Thread: Is this polite?

I wonder, is it OK to say smth like 遅れちゃった instead of 遅れてしまった in polite speech? Does it sound feminine?
e.g.
誕生日パーティに遅れちゃったけど来ないよりはいいでしょ？
(off alc.co.jp)

Originally Posted by laxxy

I wonder, is it OK to say smth like 遅れちゃった instead of 遅れてしまった in polite speech? Does it sound feminine?
e.g.
誕生日パーティに遅れちゃったけど来ないよりはいいでしょ？
(off alc.co.jp)

friendly. but i think its okay if u r b-day partying with your close friends, but if u got to give a speech in a serious place thats kinda funny. maybe sounds humorous.

polite way
誕生日パーティに遅れちゃったけど、来ないよりはいいですよね？

but i think the speech is funny anyway

どうもありがとう。

I don’t think you should use ～しちゃった in polite speech. It has a shade of currying sb’s favor and may sound feminine, but not so much, males often use it, too. Rather, I think it sounds childish to some extent.
A man would say
遅れたけど来ないよりましだろ(う)？
If polite
遅れてしまいましたが、来ないよりはいいですよね？
But I want to argue that besides excusing, saying 来ないよりいい sounds arrogant if not rude. If you’re in a formal situation, you should excuse for being late anyway.
遅れて（しまって）申し訳ありません〔すみません〕。
Though it depends. I can't speak of others.

Originally Posted by MOG

I don’t think you should use ～しちゃった in polite speech. It has a shade of currying sb’s favor and may sound feminine, but not so much, males often use it, too. Rather, I think it sounds childish to some extent.
A man would say
遅れたけど来ないよりましだろ(う)？
If polite
遅れてしまいましたが、来ないよりはいいですよね？
But I want to argue that besides excusing, saying 来ないよりいい sounds arrogant if not rude. If you’re in a formal situation, you should excuse for being late anyway.
遅れて（しまって）申し訳ありません〔すみません〕。
Though it depends. I can't speak of others.

Thanks. Yes, naturally, that example is not too polite to start with, if one thinks about the meaning My question was mostly just about ～ちゃった vs. ～てしまった.