Glanced in a text book, this might be a telling phrase giving away a certain class of britishness. In a Skype chat message from my bloke, it takes on another context entirely. It covers mild embarrassment in a jokey fashion, and apologises for something that we both know doesn't need apology. It also places him in a particular conversational idiom, which he and his father and brothers and friends often use when they are at home - a sort of play at being victorian gentlemen - which makes me smile.
The occassion - I sent him a song for Valentine's Day - very out of character for me - I normally scorn it as a commercial nonsense - but had happened to be listening to a new Stereofidelics CD the day before and heard something exactly right. We've never discussed it, but he knows me well enough to know I don't usually bother, and so he hadn't bothered, since his natural instincts about the day are similar to my usual ones - hence the half apology...
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