My Sincerest Apologies

My mom had a few words of wisdom on apologies:

"Never apologize if you haven't done something wrong."
"Using the word 'if' at the beginning of an apology means you don't mean it."
"Don't try to rationalize what you did (justify), just fess up."
(after you have calmed down) - "if you did something wrong, admit it and move on!"


On Twitter, you might see the tag "sorrynotsorry."
In person, it's called a fake apology.
Other fake apologies:
Using the phrases: "I deeply regret" or "mistakes were made."
Here are some more fake apologies.

This site has some "Do's and Dont's" on apologies which include some of the above nuggets of wisdom.

Of all those words of wisdom, I think the most important two are not apologizing when not at fault, and not using the qualifier "if."

.