I don't mean to sound churlish, but I think that's the big difference.

Sounds churlish, I know, but it means that you can never hold a mobile signal for more than a few minutes.

I did not intend to sound churlish.

Even to me it sounded churlish.

"Think the time is right for a palace revolution," he sneered, and the lyric sounded especially churlish in light of his recent knighthood.

I nodded, and tried to sound churlish, as I said, "So?"

Anything else would have sounded churlish.

Since Sebastian's death he had not been able to speak about him without sounding critical or churlish.

'Well, thank you for your condolences,' Randolph acknowledged, trying not to sound churlish.

It sounds churlish to bash a film that's as bereft of bad thoughts as a tiny puppy.