How to Communicate in English

Instead of saying what instead of looking like a deer in the headlights, you could say other words that I think are much sound much more polite than saying what. So one of the things I would use a lot would be sorry. You could say sorry, or you could say excuse me. And then would you use pardon? I'm in certain parts, I would use it in certain parts the US people would use it, but it definitely sounds very British to us.