Can i excuse you

I did not hit them. I did not bump into them. I'm beginning to think this saying is part of some people's culture. I'm fairly certain they are just being rude and do not even fully understand what the phrase 'actually' means.

As an educated man, to me it shows a lack of intelligence. Unless I bump into you or say something that is offensivehow can you not be revealing some lack of intelligence? Big Dude said:. Last edited: Nov 29, Rhye Senior Member English - American. I'll play Devil's advocate here and say the only plausible excuse I can think of for the situation. In cases where one person is in the way and you try and squeeze past them, you say "Excuse me", of course.

So perhaps the intention in changing "me" to "you" was to reverse the movement, i. I still think it's usually a rather rude thing to say, of course, but I think oftentimes as with many things it's the tone that counts. If the man sounded confrontational or forceful then he was surely rude, but if he sounded rather apologetic or even apathetic I would only think him unwise in diction rather than malicious.

Naturally, the other option was that he was simply in a foul mood because he was Black Friday shopping—an experience that can torment the best of us. I confess, I've used the phrase as a knee-jerk reaction - when someone barged past me in a store, causing loss of balance; when someone sneezed on me without covering their mouth, and once when a boorish relative broke wind audibly during a family dinner.

Last edited: Nov 28, I understand that I was the 1 being asked to move, but the same outcome could've been achieved with a polite "excuse me". No one I've ever asked to step aside by saying "excuse me" has ever retorted with anything rude. My taking offense might have a lot to do with my background. Excuse me, can I just get past? Excuse me a moment , I'll be with you shortly.

A2 used to say sorry for something you have done by accident :. Did I take your seat? Do excuse me. Excuse me but aren't you forgetting something? Will you excuse me? I've got to make a phone call. Please excuse my stomach rumbling - I haven't eaten all day. I know you are tired , but I really can't excuse you for being so rude and selfish about this.

She is almost too kind - always excusing their bad behaviour instead of dealing with it firmly. Her boss cannot excuse even the smallest error , although he himself is far from perfect. You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics: Polite expressions. B1 a reason that you give to explain why you did something wrong :.

He'd better have a good excuse for being late. I've never known him to miss a meeting - I'm sure he'll have an excuse. There's no excuse for that sort of behaviour. See more results ». B1 a false reason that you give to explain why you do something:. Any excuse for a holiday! Please make my excuses at the meeting on Friday. You're always making excuses for not helping me. When I asked him why he was late, he gave me some excuse about having car trouble.

I made up an excuse about having to look after the kids. I don't want to go tonight but I can't think up a good excuse. Whenever I ask him why his essay's late, he just comes out with the same old excuses. Reasons and explanations. Idiom a miserable, poor, etc. Please excuse me for being so late — there was a lot of traffic. It was hard to excuse him for treating me so badly. To excuse someone from an activity is to give that person permission to stop doing it or not do it:.

I was excused from jury duty because I had to take care of my sick mother. Considering her difficult childhood , her behavior is excusable. On the other hand, if the speaker is not smiling, and speaks brusquely, the presumption is that he feels that his higher status requires that you get out of his way.

Excuse you is definitely rude and implies you think that person was at fault. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Does "excuse you" imply I'm at fault? Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 7 months ago. Active 12 months ago. Viewed 21k times. Improve this question.

He was probably joking since it's nobody's fault when two people momentarily shuffle to no purpose when they try to pass each other. There are some accents for which excuse sounds like ex-cue-say 3 syllables, like the French excusez -moi. This can sound like "excuse you".

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Whether he was joking is impossible to tell if you don't tell us how he said it or if he smiled. Improve this answer.