Uh, Sorry

My current linguistic pet peeve is the overuse and subsequent dilution of the word "sorry". People use it for minor offenses like bumping into you when "excuse me" would suffice. They use it when they don't understand something you say: "I've never heard of it, sorry." Worst of all is the sorry proffered with a request for assistance, commonly encountered at work: "I need you to go over this paper, sorry." If you were SORRY, you wouldn't ASK.

Truth be told, it didn't bother me that much until I caught myself doing it. The thing is, when you're really, truly, sorry, there's nothing to say but "I'm sorry," but it doesn't mean much anymore.