Where Does The Saying "I Beg Your Pardon" Come From?

Question

I Was Just Wondering.....

And I Find It So Wierd, Since Most People Kinda Spit It Out Like One Whole Word! "They're Like "IBegYourPardon?" All At Once!

Where Does It Come From? Does It Mean Anything Other Than A Nice Version Of "What?"?

Help Me!

Answer 1

it is british i think because of "pardon me does any one have grey poupon"...

Answer 2

A Pardon is forgiveness, begging you already know so basically it is, I am begging your forgiveness. It is used where Americans would say excuse me. It is just an old English nicety.

Answer 3

I beg = begging = asking for

your pardon = forgiveness =

the confusing bit is the bit that *isn't* said. what you mean when you say it is, 'i ask for your forgiveness- i didn't hear you properly.' but the last bit is only implied; because the phrase is used so often, it is unnecessary to say the second  part of the message.

Answer 4

It's really the same thing as saying "Excuse me?" when you didn't hear something. You say "I beg your pardon" because it used to be considered rude to ask somone to repeat themself. So it was a way to apologize for imposing on them.

Answer 5

scusemee