Surprising, isn’t it, given that one of the cliches about the English in particular is that we just can’t stop saying it. We say it when we didn’t hear what someone said to us.
We say it when we want to get by on a busy pavement. We say it when someone particularly heavy-footed steps backwards onto our toes on the Tube, breaking three metatarsals and putting us out of next week’s ballroom dancing competition. We say it all the time.
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