ごめんよ - what is it?


This appears to be an apology, but it seems a little blunt - its like ごめんね
ごめんな、are logical; they apologize and soften it with those particles. But ごめんよ
seems a little forceful. Why would you use it? (For the context, I encountered
it in a work of fiction - said by a twelve-year-old prince, if it makes any
difference.)




I think there is no significant difference in meaning between ごめん, ごめんね, ごめんな,
and ごめんよ. They all can be used among close friends, either seriously,
casually, or even playfully, depending on the situation.

Among these, ごめんね sounds a bit mild and girly, and ごめんな sounds boyish. As for
ごめんよ, I feel it's a bit less common, and has a small masculine ~~and tough~~
tendency. (This sentence-final particle よ is [associated with both feminine
and masculine speech](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/12987/5010). Women
may use ごめんよ, too.)

The first person who came up to my mind as a typical user of ごめんよ was
[ジャイアン](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doraemon_characters#Takeshi_.22Gian.22_Goda_.28.E5.89.9B.E7.94.B0_.E6.AD.A6.2C_G.C5.8Dda_Takeshi.3F.29.2FTakeshi_.22Big_G.22_Goda_.28English_Dub.29),
if that helps. I guess he would say ごめんよ even when he sincerely expresses his
apologies to his friends.

EDIT: On second thought, I remember some of my female friends actively use
ごめんよ in real life, though I still feel this has a small masculine tendency.




I think there is no significant difference in meaning between ごめん, ごめんね, ごめんな,
and ごめんよ. They all can be used among close friends, either seriously,
casually, or even playfully, depending on the situation.

Among these, ごめんね sounds a bit mild and girly, and ごめんな sounds boyish. As for
ごめんよ, I feel it's a bit less common, and has a small masculine ~~and tough~~
tendency. (This sentence-final particle よ is [associated with both feminine
and masculine speech](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/12987/5010). Women
may use ごめんよ, too.)

The first person who came up to my mind as a typical user of ごめんよ was
[ジャイアン](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doraemon_characters#Takeshi_.22Gian.22_Goda_.28.E5.89.9B.E7.94.B0_.E6.AD.A6.2C_G.C5.8Dda_Takeshi.3F.29.2FTakeshi_.22Big_G.22_Goda_.28English_Dub.29),
if that helps. I guess he would say ごめんよ even when he sincerely expresses his
apologies to his friends.

EDIT: On second thought, I remember some of my female friends actively use
ごめんよ in real life, though I still feel this has a small masculine tendency.

