History Main / SorryIFellOnYourFist

-->-- '''Jon Stewart''', ''TheDailyShow''

* Sakura from ''{{Naruto}}'' did this before she TookALevelInBadAss.

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* She's not directly apologizing to her attacker, but after Lady Sybil is briefly taken hostage in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', she apologizes to her husband for "letting him down." It's more an apology for being tearful and shaken about it than an apology for being taken hostage, but it's enough to seriously freak him out.

* In the third season of ''{{Angel}}'' after fighting a heavily pregnant but still vampiric Darla, Gunn quips that he and Wesley "tried to stop her by hitting her fists and feet with our faces".

* When [[HowIMetYourMother HIMYM's]] Barney gets into a fight with his Canadian side(ItMakesSenseInContext) he smashes a vase over Canadian!Barney's head. Canadian!Barney apologises for the thickness of his skull and offers to split the cost of replacing the vase.

* Inverted in ''{{Punch Out}}'' for the Wii, where one of Mr. Sandman's lines is "Tell your face... to leave my fists alone."

--> '''Colette''' Oh, sorry...

* In the U.S., at least, some schools that decide to "crack down" on fighting adopt a policy where everybody involved in a fight automatically gets punished, and the definition of "fight" covers pretty much any physical altercation, no matter how one-sided -- so kids have been given detention, suspended or even expelled literally for the crime of ''being hit by someone else''.

* Karl from EmergencyExit apologizes for being useless after [[spoiler: he gets his face torn up while saving Sal's life.]]

* In an issue of the Marvel ''GIJoe'' comics, Lady Jaye and Zarana get into a DesignatedGirlFight (more of a CatFight, really) while several male Joes and COBRAs watch before finally pulling them apart. Afterwards, Zarana's fellow Dreadnoks compliment her performance, one saying "I especially liked how Zarana kept hitting the soles of Lady Jaye's boots with her face!"

* Similar to Tohru Honda, ''TheLegendOfZelda'': Majora's Mask gives us Anju, owner of the Stock Pot Inn, who apologizes constantly out of nervous habit.

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* She's not directly apologizing to her attacker, but after Lady Sybil is briefly taken hostage in The Fifth Elephant, she apologizes to her husband for "letting him down." It's more an apology for being tearful and shaken about it than an apology for being taken hostage, but it's enough to seriously freak him out.

* One of the Pete and Dud sketches involves Peter Cook upending a bowl of spaghetti over Dudley Moore's head. Dud: "I'm sorry, I seem to have spilt my spaghetti."

* ''{{Baccano}}!'''s Jacuzzi Splot is prone to this due to his tendency to be a MartyrWithoutACause. On the low scale, he'll [[ApologizesALot apologize for pretty much anything]], up to and including being shoved. At the other side of the spectrum, he's blamed himself personally for the death of three men he encountered the day before -- not because he killed them, but because his gang took them down (against his protests) while they were trying to murder ''him''.

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* Yukinari of ''GirlsBravo''.

* ''RedDwarf'', "Demons and Angels", when the High Lister has been fatally stabbed:

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* US Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a wealthy campaign contributor, while they were hunting together in Texas. Whittington apologized to Cheney. Then again, the accident occurred at least partly because Whittington was standing somewhere he wasn't supposed to... [[DoubleSubversion And Cheney was shooting there without checking]]. This is the source of the page quote.
* It's almost universal in Britain (don't know about elsewhere) for someone who's been bumped into to begin to apologise profusely. We don't like confrontation...
** Maybe not profusely, but it's common practice for Americans to apologize, too; both the bumper and the bumpee.
** In which case, the assumption is generally that someone wasn't paying attention to their surroundings. Nine times out of ten, it was both, so both are at fault.
** Canadians often fit into this, too, due to our infamous politeness (see the joke below).
* It's actually quite common for victims of assault (especially when it's unexpected) to apologize profusely while it's happening, only to wonder later (or even at the time) why they would do so. It doesn't seem to be explicable by personality traits like a "lack of confidence" or whatever.
** Possibly justified in that instance, as it could be a way of trying to mollify the assailant so they'll stop.
* Joke: How do you get a Canadian to say "I'm sorry"? Punchline: You step on his foot.
* In the U.S., at least, some schools that decide to "crack down" on fighting adopt a policy where everybody involved in a fight automatically gets punished, and the definition of "fight" covers pretty much any physical altercation, no matter how one-sided -- so kids have been given detention, suspended or even expelled literally for the crime of ''being hit by someone else''.
** Or, in other schools, Inverted as people are allowed to ''beat the crap out of someone'' if they so much as bumped into them, as "self-defense" is often seen as justification for a fight. No matter how little the attack was.

* Colette of ''TalesOfSymphonia'' has this habit. Considering that the "troubles" she feels like she's burdening people with are almost invariably not her fault, but also occasionally ''life-threatening'', this frustrates everyone else to no end.

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* DesperateHousewives: Gabby find evidence suggesting her soon-to-be ex husband could be on the verge of getting a very well-paying job. She decides she's going to woo him back so she can take him for even more money. They sleep together. He then reveals that he planted the fake evidence with the full knowledge that she'd steal it, read it, and then try to rob him blind. Outraged that she's been proven beyond all reasonable doubt to be a lying, manipulative whorish bitch, she pushes Carlos out of the upstairs window. He survives with no damage lasting beyond the end of the episode. The closing narration ''still'' tries to suggest that Carlos was in the wrong, and that he feels guilty for being so cruel to Gabby.

** Hey! [[IResembleThatRemark I resemble that remark]]!
*** [[WeirdAl What kind of freaks are that polite?]]

* US Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a wealthy campaign contributor, while they were hunting together in Texas. Whittington apologized to Cheney. Then again, the accident occurred at least partly because Whittington was standing somewhere he wasn't supposed to... [[DoubleSubversion And Cheney was shooting there without checking]].

* Sakura from {{Naruto}} did this before she TookALevelInBadAss.

* Another [[{{Naruto}} Sakura]] did this before she TookALevelInBadAss.

* An auto-collision version occurs in Analyze This. After Dr. Sobol rear-ends the mobsters, Jelly tells him "it's all right; it was our fault for being in front of you like that. Forget about it!" Then again, Jelly didn't REALLY think it was their fault; he was just trying to get rid of Dr. Sobol before he noticed the kidnapped mobster in the trunk.

* In the first episode of the third series of ''BlackBooks'' Manny has fallen out with Bernard after an argument that led to his hand being shut in a sandwich toaster and as a result, Manny is now working in their competitor, Goliath Books. When things go wrong with his new job, Manny comes home crying to Bernard that "I'm sorry you toasted my hand!"

* US Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington, a wealthy campaign contributor, while they were hunting together in Texas. Whittington apologized to Cheney. Then again, the accident occurred at least partly because Whittington was standing somewhere he wasn't supposed to... and because Cheney was shooting where he wasn't supposed to.

* DesperateHousewives: Gabby find evidence suggesting her soon-to-be ex husband could be on the verge of getting a very well-paying job. She decides she's going to woo him back so she can take him for even more money. They sleep together. He then reveals that he planted the fake evidence with the full knowledge that she'd steal it, read it, and then try to rob him blind. Outraged that she's been proven beyond all reasonable doubt to be a lying, manipulative whorish bitch, she pushes Carlos out of the upstairs window. He survives with no damage lasting beyond the end of the episode. The closing narration ''still'' [[WallBanger tries to suggest that Carlos was in the wrong, and that he feels guilty for being so cruel to Gabby.]]

As CollateralDamage states, "Some stories make things even worse by having the casualty apologize for being hurt. They will use phrases such as "being a burden" or "letting you down" to express their guilt.

* [[TheChick Princess Sakura]] in ''TsubasaChronicle''. She can't fairly be held accountable for the burden she imposes on [[HeroSecretService the crew]], as she didn't choose to go on a dimension-hopping quest and can't help her drowsiness seeing as her heart literally broke into pieces and flew away. Her lack of combat ability is also understandable, given that she was a princess with an [[BigBrotherComplex overprotective big brother]]. Later on she does get to kick some ass, until her soul leaves her body ''again''.

* Similarly in an episode in the fifth season of ''{{Angel}}'' after fighting Illyria, Gunn quips that he and Wesley "tried to stop her by hitting her fists and feet with our faces".