So what do most people in general regret?
After Conroy's departure from Victoria's service in 1837, a popular song read: Following his death in 1854, The Times published a positive obituary that declared "the name, person and character of Sir John Conroy are so well and, in many respects, so favourably known in English society that we have no doubt the announcement of his death will be received with feelings of general regret".
"Patients are likely to find it more meaningful if you offer a personalised apology – for example 'I am sorry …' – rather than a general expression of regret about the incident on the organisation's behalf," says the guidance, which was prompted by the Mid Staffordshire care scandal.
On the day of that attack, Mr. Bush, who was at his ranch in Texas, made no comment on the casualties, and the White House limited its response to a general statement of regret for all loss of life in the conflict.
Updated at 11.22pm BST 10.19pm BST Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary general, says he regrets the escalation in hostilities in Gaza and urges Israel to do more to prevent civilian casualties.
In a 2011 interview with the New Statesmen, Moore revealed he had only ever voted once, for Labour prime minister Jim Callaghan in the 1979 general election, and regretted his decision later: "I don't like to vote because I don't believe in the democratic process, and I don't believe that it is democracy.
John Cridland, the CBI's director general, said he regretted any resignation from the organisation but insisted its stance reflected the views of the great majority of its members, who were represented on its Scottish council and consulted through meetings and direct discussions.
The retired general refused to express regret over his abuse of the press, critics, and dissidents during his rule, from 1983 to 1985.
The letter's first, general expression of "sincere regret" over the missing pilot is rendered in the embassy's Chinese version as "chengzhi de yihan," a close equivalent of the English.
Sir Jeremy Isaacs, who as a young turk just out of Oxford worked with Forman on What the Papers Say, and three decades later was the choice of Moser and Forman as ROH general director, says with regret: "They don't make them like Denis and Claus any more.
Although on her first visit to the South she felt guilty that she hadn't been there during the struggle for civil rights, in general she doesn't regret not having been more involved in politics in the 60s: "I don't really see my role as being in the front line, it's just not the way I am and it wouldn't be terribly useful of me because I wouldn't be any good at it".
