You guys would hate it up here in Canada then. "I'm Sorry" is about as common as "Hello" and is applied to a pretty wide range of uses.
Anyway, getting hung up on the form of something over it's substance is a Pet Peeve of
mine. This isn't directed at you in particular Mal, so I hope you won't take this personally (it's pretty clear you don't actually let any of that minor anger out, it's just an internal pissed-offedness, and we all have
those moments). It's that kind of stuff that contributes towards keeping people separated into nasty, splintered, balkanized tribes. It creates arguments or bad feelings out of situations where people weren't antagonizing each other and were in fact on good terms, which seems tragic to me.
It's really a little thing in the grander scheme, but it does annoy me. If someone is genuinely thankful and the other person is magnanimous I'd rather those emotions just be shared for what they are without the recipient getting hung up on the wrapping the gift came in.