Deciphering “Excuse Me”

“Excuse me” means get out of my way.

I have often found myself in a position when I was going up the stairs on a subway or standing in front of a shelf of a supermarket trying to find the right merchandise that somebody would come from behind and say to me “Excuse me” in a very strong tone and had to be pushed aside.

In Japan you don’t push other people aside to give priority to your path if somebody was in your way. It just seems to me as though people here are so egoistic that they always have to have their own way or they don’t have time to wait.

Perhaps being patient and thinking of other people are not part of the education in the States. So to me a polite word like “Excuse me” which should be used in a humble way has a nuance of being used as a rude word.

In fact “Excuse me” sounds as though they are saying “Get out of my way!”. I hope it is only in New York that people are so busy that when they are being rude they disguise themselves by saying “excuse me” as though they are being polite. I do hope not all the Americans are like that.