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26/05/2014
（懶）客氣的話
所有語文，都有（懶）客氣的話，像問人「貴姓」、「府上」在哪。聽起來禮貌周周，卻到底只是習用，並沒有真正很尊敬的意思。英文也一樣，寫信給陌生人，根本三唔識七，開口就是Dear xx，真是，怎會與之「親愛」呢？而下款自稱的Yours faithfully 你忠誠的之類的話，一樣一嚇許多初學者。
英文中一個聽起來只覺客氣得過龍的字，是beg，乞求。一句I beg your pardon，直譯是「我乞求你的原諒」，但回用中文，通常也不過是說「對不起」：
例：I must beg your pardon, I mistook you for somebody else. 非常對不起，我錯認了你做另外一個人。
在交談中來句I beg your pardon，一般也只是向對方說不好意思，沒聽清楚或沒聽明白他的話。不過真要小心，若用很重的語氣來說，可以好惡。
I BEG YOUR PARDON! 意思就變成「你怎麼說這種話！」即我們口語的「咁都講得出！」
另有I beg to differ，（differ，像difference，解不同、相異） 「我乞求另有意見」。乍聽，做作得很，但今日仍常有人用。在討論爭辯間，意思是I’m polite about this, but I disagree with you. 我維持禮貌，但我不同意你。
還有With respect、With due respect、With all due respect，講明respect，就真是尊重了吧？恰恰相反，英文句子用這幾個字開頭，擺明跟着要說的話對方不會喜歡，「唔啱聽」，但就把並無冒犯之意說在前頭，有點像「恕我直言」。
例：With due respect, what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense. （我尊重你但）恕我直說，你的話實在亂七八糟。
例：With all due respect, I cannot agree with your proposal which I find moronic. 毫無冒犯之意，但我不能同意你提出的我認為是傻兮兮的建議。
類似先禮後兵的話，尚有my learned friend、my learned colleague 之類，通常愈是說人very learned 有學問，愈發是指此人是草包， 「冇料到」，內容就更嘲諷單打。My learned friend，最常在法庭上，聽雙方律師於互相辯駁際如此稱謂對手。
例：My learned friend has made so many incorrect assumptions, the lawyer said. 律師說，我博學的朋友做了這許多錯誤的假設。
更正︰上周例句She made me swore not to tell 應為She made me swear not to tell。