Excuses are “this is why I’m not at fault” and places the blame on someone or something else (including a circumstance). A reason is “this is why it happened” without trying to self-justify. A lot times reasons come across as excuses because the person has not taken responsibility for what they’ve done.

If a reason doesn’t come with ownership of fault, it’s an excuse.

Because it is not a question. They are not asking for information. They are complaining about your work by recriminating you. Like a rethoric question where the answer is “because you’re stupid”.

In reply to the meme: Anyone who asks why and then cuts off the person they asked immediately assumed that ANY response would be an excuse, since they didn’t listen to it.

An excuse removes responsibility.

A reason does not.

“You are excused” means you no longer are responsible for the outcome.

“I literally wasn’t present when it happened, so I’m not responsible for the outcome” < excuse, which can be valid

“I knew what was going to happen, here is why I did it for a good reason” < reason

Example: three kids are present, 2 are graffiti’ing the back of a house

When caught, 1 kid says “I was trying to stop them, they wouldn’t listen”. This is an excuse, they’re claiming they aren’t at fault and not responsible for the graffiti.

Another says “the home owner deserved it, he’s an asshole”, this is a reason as they are clearly not avoiding responsibility.

When you try and use an excuse to get out of something thar you clearly are responsible for, that’s when you will get served the “I dont want an excuse” line.

Excuses are generally made to avoid responsibility, and they aren’t always completely accurate. Explanations just clarify what happened.

The thing is, the person receiving an explanation might well just assume it’s an excuse, and it’s hard to convince them otherwise.