Pardon me for breathing: Seven types of apology Daniela Kramer-Moore Oranim - School of Education of the Kibbutz Movement and Michael Moore Technion - Israel Institute of Technology What do they mean when they tell you: I’m sorry, excuse me, please forgive me, I beg your pardon, I apologize? In the following we shall assume that these five formulas (marked a through e, respectively, and arranged in descending order of frequency of use 1 ; see Carroll, Davis & Richman, 1971) have a rough analogy, even though one cannot necessarily replace them with one another, due to restrictions of syntax, context, and usage. To illustrate the close equivalence of these words and expressions, consider these recent news items (following each we have put in brackets the letters indicating which of the five formulas they employ) 2 : "Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the captives' deaths [held by Chechen rebels in a Moscow theatre] in a television address saying: 'Please forgive us. The memory of the victims must unite all of us'" (10-27-02 CNN). (e, c) "Les excuses de Saddam Hussein au peuple koweitien: 'Nous demandons pardon אDieu pour tout acte ayant soulev יsa colטre dans le pass …יet dans cet esprit, nous vous prיsentons יgalement nos excuses'" 3 (12-7-02 Le Monde). (b, d, b) Cardinal Bernard Law, on his resignation from the Archdiocese of Boston: "To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes, I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness" (12-14-02 CNN). (e, c) "Fighting for his political life, Republican Senate leader Trent Lott offered a public mea culpa for comments that appeared to endorse segregation: 'I apologize for opening old wounds and hurting many Americans who feel so deeply in this