Are these genuine apologies? [closed]

There is a wikipedia article on non-apology which goes into some further detail.

In actual use, even though these conditionals are not really apologies, they can still be honestly used if you deliver them sincerely.

Though I would use these only in the cases where it is not clear where the guilt lies, to express recognition that I might have caused offense. The difference is that in this case I want to express that I am sorry for the outcome and not necessarily for the action that caused it.


An "apology" includes admitting guilt, and adding these conditionals is a clear avoidance of this.

It's true that this kind of weasel wording is especially common (and meaningless) in messages of kindness & sensitivity like your examples, and even more so with politicians. In these cases, people favor using safe wording that does not accuse anyone - even the speaker.

So, while in general you cannot break down messages like these word-by-word and use logic to find the "true" meaning, it is also true that if a politician is saying this, you must know that the wording has been chosen carefully and skepticism must be used in its interpretation. Furthermore, this exact scenario you describe is well-known - enough that if I used this kind of apology with my wife, she'd pick up on the diversion immediately and accuse me of not being sincere.

Logic will however not have any bearing on whether the statement is actually sincere or not.