FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » New column: 'Sorry' seems to be the hardest game

   
Author Topic: New column: 'Sorry' seems to be the hardest game
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
'Sorry' seems to be the hardest game

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the classic board game Sorry! Parker Brothers has declared it to be National Sorry Week, which brings up two important points. First, the power of Parker Brothers is more far-reaching than I thought, and, second, it's half over already and you're just hearing about it now. Sorry.

Sorry! and other board games played a large part in my youthful education since they were more fun than school and had even more immediate relevance to real life than situation comedies, difficult as that is to believe.

Monopoly taught me the value of greed. The Game of Life taught me to accept everything the world had to throw at me as long as I could keep my little pink family happy. And Sorry! brought me the heady joys of petty vindictiveness, an endlessly useful tool that has served me as well in my business life as it has in my romance and child-rearing.

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Scott R
Member
Member # 567

 - posted      Profile for Scott R   Email Scott R         Edit/Delete Post 
Poor Kiki.

But great article!

Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Sopwith
Member
Member # 4640

 - posted      Profile for Sopwith   Email Sopwith         Edit/Delete Post 
Excellent again!
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Farmgirl
Member
Member # 5567

 - posted      Profile for Farmgirl   Email Farmgirl         Edit/Delete Post 
Wonderful column, Chris!

FG

Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Icarus
Member
Member # 3162

 - posted      Profile for Icarus   Email Icarus         Edit/Delete Post 
[Big Grin]

Great title!

Your columns, which were aways pretty good, seem to just keep getting better and better. [Smile]

Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
Left out a couple for space:

The Tell Me More Sorry

An expression of shared sorrow uttered to place the speaker squarely on the side of the injured party so as to elicit more juicy details. "I'm so sorry! So what did Jake do after you threw the lasagna pan at his ear?"

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
katharina
Member
Member # 827

 - posted      Profile for katharina   Email katharina         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
"I said I was sorry, all right?" Delivered so that a refusal to accept this contrived confession somehow absolves the guilty party of all blame. I mean, he said he was sorry, what more could he do? Change? Make amends? Please.
Wow. That one's beautiful, Chris.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Leonide
Member
Member # 4157

 - posted      Profile for Leonide   Email Leonide         Edit/Delete Post 
Kiki!

*shudders*

<-is my nickname

Posts: 3516 | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
The Hallmark Sorry
A mass-produced expression of contrition which perfectly expresses your highly personal emotional state and your overwhelming feelings of remorse, clearly displayed by the fact that you spent almost an hour picking it out and the cartoon on the front kinda looks like you. And, look, it's signed.

I'm sorry I hurt your feelings
Your trust I have betrayed
But I hope you can forgive me
So I can still get laid.


[ November 17, 2004, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
mackillian
Member
Member # 586

 - posted      Profile for mackillian   Email mackillian         Edit/Delete Post 
[ROFL]

What about the turn-around sorry? Where someone asks for an apology and it's provided, but for a fault in the other person.

Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
The Last Ditch Sorry

The sorry whipped out as a last, desperate resort after the usual techniques of reason, pleading, non sequitars, diversion, sending others in to plead on your behalf, and totally ignoring the issue altogether have inexplicably failed.

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
The Charming Sorry

One of the most artful sorries, and one of the hardest to pull off, this is a sorry dripping with sincerity and earnestness, promising great changes and future dependability in a smooth and caring voice that speaks to the heart and would be completely convincing had it not been done before, over and over.
After the fourth or five time, you begin to realize that the person apologizing is using the words the same way you parrot foreign language phrases you learned from a guidebook. He has no clue what he's really saying, but he's been told that it'll work.

[ November 17, 2004, 03:02 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Da_Goat
Member
Member # 5529

 - posted      Profile for Da_Goat           Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
(At the time, my best friend David and I preferred the game Trouble because it had the cool Pop-O-Matic dice bubble and the simple physics of it stimulated our young and inquiring minds. Namely, we were wondering what would happen if we could get a gerbil in there.)
quote:
I'm sorry I hurt your feelings
Your trust I have betrayed
But I hope you can forgive me
So I can still get laid.

[ROFL]

Holy cow on ice, that was funny. Great article.

Posts: 2292 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dan_raven
Member
Member # 3383

 - posted      Profile for Dan_raven   Email Dan_raven         Edit/Delete Post 
My wife is telling me about her terrible day, and suddenly I burst our laughing because of your column.

Between the glares and the physical pummeling I try to say I'm sorry, but she doesn't believe me.

So I expect to hear how sorry you are that I'm in the dog house.

Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
I'm very sorry, Dan.

It is with the deepest sympathy that I tell you the News-Journal Corporation and myself are not liable in any way for injuries sustained after reading any of my columns, regardless of their pinpoint accuracy and/or crippling hilarity. Please address any future corespondance to our legal team, who will be happy to explain just how sorry we are.

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dragon
Member
Member # 3670

 - posted      Profile for Dragon   Email Dragon         Edit/Delete Post 
[ROFL]

I was reading this in class...

I should have known better...

Chris, you are amazing. It cannot be said enough times.

Posts: 3420 | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Chris Bridges
Member
Member # 1138

 - posted      Profile for Chris Bridges   Email Chris Bridges         Edit/Delete Post 
Which reminds me...

The Autopilot Sorry

The sorry dutifully delivered by a spouse or long-committed lover without conscious awareness, triggered by certain tones in the injured party's ranting. It is usually uttered while the speaker is engrossed in something else more interesting than their loved one's pain, such as garage sale listings or the parts of the men's magazine that fold out.

Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
imogen
Member
Member # 5485

 - posted      Profile for imogen   Email imogen         Edit/Delete Post 
Poor Kiki indeed!

Although I read the last section to fast and thought for a moment that Kiki was the girl on the way to the wedding...

I think the real meaning is preferable. I think. [Eek!]

Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
whiskysunrise
Member
Member # 6819

 - posted      Profile for whiskysunrise   Email whiskysunrise         Edit/Delete Post 
I loved this!

[ROFL]

Posts: 747 | Registered: Aug 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Bob_Scopatz
Member
Member # 1227

 - posted      Profile for Bob_Scopatz   Email Bob_Scopatz         Edit/Delete Post 
Okay, I'm a bit confused on the whole gerbil in the Pop-o-matic thing. You click it and what?... I mean, how would you know how many spaces to move afterwards?

This was a very funny column. And Kiki does NOT accept your apology.

Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
quidscribis
Member
Member # 5124

 - posted      Profile for quidscribis   Email quidscribis         Edit/Delete Post 
[ROFL] [ROFL] [ROFL] Yep, I enjoyed it, too. [ROFL]
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2