"So.............."

[DracoM]

Start counting the number of people [ notably under 40] who now start every explanation with 'so'.
Getting seriously upon wick.

[eighthobstruction]

....and the reply might be "Absolutely"....

[Don Petter]

Start counting the number of people [ notably under 40] who now start every explanation with 'so'.
Getting seriously upon wick.

I haven't noticed it (but perhaps I should get out more).

It doesn't seem as bad as 'Essentially ...' which always has be switching off, either metaphorically, or, more usually, physically.

[Petrushka]

Can't say I've noticed this either. Now that it has been brought to our attention will probably hear it everywhere.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Now that it has been brought to our attention will probably hear it everywhere.

So say Thank you nicely P??

[Padraig]

Now that it has been brought to our attention will probably hear it everywhere.

Seamus Heaney starts off his monumental translation of Beowulf:
"So."
But he was well over 40.

[Honoured Guest]

so like gay this thread

[cloughie]

So say Thank you nicely P??

A phrase that seems to be dying out with the younger generation!

[gurnemanz]

So say Thank you nicely P??

Any over-prevalent verbal tic can be irritating, but people can't help it. It's an unconscious conversation filler - a dummy word or phrase empty of meaning. In usage like Martin's example above it could be said to carry some meaning, denoting something like: "What I am about to say is a consequence of the current state of affairs."

So that's what I think.

What I find really tiresome is the ubiquitous Aussie sentence starter: Look ....

[Flosshilde]

so like gay this thread

Excuse me?

[Stanley Stewart]

"Sew, a needle pulling thread..."

[Ferretfancy]

"Sew, a needle pulling thread..."

Cool

[cloughie]

What I find really tiresome is the ubiquitous Aussie sentence starter: Look ....

Particularly when it is combined with the ubiquitous raising of the voice at the end of a sentence making a statement sound like a question that requires a response.

[jean]

No English person says so nearly as much as any Italian says allora.

[DracoM]

So, jean, do you think the 'so' I remarked on is basically an American usage, itself derived from Italian immigrants perhaps? And of course now ubiquitous in all manner of film imports from USA? Hence in English usage? And, yes, Ozzie soaps as well, of course.

I raised it because we don't use an 'allora' tic by and large, and I wondered where it had sprung from.