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The present study takes a metapragmatics approach to studying language users' conceptualizations of requests and apologies. In particular, two spoken sub-corpora within the BNC and the COCA were searched for inflectional and derivational variants of request and apology, which are part of the meta-illocutionary lexicon. The retrieved items were analyzed with respect to frequency of occurrence and communicative functions in context. Distributions of frequencies and functions were used as indicators of conceptualization, which were then compared across the two illocutions and across the two sub-corpora. The results of this study suggest that while cross-varietal differences are comparatively small, differences across the two illocutions are much more distinct. These and other findings are discussed against the background of semantic and pragmatic characteristics of these illocutions as well as relevant cross-cultural and social factors involved in discussing them. Finally, this study is characterized by its attempt to combine metapragmatics with variational pragmatics.