You'll have to excuse me, my dear - English Stack Exchange

“You'll have to excuse me” is a fixed phrase which doesn't mean what it appears to mean. Phatic expressions like “excuse me” are used to ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore You'llhavetoexcuseme,mydear[closed] AskQuestion Asked 9years,8monthsago Modified 9years,8monthsago Viewed 4ktimes 2 Closed.Thisquestionisoff-topic.Itisnotcurrentlyacceptinganswers. Wanttoimprovethisquestion?Updatethequestionsoit'son-topicforEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange. Closed9yearsago. Improvethisquestion Hereispartofastory.Icannotunderstandsomeofit. MamatriedtoremindthemwhatThanksgivingwasreallyabout,buteverytimeshedid, Papawouldinterrupt."You'llhavetoexcuseme,mydear,"he'dsay."It'stimetowater TheGiant(TheGiantisapumpkin'sname)." Ican'tunderstandthesentence,"you'llhavetoexcuseme,mydear," Whyis"you'llhaveto"infrontof"excuseme"? meaning Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedNov3,2012at14:30 AmericanLuke 2,48322goldbadges2323silverbadges3636bronzebadges askedNov3,2012at13:31 ellisaellisa 2111silverbadge22bronzebadges 4 PleasesupportoursistersitespecificallyforEnglishlanguagelearners.Thankyou. – RegDwigнt ♦ Nov3,2012at14:35 2 @RegDwighтandotherclosers:Idon'tseewhythisquestionisOTwhilethisquestion,with17upvotesanda+46answer,isnot. – StoneyBonhiatus Nov3,2012at15:00 1 @StoneyB:yourlinkdoesn'tworkforme.Butinanycase,thefateofthatotherquestionshouldbediscussedonthatotherquestionandnothere. – RegDwigнt ♦ Nov3,2012at16:29 1 Idon'tthinkthatallnativeEnglish-speakers,particularlyyoungerones,wouldknowaboutthephraseinquestion.What'swrongwithdiggingintoalittle"mannersarcheology"forthebenefitofourmembersandotherviewers? – KristinaLopez Nov3,2012at16:59 Addacomment  |  2Answers 2 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 2 “You'llhavetoexcuseme”isafixedphrasewhichdoesn'tmeanwhatitappearstomean. Phaticexpressionslike“excuseme”areusedtomakethesocialaspectofconversationsmorepleasant.Theseexpressionsaretypicallyfossilizedfromearlierveryformalusage,andoften“eroded”—worndowntothepointthattheirliteralmeaninghasvanished.Thiscausesnoconfusion,however,sinceit’stheuseoftheexpression,notitsmeaning,whichisimportant. “Excuseme”,forinstance,isnotademand,asitsimperativeformimplies,butarequest,worndownfromsomethinglike“Iaskthatyouexcusemeforinterruptingyou.” Inyourexample,Papaisbeingextrapolite;perhapshefeelsthatasimple“Excuseme”isalittletooabrupt,soheextendstheexpression.Hisextension,however,doesnotmean“Youarerequiredtoexcuseme”.“You’llhaveto”isunderstoodasifitwereanerodedversionofsomethinglike“Iregretthatcircumstancesputyouintheunpleasantpositionofhavingtoexcuse,&c.” Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredNov3,2012at14:04 StoneyBonhiatusStoneyBonhiatus 68.3k44goldbadges132132silverbadges237237bronzebadges Addacomment  |  1 Papaisusingaformofaskingforgivenessforinteruptingherstory.Hemighthavealsosaid,"pleaseforgiveme...",or"Ibegyourpardon...",or"youwillhavetoforgivemebut...". Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredNov3,2012at13:50 KristinaLopezKristinaLopez 26.4k66goldbadges5454silverbadges112112bronzebadges Addacomment  |  Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedmeaningoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta AnnouncingtheStacksEditorBetarelease! Related 11 Whatistheradicaldifferencebetween‘this’and‘a’whentellingastory? 8 Whatdoes"pikehoses"mean? 0 Howtomakesenseto"makesense" 6 Meaningof"win-the-cyclecrap" 4 Whatisthedifferencebetween“mourning”and“grieving”someone'sdeath? 0 Does"excuseyou"implyI'matfault? 5 Aquestionaboutaquotefrom"AliceinWonderland" 2 Themetaphoric(?)meaningoftheworddestination 28 Whatarethewordsforpeoplewhocausetroublebelievingtheyknowbetter? HotNetworkQuestions Is"OccupationJapan"idiomatic?(insteadofoccupationofJapan,occupiedJapanorOccupation-eraJapan) WhyistheUSresidentialmodeluntouchableandunquestionable? CrushedAluminumDryerVent Whatarethe"disks"seenonthewallsofsomeNASAspaceshuttles? Countthecells Isthereawaytogenerateenergyusingaplanet'sangularmomentum Geonodes,useimagetexture Howtopitchpuptenttoavoidpuddles IntheUS,howdowemaketaxwithholdinglessifwelostourjobforafewmonths? Forgottopassthroughcustoms DidSauronsuspectthattheRingwouldbedestroyed? Whatisthemeaningof说得过? Howshouldwedoboxplotswithsmallsamples? Whatdoes'that'referto? Setswithbothadditiveandmultiplicativegaps Saveloopoutputinadatafile Laymen'sdescriptionof"modals"toclients IsthereapoliticalfactioninRussiapubliclyadvocatingforanimmediateceasefire? Whatisthistoolusedfor? WheredoIfindbasicsyntaxforTikz? Shortstoryaboutthecreationofaspellthatcreatesacopyofaspecificwoman SumofConvergentSeriesforProblemLikeSchrödinger’sCat Isthereanycriminalimplicationoffalsifyingdocumentsdemandedbyaprivateparty? WhatwouldtheancientRomanshavecalledHercules'Club? morehotquestions Yourprivacy Byclicking“Acceptallcookies”,youagreeStackExchangecanstorecookiesonyourdeviceanddiscloseinformationinaccordancewithourCookiePolicy. Acceptallcookies Customizesettings