Word: regretfully
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...slavery, what can you apologize for? Sure, I didn't enslave anyone and neither did my ancestors, but I'd be a liar if I said that as a white American I haven't somehow indirectly benefited from that evil institution. I have no connection to slavery, but I regret that it happened in a country that I believe in and call home. Please accept my apology for slavery...
...Washington even put out its own Chinese version of the letter, using the phrase wan xi (deep sorrow and regret) over the missing pilot, feichang baoqian (extremely sorry) for landing without permission, and feichang wanxi (extreme sympathy) for Wang's family over their loss. Whether or not that was enough for the Chinese was a moot point - Beijing's media simply did their own translation of the English text, in which the double "very sorry" became the very "shenbiao qianyi" (deep expression of apology or regret) that Washington had steered clear of. It's a safe bet that...
...noted with a tone of regret that with the advent of technology and with the transition from traditional writing brushes to western pens, the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy is disappearing...
...sentences, are really semanticists when it boils down to it. And diplomacy, when it boils down to it, is mostly semantics. The present standoff between the United States and China over the downed spy plane is all about lexical boundaries - which a-words ("apology") are taboo, which r-words ("regret") are insufficient, which s-words ("sorry") are being broached. It's no accident that former Nixon speechwriter and foreign-policy maven William Safire is now a usage columnist for the New York Times...
...aging autocrat who staked his authority on building a better relationship with the West, only to come under fire at home for going too far. In a test of pride and power, two presidents fought to control the weapons of diplomacy, the tiny spaces between a concern, a regret and an apology...