Is it an English thing ?

MT62

No I usually say ‘oh flip’ if I bang into doors 😂
I know exactly what you mean though.

A bit stronger if I hurt myself

I talk to the birds that I feed regularly and ,you know what, they talk back! Im quite good at raven noises now. I also have miaow sessions with the cats- Inam good at imitations and sometimes we ‘ chat’ for quite a while. Probably we are swearing

I realise I’ve lied when saying that I dont talk to inanimate objects. I’ve just come in from pruning roses and tidying up after the storms and realise I actually talk to “stony Duncan” a statue of my beloved Cairn who died nearly 3 years ago.

Hmm, you are all so much better than me. When I bump into things I tend to swear!

Erica23

I’m becoming more apologetic as I get older. Yesterday a man in the fish shop asked me if it was my turn next, I said yes please 🙄 Iast week I apologised to one of those robot cleaners in the supermarket !

🤣🤣
I have backed into something like a lamp post etc., occasionally and said sorry to it.

I’m becoming more apologetic as I get older. Yesterday a man in the fish shop asked me if it was my turn next, I said yes please 🙄 Iast week I apologised to one of those robot cleaners in the supermarket !

It was a bit tongue in the cheek about the English thing….

But yes I always thank the bus driver as I get off, (is that not normal, everyone does here) and yes I always apologise whether it’s me to blame or not it just comes out my mouth without thinking.

At the moment the wind is making all sorts of things rattle in the house and I ve told them all off and told them to stop annoying me, trouble is they don’t take a scrap of notice.

I m looking after a big plant for my grandaughter at the moment and I talk to it every day and tell it not to dare die on me before I hand it back.

i think i have always talked to things may have inherited it from my mum who also had a strange habit of naming everything; ie the room heater was Cuthbert, the woodlouse who lived by it was Sid etc, not many things in our house did not inherit a name!
since being alone as i often do not see people a lot i natter away to all sorts of innate objects often spell out the jobs to them ie
right washer first then you second dishwasher or do you want to go first?
i think the dog is glad that i have been talking to objects as he was getting ear ache from me keep nattering to him

Granniesunite

I see this very much as a human “thing” it’s normal behaviour in my opinion.

Just as smiling and saying goodmorning/goodevening is too.

I’ve experienced this in my many travels all over the world.

Excellent!! We are all “normal”, whatever that is 🤣😂

It’s about being polite, although I must admit I am far from polite when my computer doesn’t do as it should.

I worked in an office once where one of the women who was not English used to tell me off for saying 'Sorry to bother you but......' She said that I do not need to apologise. I carried on doing it and still do it.

No I usually say ‘oh flip’ if I bang into doors 😂
I know exactly what you mean though.

Franbern

I always say 'Please' and 'Thank You' to Alexa!!!

So do I and I feel hurt if she doesn't say 'Anytime'.

I have long conversations with inanimate object and often Co-pilot. my golf trolley is particularly familiar with my opinions of other people.

It's crazy in supermarkets when people say '"sorry" when they past near by even if it was me that moved. They are saying sorry for nothing at all.

Granniesunite

I see this very much as a human “thing” it’s normal behaviour in my opinion.

Just as smiling and saying goodmorning/goodevening is too.

I’ve experienced this in my many travels all over the world.

Agreed. Especially as we get older or maybe isolated? I bet it's truly international.

Not the "sorry" bit, but the talking to a wide range of objects, self, animals, and nature

Oh yes, all of the above

I get cross with myself when I apologise to someone who bumps into me and they don't even acknowledge me

I see this very much as a human “thing” it’s normal behaviour in my opinion.

Just as smiling and saying goodmorning/goodevening is too.

I’ve experienced this in my many travels all over the world.

Well I do that occasionally but I’m not English. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ive never thought about this before, but am slightly embarrassed to realise that I only tend to speak to inanimate things when they are misbehaving, and I'm sometimes far from polite to them.

Oh, and I also try to motivate the more temperamental things, in a sort of "right, are you going to do what you're meant to do this time, or are are you going to play silly bu*****s again?".

I say sorry when someone bumps into me, have tried to check this, especially seeing as the bumper doesn’t always say sorry in return. I also say thanks to the bus driver. As for talking to things, I do this too, as well as talking to myself, was talking to a cake in the oven the other day, was a gluten free one and sometimes they don’t rise, so was looking at it through the oven door and saying ‘c’mon you’ve got to rise, just a bit more’, and it did rise, so there you go.
Of course I talk to plants, am always encouraging them and was apologising for the heat during the summer.

Oh my cod, yes! I always apologise to insects, snails, etc., even the dreaded 8-legged things, when I have to kill them off because I'm arachnophobic, and I tell them ''Sorry, nothing personal!'' Except flies; I kill them with NO apologies! And I talk to plants, flowers, trees and so on. And most insects.

But I'm always apologising to inanimate objects, like my mobile when it's being dead slow. ''HELLOOOO? Anybody there?!''

The till I use here at work got stuck; the drawer just wouldn't come out, so I used a large paperclip that I opened up to get into the lock to open it and was saying ''Hello drawer! Any such chance of you actually opening?!'' Then, when it did open, I realised a small piece of cardboard had caught a spring, I said ''Sorry about that, drawer, just a bit of cardboard!''

I'm forever apologising for banging into my washing machine, the lightbulb dying, when I drop my water bottle on the floor.... I'm not normal!

Nope. 🤷‍♀️

Well I’m Welsh, and have always said Diolch to the bus driver.

Yes. It's as English as 'having' to say 'thank you' to the bus driver!