Why do so many people say "Excuse you" instead of "Excuse me"?

Question

When did this start? It is "Excuse me." One does not have the right to say "Excuse you." It feels as if they are infringing upon my freedom as an American. Those are my boundaries they are infringing upon. It is "Excuse me" for it that person that feels the need to even open their mouth to say excuse anything. I am about to get into a confrontation with someone who says "Excuse you" when they are the ones that want to pass.

Answer 1

It's all part of the new wave of blaming someone or something ELSE other than taking the blame yourself for things.

Answer 2

The one asking for excuse should always be the offending party IE the one trying to get past someone else..some people use the Excuse you when they feel that you have pushed into their space without permission (the excuse me) and like to point out that fact that you were being rude by not asking for the permission. If you seem to be getting a lot of excuse you's then maybe you should look at how you are infringing upon the personal space of those around you

Answer 3

'Excuse you' means that you were the one causing the problem, or at least you were in the eyes of the person saying it. It's usually said when *you* should say "excuse me" but you don't. At least that's how I use it, and the sarcasm should be pretty clear when you heard me say it instead of writing it here online.



I've never used it or heard it used as you describe it in your last line, when they are the ones wanting to pass; that is inappropriate unless, as someone else pointed out, you're the kind of bloke who stands around blocking obvious entrances a lot. Either people in your neighborhood have a strange way of using their language or you should look into your own behaviour, perhaps you are taking up more space than you should?

Answer 4

If someone says 'flow' i'm the guy who says 'excuse me?'. it truly is totally very rude. even once you're in a hurry, 2 polite words are not a lot more durable than one rude one. i lately said a guy bounce a large queue at a convenience save, say 'flow' to the first man or woman contained in the queue, then even as the guy serving informed him to flow to the again of the line, he yelled at her and stated 'i don't have time to line up, i have were given a classification to get to!'. All this from a guy who became likely in his overdue 20's. i became rather taken aback. So sure. it truly is actual a rude issue to do, and that i likely does no longer flow out of their way.

Answer 5

I think that everyone else hit the nail on the head. We are reassigning the blame on someone else.



I had NEVER done this before last Saturday. I was shopping in the frozen foods section and had opened one door, while blocking another door without realizing it. When I shut the door I had opened an eight-year-old girl shoved my cart into my gut so that she could open the other door.



I said, "Ouch!" and she laughed at loud as she looked right at me. She opened the other door and got her food out and I said, "Excuse you." Her mom shot daggers at me....and I realized as I pushed my cart away that I responded to rudeness with rudeness.



I won't do it again.

Answer 6

I deal with the "Excuse you" people by using my very best sweet southern accent and say "My goodness, I am so terribly sorry - bless your heart did I bump into you? I am just so sorry..." and I smile real nice while inside I am imagining hitting them with my handbag. It's always better to either ignore nasty rude people or be so overly nice to them that they have trouble being rude to you anymore. The overly nice works great if you see the person regularly at work or at school.

Answer 7

I believe it is rude to say "Excuse you" to someone. Still, I myself have used that phrase, but only rarely, and to individuals who have displayed extreme rudeness to me by not moving to the side when they had ample room to do so and I did not, and because of their refusal to do so, I had to stop in my tracks and wait for them to pass. I justified saying "excuse you" to them because I felt that since they were apparently brought up without manners, I thought I could "educate" them a bit with my comment. As I said, I have said this rarely because I do think that to say it is rude.

Answer 8

They are the rude and arrogant ones. I have said it to people before, when they refuse to say it to me first. Like pushing in a line and they don't say excuse me. It is merely a matter of them being respectful and not doing it. You need to give that person a bit of social etiquette or tell them that they need to learn some manners.

Answer 9

I think that "Excuse you" is a way of blaming it on you instead of the person saying it. This happened to me at my Prom.



I accidentally stepped on this girl's enormous wedding looking dress, and she snaped around and said, "EXCUSE YOU!"



I was going to say I'm sorry, excuse me anyway, but was in shock when she turned around and said this.



So, I think people say it when they are angry and believe the other person should be saying excuse me anyway.

Answer 10

In most cases "excuse you" comes from someone who feels that a person has been rude to them, or inconvenienced them. "Excuse me" is normally said when you yourself do something rude or inconvenient to someone else.

If you are hearing more "excuse you" than "excuse me", you may be one of those rude people that won't move out of someones way to save your life.

Answer 11

My guess is too many people were being mean to those polite people so they got angry and started to use excuse you to insult the mean people back.

Answer 12

I'm sorry, I coined that phrase back in the 1970's during high school and never knew it really took off. I also use Excuse us.... also my invention. If you bump into me its Excuse YOU.... calm down....

Answer 13

I say excuse me should I bump into someone, or if they should even bump into me. It usually gets chuckled off and we both say "that's okay". The types you speak of, are self important and arrogant, probably with British backrounds.

Answer 14

Eww. The people that say excuse you think they're insulting your manners, but it is far more rude to say excuse you then to say nothing at all.

Answer 15

Because society has all but forgotton manners and etiquette. Along with spelling, grammar, morals. It's sad.

Answer 16

The only people who say "excuse you" are the uneducated and stupid. Pay no attention to them. I usually don't even move if they're are going to be rude about it.

Answer 17

probably due to rude people who don't say excuse me. e.g. jerk who takes cuts in line.

Answer 18

becouse there are rude thats why. they are trying to take blame of themselfs so they make fun of you. god i hate people

Answer 19

simple, they think you are at fault instead of them.

Answer 20

It is because you are an inconvenience