I work in a phone center, and when someone calls in expressing dismay or what have you, the immediate response is "I do apologize about that."
Two things:
1. Is "apologize about that" or "apologize for that" correct? I've consulted usage manuals and can find no explanation. I think the users of this phrasing are using about to mean that they're sorry that something has happened, but would use for if they did something wrong and were apologizing. Does this theory hold up?
2. Besides this instance, I can think of only one other way we use do as an intensifier, and that's when it's doubled-up ("I do do my own taxes"). Is it unusual to use do as an intensifier? Is this odd or the norm?
I'm from Maryland (the Delaware Valley, just in the corner of DE and PA), and only moved to Buffalo three years ago, and I never heard either of the above back home (or on television or in movies that I've noticed).
There are other examples of "do" used in this fashion. One that comes to mind immediately is "I do believe." (Who could forget: "I do believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do...")
And how about "I do so hate it..."?
Oh yeah, I remember using the "do so" construction when I was little ("He doesn't like cherry pie"—"I do so like cherry pie"). But that's more using do so rather than just do. I guess the Cowardly Lion illustrates another way of using do as an intensifier.
What about apologize for vs. apologize about?
A quick comparison on Google (search "apologize for" vs. "apologize about") says that apologize for wins, hands down. Nearly 200:1. If that ain't vox populi, I don't know what is.
In a quick scan of the search results, I don't get the sense that people are using "about" and "for" differently.
What dilettante said.
And yes, I think of "I do apologize" as simply an intensifier, although it also strikes me as the stilted, affected language you often hear from call-center workers trying to sound official on behalf of the company.
I had a phone message the other day in which the receptionist said, "This message is for Martha. Martha, this happens to be Dr. So-and-so's office, reminding you . . . "
"Happens to be"? What, are you going to be somebody else tomorrow?
I don't know -- just struck me as weird and somewhat pretentious. Or am I overreacting?