We all need a little help to get through life sometimes. From everyday questions to more complex problems, we’re asking the experts to lend us a hand. Throughout the series, we’ll hear some direct advice for us not-so-direct Minnesotans.

Over-apologizing is so common in Minnesota, and in the Midwest generally, that it’s a favorite joke for comedians in the region. Maybe you can relate.

MPR News producer Gretchen Brown takes a closer look at where this tendency comes from, including the Scandinavian influence on Minnesota culture. Then she turns to an expert with her own lineage of politeness.

Lizzie Post, great-great-granddaughter of etiquette writer Emily Post and co-president of the Emily Post institute, shares some advice on when and how to say, “sorry.”