on the other hand are, in my experience, used politely.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>adevine</author><text>As you say, though, it all depends on tone. Excuse me can either be respectful, or it can be an accusation that you&amp;#x27;re being rude. When it&amp;#x27;s the latter, what the speaker really means is &amp;quot;Excuse you!&amp;quot;</text></comment>