Is using the word sorry the same as the word apologize?
No, it’s not. Think about it. How often do you use the phrase “I’m sorry” in a given week or on a given day? I could be getting coffee, and someone plows through me on the way through the line. The response? “I’m Sorry.” I say, “I’m sorry” when I’m in an airport, and I see a guy gunning at me with his bag, and I know he’s not going to move, and I think I’m not going to move. What happens? I move to the side, and I say, “I’m sorry.” Sorry has been diminished. It’s a diluted word nowadays. It’s a catchphrase. Sorry, not sorry; its sarcasm. “Oh, I’m sooooorry”. It doesn’t have the same umph that “I apologize” has.
Think about how often you say the word. When you say it, it’s typically because you mean it, and it takes intent to say it not only emotionally but linguistically. It’s not even an easy word to say in a media statement.
When I see the word, I’m sorry, there’s an orange flag there. Like are they really? And maybe they can get away with it in the context of other things that are saying that they’re saying. But if I see the word apologize. We apologize. I apologize. I know that they mean it, and then they’re on their way to reputation renewal.
