| Sidor om ämnet: < [1 2 3] > | So when will people stop beginning every statement with "so"? Trådens avsändare: Tom in London
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| Live and let live | Sep 5, 2013 |
Tom in London wrote:
So I've only noticed this lately, and it seems to be getting worse.
| | | | | Science Friday | Sep 5, 2013 |
Any other fans of NPR's Science Friday?
http://www.sciencefriday.com/
In order to appear as a guest on the show, you have to sign an agreement promising to begin the answer to each of Ira's questions "So . . ."
| | | | Giles Watson 
Italien
Local time: 11:02
Italienska till Engelska
In memoriam | Live and let die | Sep 5, 2013 |
"So Mr Bond, we meet again" (Mr Big strokes well-fed white voodoo cat while considering next fiendishly irritating viral idiom).
| | | | Joanna Wang
USA
Local time: 04:02
Engelska till Kinesiska
| So, everyone says it, so? | Sep 5, 2013 |
"So" is an informal, conversational word, used commonly in characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing.
"So" can be used as adverb, interjection, adjective, pronoun, interjection, and used in Idioms . If we consider speaking as cooking, then "so" is salt.
So, are we good?
[Edited at 2013-09-05 20:33 GMT]
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Phil Hand
Kina
Local time: 17:02
Kinesiska till Engelska
| Use in moderation to prevent heart disease | Sep 6, 2013 |
Joanna Wang wrote:
"so" is salt.
Very apt. Best used in the preparation of food, and should not be an obvious flavour during consumption.
Clearly it's just one of those things: so is being used as a "filler" like um. It's not an inherently bad thing, but not everyone has to like it.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Nederländerna
Local time: 11:02
Medlem (2006)
Engelska till Afrikaans
+ ...
| I heard this from Capita's people last year | Sep 6, 2013 |
Tom in London wrote:
So I've only noticed this lately, and it seems to be getting worse.
The first time I've noticed someone starting literally every sentence with "so" was during last year's UK interpreter debacle, when both representatives of Capita (both fairly high up in the organisation) started practically every sentence with a long "So...", followed by a pause (but no "erm"), even when they were responding to questions that would not normally elicit a "so".
| | | | Samuel Murray
Nederländerna
Local time: 11:02
Medlem (2006)
Engelska till Afrikaans
+ ...
| Yes, but some people use "so" even when you wouldn't use such a word normally | Sep 6, 2013 |
Joanna Wang wrote:
"So" is an informal, conversational word, used commonly in characteristic of or appropriate to ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing.
"So" can be used as [an] ... interjection.
So, are we good?
I suppose using "so" at the start of every sentence is an interjection. I noticed you used it only once, even though you wrote three sentences. When people use it (the way I've heard it), the voice doesn't go up but stays level, which makes them sound very uncertain of what they're saying.
OR:
So, I suppose using "so" at the start of every sentence is an interjection. So, I noticed you used it only once. So, even though you wrote three sentences. So, when people use it (the way I've heard it), the voice doesn't go up but stays level. So, which makes them sound very uncertain of what they're saying. So, some people really sound like that... and I don't think they realise just how uncertain they sound.
| | | | Elina Sellgren
Finland
Local time: 12:02
Medlem (2013)
Engelska till Finska
+ ...
| So I've noticed.. | Sep 6, 2013 |
I have noticed that myself, as a non-native speaker of English, I tend to use so a lot when I write a sequence of sentences that aim to explain a causal chain to someone. So I end up writing something like "The fact is that.. So that's why we need to do this.. So that's how it's done."
And when I notice the multiple so's, it's so difficult to find alternatives! And at the same time they feel so necessary in the sentences..
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XXXphxxx (X)
Storbritannien
Local time: 10:02
Portugisiska till Engelska
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| Tom in London
Storbritannien
Local time: 10:02
Medlem (2008)
Italienska till Engelska
TOPIC STARTER
THat was excellent - and hilarious. Thanks !
| | | | neilmac
Spanien
Local time: 11:02
Spanska till Engelska
+ ...
Very funny and on the mark
| | | | | The Bard himself | Sep 6, 2013 |
I agree that all these modish tics quickly become tedious and irritating, "so" included, but then they fade and die, to be succeeded by something else equally annoying.
However, Shakespeare himself did it at the end of his famous sonnet XVIII:
"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee".
I know, his usage wasn't the same as the meaningless sentence-starting so.
Fight on,
Jenny
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matt robinson
Spanien
Local time: 11:02
Medlem (2010)
Spanska till Engelska
| neilmac
Spanien
Local time: 11:02
Spanska till Engelska
+ ...
Methinks the gentleman from the beeb doth protest too much. Especially when their 6 Music channel has one presenter (I think it's either Radlicffe or Maconie) whose "er... ums" are notorious. After all, the much-maligned "so" is just a filler. The same thing happens in Spanish with "Pues..." and if you really want a breather before speaking, "Pues mira..." also does the trick.
[Edited at 2013-09-06 10:38 GMT]
| | | | mjbjosh
Local time: 11:02
Engelska till Lettiska
+ ...
So, again this is nothing unique. More and more French speakers start their sentences by alors, Germans by also, Latvians by tātad, etc. Probably there is some common denominator.
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