Sorry: the word that does everything
A man steps on your foot on the London Underground. You say sorry. You did nothing wrong.
English has one word that does almost everything: sorry. It apologises, of course. But it also asks people to repeat themselves, interrupts a meeting politely, expresses , and moves a stranger out of your way in a crowded shop.
Only some of these uses are apologies. When you say Sorry? with a rising voice, you are asking what did you say. When you say Sorry, could I just get past?, you are not sorry at all — you are being polite about something completely normal. And when a friend loses their job, I am so sorry means I feel for you, not I caused this.
This is why visitors sometimes think that British people too much. Most of the time they are not apologising. They are using a small word to make a softer, in the same way that could is softer than can, and would you mind is softer than both.
The pattern is worth learning, because the opposite also works. A request without any softening — Give me the salt — is not in every language, but in English it sounds like an order. Could you pass the salt, please? costs three extra words and changes everything.