[Closed] Starting sentence/paragraph/anecdote with the word "so"

So true

So what?

😀 I'm expecting most of the replies that follow will start with the word so.

Just wanna know why people do it really? I see alot of it on here; hopefully someone'll answer.

SO are you to my thoughts as food to life
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime, all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

So, you won't have seen the thread about this a while back then?

I've not really noticed it much on here. It may happen but can't say I've noticed, or at least it doesn't particulary annoy me.

People constantly starting threads about it does grate a bit though 😈

“So we grew together like to a double cherry, seeming parted, but yet an union in partition, two lovely berries molded on one stem.”

? William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

its a technique that media training types pass on to the people they are training..Use the word "so" and a brief pause to allow a little thinking time before responding to a question

Really?

wordnumb - Member
SO are you to my thoughts as food to life
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ’twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime, all full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

See what I mean? What a load of shite; who wrote that? Ronan Keating?

NSFW

So I think BusinessInsider had an article about this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-everyone-is-starting-sentences-with-the-word-so-2014-5

So did The Spectator:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/7360278/its-so-annoying/

So did The Grauniad:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/26/so-sentence-starter-artifice-manipulation

So did many others.

So there!

gwaelod - Member
its a technique that media training types pass on to the people they are training..Use the word "so" and a brief pause to allow a little thinking time before responding to a question

IS that right? Now I know who's to blame. Can't see the need to say "so" and then pause; why not just pause!?

How about asking yourself a question and then answering it or a 'do you know what.... ?' followed by some shit that might just be insightful to a 3 year old... Great 🙂

why not just pause!?

Ermmmmm!

So.. about these adverts.

If you use the word [b]so[/b] at the start of the title it gets rid of the adverts and stops you getting logged out for 2 whole weeks. You might still have time to edit your title around....

IS that right? Now I know who's to blame. Can't see the need to say "so" and then pause; why not just pause!?

Because it alerts the other person you are about to say something else?

See what I mean? What a load of shite; who wrote that? Ronan Keating?

Dunno, someone posted it in the 'what tyres for spinning in your grave' thread.

mikey74 - Member
IS that right? Now I know who's to blame. Can't see the need to say "so" and then pause; why not just pause!?
Because it alerts the other person you are about to say something else?

If I've asked someone a question, I wouldn't need alerting to the fact that they're going to now answer it. I'd just expect them to answer it (or ignore it).

wordnumb - Member
See what I mean? What a load of shite; who wrote that? Ronan Keating?
Dunno, someone posted it in the 'what tyres for spinning in your grave' thread.

😀

davidtaylforth - Member
I'm expecting most of the replies that follow will start with the word so.

So far, so good. 🙂

Given the OP's description of what normally follows the "So", he should also have started with "So."

deadlydarcy - Member
Given the OP's description of what normally follows the "So", he should also have started with "So."

I'm just an honest lad, I'm not trying to jazz up my boring sentences with an enthusiastically spoken "so"

Well, did you get the answers you expected?

So, has it gone how you thought?

Look I'm not sure you understand the English language develops all the time.

I'm just an [s]honest lad[/s] troll.

There you go.

OP whining about other people's use of language and then saying "alot".

Oh, teh ironing!

This has probably been covered, but I've only really noticed this last year that people seem to [s]to[/s] have started doing this [b]alot[/b].

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recency_illusion ]Read this[/url].

Also "[url= http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html ]alot[/url]".

I bet Shakespeare is turning in his grave

As already illustrated, Shakespeare was a one-man walking punk-rock riot of language-mayhem, he wouldn't give a split infinitive about what word you chose to start a sentence if it made your point in an interesting way.

CaptainFlashheart - Member
OP whining about other people's use of language and then saying "alot".

Oh, teh ironing!

thats differernt though

I would imagine that in conversation starting something with "So.." is often used as an indicator that the speaker is about to change subject: "So.. did you see the football last night?"

Since a forum like this is very conversational and every thread is essentially a different topic it's not surprising that people instinctively use "So".

There. Sensible answer. Happy?

If I've asked someone a question, I wouldn't need alerting to the fact that they're going to now answer it. I'd just expect them to answer it (or ignore it).

I've rarely seen, or heard, it used in direct response to a question. It's usually when moving the conversation in a different direction. I've used it myself when asking a question.

Yes, I think this covers it http://www.fastcompany.com/3029762/how-a-popular-two-letter-word-is-undermining-your-credibility

Thats differernt though

Know its knot.

That's a very different context to the one you originally asked about though.

I'd agree that answering a question with "So," sounds patronising.

So ..... cool story bro.

I like to use it inject it, hold it a little longer than necessary to intimate that the previous subject was dull, or awkward, usually it isn't, I'm just a d**k!

My son is 5 years old and says it at the start of every complicated explanation..

He certainly hasn't got it from home so I guess he picked it up at school from teachers

😀

Bad form to just pause before answering apparently..silence sounds dreadful and lasts an eternity on air dahling, so bung in a So 1st, then listener is expecting a pause. At least that's what luvvy training consultant told me when he was trying to make me sound plausible.

So do you think you can tell heaven from hell?

So I think BusinessInsider had an article about this:

This is the only example of what the OP is about IMO. In relation to all the other predictable responses, the above is the only inappropriate and inexplicable use of the word.

See what I mean? What a load of shite; who wrote that? Ronan Keating?

It's an introduction to speaking.

So; right then; well; now; ok; and many others. The French would go, "alors..."

They're all considerably less annoying than "sorry, but..."

Seamus Heaney on his use of the word "So." to open his version of Beowulf,

[i]But in Hiberno-English Scullion-speak, the particle ‘so’ came naturally to the rescue, because in that idiom ‘so’ operates as an expression that obliterates all previous discourse and narrative, and at the same time functions as an exclamation calling for immediate attention. So, ‘so’ it was:

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.”[/i]

And if its good enough for Heaney, its good enough for me.

So now we know.

Good work stw.

"I guess" he did <sigh>.... You know who you are... 🙂

Seems to be used on Top Gear a lot when trying to get the audience to concentrate on the next item.

So; right then; well; now; ok; and many others. The French would go, "alors..."

So, I was just about to mention that the Italians use Allora for pretty much everything, when I saw your post. So I guess the word must have some common ancestry.

[i]So Macho
He's got to be
So Macho
He's got to be big and strong enough
to turn me on
He's got to have, big blue eyes
Be able to satisfy
He's got to be big and strong enough
to turn me on[/i]

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

🙂

Peter Gabriel's in trouble for how to name his album then.

I will add it to my list, along with:

Saying "actual" all the time for no reason
"ickcetera"
"pecific"

Happy now ?

(I always thought the "So,,," thing came from Europe, I have noticed a lot of Skandos/Germans/Dutch do it at the start of a sentence when speaking English, there must be a Germanic equivalent.)

Didn't take Gore very long:

[img] [/img]

😀

So, I was just about to mention that the Italians use Allora for pretty much everything, when I saw your post. So I guess the word must have some common ancestry.

(I always thought the "So,,," thing came from Europe, I have noticed a lot of Skandos/Germans/Dutch do it at the start of a sentence when speaking English, there must be a Germanic equivalent.)

the Germans often start with "Also" which is a hybrid of the Franco/Latin Alors/allora, and the English So.

E.g. Also, was machen wir jetzt? (So, what shall we do now?)