Well. I thought I might add a few more posts, but if I ever do they'll have to be retroactive. I'm in New York now, and so I think it's time for a last comment on Russia. You'll forgive me, I hope, if it's a little technical at the beginning.
Russian verbs have what are called two aspects: perfective, and imperfective. The perfective is for finished actions--anything that has had or will have a definite result. So the imperative (command form) of the Russian word for "forgive" is used for "sorry"--it's простите (prostitye), and means "forgive me"--you know, just this once.
The imperfective aspect is for processes--actions that aren't finished yet, don't or won't have definite results, or that will go on for an indefinite length of time. The imperfective of the word for "forgive" is also most commonly used as an imperative--it's прощаете (proshchaetye), and it means "farewell."
That's all.
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