why do people even bother to say stuff like "no offence" or "do take that personally"? I went to this bar last night with several female friends. There was this drunk guy who came to our table and asked if he can join us right before we were leaving. We didn't want to be rude or appear to be rude so we kind of said yes. And then he just sat there talking about his suppose-to-be-glorious past none-stop. Then at some point he asked one of my friend how old does he look like. We were all quite irratated by then, and this friend of mine said "no offence, i think you look 60-ish". That obviously wasn't the answer he expected. We got out of there shortly thanks to my friend's comment on the drunk guy's age. My point here is when people say something like "no offence" or "don't take that personally", what do they want to achieve there? Why do they even bother to say that at all? Was it because they want to protect the receiver from getting hurt emotionally or was it because they want you to know that they sincerely meant they said although they are fully aware of the impact their words on the receiver's feelings? Which way was it? Moreover, does it mean anything to the receiver? I mean, would it make it okay when people say something really harsh under the "no offence" cap?