I just hope people don’t do the Frazier apology: “I’m sorry, Niles, it’s just that I’ve been so distracted lately…”
The mini-apology immediately followed by an explanation designed to exonerate the offender.
I rarely say, “Oh, that’s all right,” when accepting an apology. It was certainly not all right that he did that bonehead thing or acted like an asshole. I say, “Thank you for saying that.” I have to acknowledge the effort/pain it took to apologize.
When I’m the one apologizing, if I screwed up, I’ll say so, and say that I shouldn’t have done that. I won’t say I’m sorry if I’m not, though. There’s a difference. Sometimes, I said or did something that was impolite or stupid, but I don’t regret it one bit.
That’s good - I like that. Canadians almost always say, “That’s okay,” or something similar when someone apologizes; that’s one of the reasons I’m feeling so odd these days - it’s outside of our comfort zone to have someone not say, “That’s okay,” when an apology is made, but I’m really not feeling that it’s okay.
I like this, too.
I agree here. I usually say “I appreciate that.” Acknowledges the apologizer’s contrition without implying that the original act is any less of an offense.