Starting a sentence with "So...". Anyone else noticed -

[The Hack]

...that this has become a lot more common these days in normal conversation with colleagues at work, on Radio and TV interviews, etc. I don't know why it bugs me so much, but is it my imagination that it's only really taken off over the past year or so?

[toohuge]

It is not your imagination.....

However, I personally do not find it irritating but many people do.

I think it stems from people communicating a lot more nowadays, with internet, mobile telephones, Facebook, whatsapp etc. etc. and there is usually a conversation going on in their head and when the discussion comes to conversation, the 'So' is part of the beginning of the end of a conversation, if that makes sense?

Example:

Someone has sent a message out to friends asking what time to go out, and the general consensus is whenever. The same person then approaches their immediate company and starts the sentence:

So, what time shall we go out?

Just a theory perhaps...

[ed335d]

So, like, what's the problem?

[quoll]

Wevs, YOLO.

[TaketheCannoli]

I've noticed it, I know that I do it and I quite like it. It's most likely a transitory piece of language though. So I give it six months

[Foxy100]

So how do you feel about people leaving sentences unfinished with '...so...'

[adrianw]

Goes with, here's the thing and at the end of the day

[PhilipK]

In the gap between the "so" and the rest of the sentence, I'm always tempted to say "a needle pulling thread" :-)

[Cowie]

10+ years ago I used to work with a software lead developer who started 90% of his sentences with "so". Quite annoying but not half as annoying as the software tester who started most of his sentences with "no", even when the answer was "yes".

[Nytol]

So, like, what's the problem?

Lol, the over use of 'like' is a personal irritation too.

[Kingstepper]

Lol, the over use of 'like' is a personal irritation too.

Like err y'know Scouse footballers?

[Mick P]

Chaps

I used to be very fastidious about grammar and my staff used to tear their hair out when I bounced their reports because of imprecise English.

Now a few years later on I am much more relaxed and I plead guilty to starting sentences with so.

I know it is wrong but so what.

Regards

Mick

[gunner]

Like err y'know Scouse footballers?

Is that footballers 'off of' Liverpool...?

[snowman]

Doesn't come close to politicians who start sentences with "Listen...", which means "I'm ignoring your very incisive question to which I don't have a positive answer, because, let's face it, I'm a worthless, self important dog turd who is more interested in myself and enhancing my wealth and/or balooning ego than anything else, and going to give you some pat answer from the party book of platitudes"

So, how do you feel about that?

M.

[TaketheCannoli]

Doesn't come close to politicians who start sentences with "Listen...", which means "I'm ignoring your very incisive question to which I don't have a positive answer, because, let's face it, I'm a worthless, self important dog turd who is more interested in myself and enhancing my wealth and/or balooning ego than anything else, and going to give you some pat answer from the party book of platitudes"

So, how do you feel about that?

M.

So, I totes get you dude. Like, starting a sentence / answer with "Listen" is like, the most annoying thing ever. Yu get me?

[Glamdring]

I hate it, and all the other examples above.
I hate the turning of decent adjectives into verbs - for example, I hate the word 'disrepect' used as a verb. I detest black ghetto-speak and that's not racist. I pick that example because it's featured so often on television. I don't call other men 'dude'.
I loathe much of the lazy, shorthand writing I see in the press and the dumbed-down commentaries I hear on television (anyone else see the schoolbook documentary on the Plantagenets on Channel 5 last week?).

I text (not Whatsapp) in proper English, with all necessary punctuation. It pleases me, the occasional typo excepted, to be correct, explicit in the message I'm conveying, and it pleases me to stay linked to the beautiful language we used to be proud to call 'English'.

[Beaunidle]

I have a colleague who has, I think, the trump level of this.

I can be obviously deep into something (she sits ten feet from my desk when I'm in the office, clear line of sight) but she'll call my name in the sort of voice that means "I need your attention now" then;

"So"
pause
"umm"
longer pause whilst thoughts are marshalled
"circuitous explanation of the issue she requires assistance with"

The words "So" and "umm" together bring me out in a rash I swear.

Good thing I'm only in the office a couple of days a month.

......she is easy on the eye though.

[The Hack]

:) Tony Blair started this trend and everyone seems to do it now (from whatever politoical hue).

Doesn't come close to politicians who start sentences with "Listen...", which means "I'm ignoring your very incisive question to which I don't have a positive answer, because, let's face it, I'm a worthless, self important dog turd who is more interested in myself and enhancing my wealth and/or balooning ego than anything else, and going to give you some pat answer from the party book of platitudes"

So, how do you feel about that?

M.

[RABbit]

I recently moved to Australia. The affection here is to say "Look..." at the start of sentences. I bristle at the use of "farewell" as a verb... "Phil Hughes was farewelled today".

[Cirrus]

Is that footballers 'off of' Liverpool...?

Interestingly, in Flint - where most people would say the accent is more Scouse than anything - the term "where are you off?" means not "where are you going?", but rather "where are you from?". This has been known to cause fights...

Words such as "so" and "like" interjected in to a sentence - seemingly for no meaningful purpose - are known as "discourse particles", and they can actually contribute information on the understanding, attitude and intent of the speaker... when they aren't just used to fill a potential lull, but the effect can be so subtle as to be lost.

[Cirrus]

I have a colleague who has, I think, the trump level of this.

I can be obviously deep into something (she sits ten feet from my desk when I'm in the office, clear line of sight) but she'll call my name in the sort of voice that means "I need your attention now" then;

"So"
pause
"umm"
longer pause whilst thoughts are marshalled
"circuitous explanation of the issue she requires assistance with"

The words "So" and "umm" together bring me out in a rash I swear.

Good thing I'm only in the office a couple of days a month.

......she is easy on the eye though.

"Umm" and "huh" are oddly cross cultural and have similar meanings across most languages... which leads many linguists (the slightly mental ones, admittedly) to suggest they may have once been part of a common human proto-language - perhaps even one hard-wired in to our genes ;)

[Thorien]

There really is nothing wrong with doing so if used correctly.
The Cambridge Dictionary Online says:

SO conjunction (SENTENCE BEGINNING)
Used at the beginning of a sentence to connect it with something that has been said or has happened previously:
So, there I was standing at the edge of the road with only my underwear on ...
So, just to finish what I was saying earlier...

Historically it appears in writing as far back as Chaucer and Shakespeare.

[redmonaco]

My really big hate, so much so that I feel like attacking the person who utters it is..."My Bad"...

What does it MEAN????!!!????

Bad what?????!!!!????


It made me feel dirty just writing it......

[dickbrowne]

As the receiver of a proper education, I can get quite prescriptive on the subject and often repeat sentences back to people at work with the correct interpretation of whatever it was that they said. Apparently it's an annoying habit, although the standard of English and therefore thought at my meetings is now reasonably good.

My daughter bought me a t-shirt last Xmas with the slogan "I'm silently correcting your grammar" emblazoned upon the front.

:) Tony Blair started this trend and everyone seems to do it now (from whatever politoical hue).

Although his real meaning was "the reason you don't agree with me, pleb, is that you are, indeed, a pleb"

There really is nothing wrong with doing so if used correctly.
The Cambridge Dictionary Online says:

SO conjunction (SENTENCE BEGINNING)
Used at the beginning of a sentence to connect it with something that has been said or has happened previously:
So, there I was standing at the edge of the road with only my underwear on ...
So, just to finish what I was saying earlier...

Historically it appears in writing as far back as Chaucer and Shakespeare.

I use it all the time for conjoined sentences and the like. Nothing wrong with it all in context imho

My really big hate, so much so that I feel like attacking the person who utters it is..."My Bad"...

What does it MEAN????!!!????

Bad what?????!!!!????


It made me feel dirty just writing it......

See also:

Big up
Big time
Shout out

And oh so many more if time would permit.

[BSB]

Many grammatical mistakes irritate me but, the one that irritates me beyond measure is a phrase that has become so commonplace, even the BBC have been known to use it recently. When people talk about getting something 'for free', I get the urge to hit them. You can get something free or indeed, for nothing but you cannot get something 'for free'! 'Free' is not an amount - it is an abbreviation for 'free of charge'. You wouldn't say you can get something for free of charge so don't say 'for free'. Rant over.

[catch21]

Word-Luddites!

These youngsters nowadays, all that long hair/short hair (depending on the decade) and all that loud popular music. Eeeeww give me a bit of Mantovani on the gramaphone.

So I was like, w h a t e v e r.

(Check out "The Big Lebowski" which brought the word "dude" into popular usage, cool film.)

[chrisparker]

Dermot O'Learly off of the tele starts most of his sentences with Listen,….

Graham Norton does it too. Er now listen…

[Kingstepper]

Use of 'shop' irritates me.

Saw it on here recently - "I was paying for the shop". Were they buying Tesco?

[guinea]

So, the thing is...
So, here's the thing...

Usually said be people who've just been asked a question in a meeting and need a couple more seconds to think of a plausible answer.

At least, that's why I do it.

[guinea]

Saw it on here recently - "I was paying for the shop". Were they buying Tesco?

Really?

Ugh.

That's even worse than the watch "that's been lying in my draw."

[redmonaco]

Use of 'shop' irritates me.

Saw it on here recently - "I was paying for the shop". Were they buying Tesco?

Yes that's reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllll llyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy horrible... Why do people do things like that???

[Nytol]

My daughter bought me a t-shirt last Xmas with the slogan "I'm silently correcting your grammar" emblazoned upon the front.

That's fantastic,

[Cirrus]

Use of 'shop' irritates me.

Saw it on here recently - "I was paying for the shop". Were they buying Tesco?

No - they were buying "Tescos".

[snowman]

I think my favourite (don't see it much here, but popular on some watch forums) is "I'm about to pull the trigger"

No you're not, you're about to place an order...

M.

[paulpsz008]

Not quite the same but "Y'all" drives me round the bl**dy bend.

[RichS]

The one that really gets to me is the use of "like". Typically it's used as a comma, or to provide some thinking time whilst the speaker formulates their next few words.
My daughter (12) uses it a lot "Can I like go into Lush?" I typically answer with "You don't actually want to go in, just do something similar to visiting Lush? That's fine." She's coming around to my way of thinking. ;)
The latest irritating "yoof-speak" is shop assistants, bar persons or waiters calling me mate. I'm not your mate. I've never met you before. Added to that, my group of mates is small and select.

[SimonK]

My daughter bought me a t-shirt last Xmas ...

I suggest the only thing left for you to do is take your service revolver, repair to your study and do the honorable thing.

[Seamaster73]

This is second on my hate list.

First is the affectation de nos jours, much beloved of state broadcaster historians, of talking about the past in the present tense.

"So, Henry VIII chops off her head and..."

[Foxy100]

In the gap between the "so" and the rest of the sentence, I'm always tempted to say "a needle pulling thread" :-)

Philip - I think your computer is broken!

[Carlton-Browne]

Philip - I think your computer is broken!

I was thinking that, or perhaps he's just low on blue toner.

[gregbuc]

okay, I have to add my current hate to this: "reach out". Why does everyone feel the need to "reach out" these days? Would it not be enough to "contract them" or "telephone them" or, I don't know, "ask them"?

[Neil.C]

Word-Luddites!

These youngsters nowadays, all that long hair/short hair (depending on the decade) and all that loud popular music. Eeeeww give me a bit of Mantovani on the gramaphone.

So I was like, w h a t e v e r.

(Check out "The Big Lebowski" which brought the word "dude" into popular usage, cool film.)

I would think that David Bowie's song All The Young Dudes (1972) and Dude Looks Like a lady (1987), that awful crap from Aerosmith was more of a catalyst.

I remember musos around that time and ever after using that awful term.

[Foxy100]

okay, I have to add my current hate to this: "reach out". Why does everyone feel the need to "reach out" these days? Would it not be enough to "contract them" or "telephone them" or, I don't know, "ask them"?

When someone says 'reach out' do you find you want to reply 'and touch faith' or is it just me?

[PhilipK]

Philip - I think your computer is broken!

I was using Tapatalk on my phone when I wrote it. Normal service is now resumed ...

[Grandiloquence]

Yeah, I hate the "so" thing. Especially when coupled with an upward inflection at the end of the statement thus making it sound like a question. I also hate "can I get....". Surely you mean "may I have"?

[patrick]

People ending every sentence with, right! To make sure you agree and are still listening,right!

[rfrazier]

I sometimes use "so" instead of "therefore". So there!

Best wishes,
Bob

[P9CLY]

Omg look I'm like so omg right from the get go surprised like init.

Anyone else noticed MPs start a sentence with "Look".

[Foxy100]

Omg look I'm like so omg right from the get go surprised like init.

Anyone else noticed MPs start a sentence with "Look".

I think you'll find, with all due respect, and I'm not trying to be funny but... they start each sentence with 'let me make this (perfectly) clear'. Literally.

[gregbuc]

When someone says 'reach out' do you find you want to reply 'and touch faith' or is it just me?

Hadn't put that together but now that you've brought it to my attention it'll probably happen!