At 10:39 28/11/01 +1300, you wrote:
Thanks for that! It was fascinating, esp. as I'm writing a story from Vila's POV, and I got the feeling he was the only one who ever said 'please', 'thank you' or 'sorry'. I think that's because very few of the others' politenesses get directed at him.
Have you got a list of sorrys by any chance?
Well, I didn't, but I do now :-)
I tried sorry before, but it was tricky. I've counted more or less every instance of the word. They're divided up into what I considered to be actual apologies for personal faults, actions or omissions (e.g. Avon apologising after hitting Vila in Redemption), 'social' uses of the word indicating regret (e.g. 'I'm sorry you waited so long', 'I'm sorry about your mother' or the use of sorry as a shorthand for, 'I'm sorry I didn't hear you') and a third group of miscellaneous sarcasm/blatant insincerity/lying/acting/being under the influence of mind-bending aliens. This is, obviously, in large part a question of interpretation. Hence, it's probably not as 'useful' <ahem> as the swearing guide, but it gives you a flavour.
Blake: 6/4/0 Avon: 2/8/6 Vila: 8/3/2 Jenna: 1/1/3 Cally: 3/2/0 Gan: 5/1/1 Tarrant: 5/3/6 Dayna: 2/2/0 Soolin: 1/3/0
Slave, of course, is perpetually sorry. Zen says sorry exactly once, in Terminal. Orac never says sorry at all.
Nico
love Anna