I think it would illustrate more to expand the abbreviations. In almost all these uses, it’s just a short version of the “obvious” dictionary-definition apology. For example, point two’s “sorry?” is short for “I’m sorry I didn’t hear you, can you please repeat that?”. It puts the blame for the conversational stumble on the listener - whether or not that’s correct - to smooth it over. Point three is short for “I’m sorry to interrupt you or mildly inconvenience you, but could you do this small thing for me, a stranger that you have no obligation to?”. And so on.

'Sorry' serves the same purpose as 'excuse me', 'yeah' or 'okay' in that it has a multitude of meanings depending on tone, intonation and context.

For instance 'yeah' can mean 'yes, continue', agreement, skepticism, (sarcastic) disagreement, enthusiasm, etc.

The cultural difference is what word is most commonly used.

The flaw with that article, it being the Beeb showing their bias, is that it mainly applies to the English Home Counties.

So it is a southern English habit, not a British one. The other parts of England are more direct, and will use more obvious phrasing. Similarly the other parts of Britain will be more direct.

Now I want to know if "Thank You" also carries as many meanings. I came here from Pakistan for work 6 years ago. Article is about sorry the Thank you was a bigger cultural shock perhaps. Number of Thanks I got in first few months already surpassed all thankses I ever heard in Pakistan. This does not mean we are thankless but you won't get a Thanks for moving aside a step on a footpath, or holding a door if you ever did.

Please, stop using the word British for the English. Welshmen are not English, the English are not Scottish.

English politeness is not necessarily a feature of our Celtic brother and sister's national character.

“Thank you” seems to be similarly versatile in London. You can’t go 30 minutes without hearing it. Once when I was in a bookshop and approached the counter with a couple books to buy, the shopkeeper opened with “thank you”. To this day I don’t understand what that was about.

There was a whole sitcom called "Sorry!" starring Ronnie Corbett (famous from The Two Ronnies)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081937/

Meanwhile in America:

Can The Family Have a Good Time Playing Sorry? | The Carol Burnett Show Clip

https://youtu.be/_uBib8TatmA?t=397

You should also wink after ringing the little bell.

The British have a similarly strange relationship with the word "Brilliant".

The fundamental difference between deteriorating British culture and successful American culture: British feel "indignity of open confrontation". Honestly shocking. The indignity in America is usually in NOT eventually openly confronting wrongdoers.

It's embarrassing and cringe-inducing to read that even one person--much less an entire culture -- feels more dignity getting beaten down and bullied by strangers or peers than confronting them openly or berating them publicl.