Sorry. Five letters, two syllables: it’s a fairly straightforward word. Its Spanish equivalent, lo siento, has an extra couple of syllables but it’s not exactly difficult to say.
Or so you’d think. An extraordinary number of powerful men seem allergic to apologies, living life by the mantra (sometimes attributed to Winston Churchill) that you should never apologize, never explain.
Take Luis Rubiales, for example. The Spanish soccer chief sparked outrage after he planted an unsolicited kiss on forward Jenni Hermoso’s lips during the Women’s World Cup medal presentation. If he had just said sorry, if he had just expressed genuine remorse for his actions and tried to understand why forcing a kiss on someone is problematic, the story would have fizzled out and people would have moved on. Most people weren’t asking for his head, after all, just for a little introspection.
But he couldn’t do that, could he? Instead he dug his heels in and started ticking off every cliched move in the Aggrieved Aggressor’s Handbook.
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