| Shitsurei shimasu means literally, "I'm going to be rude" or, for the extremely literally-minded, "I'm going to lose courtesy." I prefer the first translation because it sounds less like artificial intelligence. At any rate, it's a fairly polite way of excusing yourself to do something, usually to leave. It's similar to O-jama shimasu ("I will be a nuisance"), which is used when entering someone's home as a guest. You use shitsurei shimasu a lot in dealings with superiors. For example, students entering the staff room at high school say, Shitsurei shimasu as they enter, and Shitsurei shimashita as they leave. Even though you may think it strange to announce that you are about to "be rude," it's actually not at all different from saying, "Please excuse me" in English. You wouldn't need to be excused unless you were doing something rude. In most cases, the rude thing you may be doing is blowing your nose or leaving to go to the bathroom. You use "shitsurei shimasu" in similar instances in Japanese. So it's not really weird--it's just a different way of expressing the same courtesy. |