Yes, "I'm sorry" should come in different phrases

From Sinfest:



Alt text: You know I've always hated her.

It is one of my big annoyances when people confuse "I'm sorry"-sympathy with "I'm sorry"-I-take-responsibility. I sometimes ask for "I'm sorry" not because I think the other person's has done something wrong, but because I'd like them to express sympathy. It's led to some fights or confusion. I ask for "I'm sorry" because it's the simplest way though I suppose I could ask, explicitly, for reassurance in some other phrase since "I'm sorry" is confusing. At least in English. And there are other nuances of "I'm sorry" that interest me. I've been thinking of writing a LJ post about the phrase "I'm sorry" for a few months but I've always lost interest or got distracted.

Are there other ways to say a sympathetic "I'm sorry" differently from a I-take-responsibility "I'm sorry" in other languages? I don't know about Malay...

Color quiz

you are darkslateblue #483D8B

Your dominant hue is blue, making you a good friend who people love and trust. You're good in social situations and want to fit in. Just be careful not to compromise who you are to make them happy. Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it. Your outlook on life can be bright or dark, depending on the situation. You are flexible and see things objectively.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

This was ganked from unico_love. I like blue... The list of words was very hard to pick because I can be very loud, and other times I can be very shy and quiet...  I am not good in social situations unless it's a small group of people I already know. But I do, sometimes, want to fit in, or at least not be thought of as the sad loner. (Someone told me at Matt's brother's party in June that he noticed I didn't talk to anybody and I was all alone and that that was depressing. :S Gee, thanks. That just made me more socially anxious. Figures he was a journalism major and liked talking to random strangers.)

Yeah, I'm not very decisive. Sometimes when I'm stuck between two items I buy both... (If they're cheap enough.) Pfft. If the world could change enough to let me have a job and stay in the US indefinitely, that'd be fantastic! Silly visa laws...  I'm not so sure about the flexibilty and seeing things objectively... Obviously it's easier to see a situation I'm outside of objectively. Though sometimes after a fight I can see the person's perspective. That can be good - I understand where they're coming from - or bad - I see what I did wrong and I beat myself up with guilt.